I've been eating and drinking at the Larder House many many times, but this Friday I got to be part of the kitchen team. This was part of a charity event on behalf of Action Against Hunger. The restaurant invited members of the public and regulars to man the kitchen and front of house, cooking and serving the diners for the evening.

There were one or two actual members of staff on hand to make sure we were safe and nothing would go badly wrong, but in the most part we did all the heating and plating up of the dishes. It was a fantastic experience to be there and a big thank you to Chef Paul for his patience and assistance, and I have to say that Sue Quinn and Peter Foggin did enormously well when it came to using the wood fired oven and managing the pass to get the food sent out as quickly as possible.

Mei Parsons was on the starters and I was on desserts. I think both of us counted ourselves lucky that we were on those stations. I have to say that all I have to do was stick stuff on a plate and the only bit of intricate work was piping the cream. It wasn't until the very last one of the night that I got it down nicely whilst the others looked more like twirrly dog's doo doo.

After service we sat in the back and they held an auction of various prices. By the reckoning the day after, it looked like more than £3000 was raised.

Well done to the people that gave their time to take part and run the restaurant, to the Larder House team in helping, and finally to the customers that came and donated on the night.