EDITOR REVIEW OF A MEDIEVAL BANQUET EXPERIENCE
On the road again! This time myself and Elliot were headed to London for a Medieval Banquet experience, something neither of us had done before, so we were in a state of excited anticipation. Arriving at Tower Bridge, we were already feeling the sense of a bygone era by walking past the Tower of London, and it was only a short distance further to the venue, located on St. Katherine’s Docks. The Banquet Hall was situated underground, in a huge, cavernous room that was decorated beautifully. There were suits of armour, chandeliers, rough brick pillars and long wooden tables. I was surprised at the size of the place, if I had to guess I’d say there were seats for about 300 people!
We were shown to our seats by the friendly hostess, or ‘wench’ as we were supposed to refer to them as. Immediately, Mr. Cuza the Director came to greet us, and helped us with setting up the cameras and where to get the best shots, before generously offering us a bottle of wine. Such an accommodating attitude, we were very impressed.
Once everyone had purchased drinks and were settled in their seats, the first round of entertainment began. The tables were set along the edges of the room, with a large space in the middle for the performers. First out was the King, who explained some of the rules of the evening, such as only calling the waitresses ‘wench’ and banging the tables instead of clapping. Calling someone ‘wench’ felt a bit rude at first, but you’ve got to get into the spirit of things! The King and Queen proceeded to sing a medieval tune, while dancers and jugglers performed around them, and the wenches brought the first course.
We ate parsnip soup with bread while Medieval music surrounded us, and got acquainted with our neighbours, who made the effort to dress up! The next performance was a spectacular aerial hoop show, that the dancer performed three times so guests could see from all corners of the room. The professionalism of the staff was astounding, they never broke character and kept making hilarious comments about our camera equipment. One of the knights even treated us to a magic trick! The second course was a delicious smoked salmon parcel with salad for me, and a vegetable tart for Elliot.
As people drank and became steadily more merry, the wenches would invite people up to the performance area to do some Medieval dancing, which was pretty amusing to watch! The dancers kept dancing, the jugglers kept juggling, and the wine kept flowing, so it was safe to say we were enjoying ourselves!
The main course came in a big hot pot that we helped ourselves to, picking a large piece of moist chicken served with potatoes, sausage balls and vegetables. After the food, a dancer came on to perform a very bendy hula-hoop routine, which was incredible! We were all very impressed with the level of entertainment, not at all tacky or amateur. We were also treated to a brilliantly choreographed sword fight between a few of the knights, which got the crowd cheering and booing for their favourite.
The dessert was a slice of delicious spiced apple pie, and a mince pie with boozy cream (because we obviously hadn’t had enough). The food overall was very good, the mince pie at the end was a lovely bonus, and everything was presented beautifully. Once the tables were clear we all got up for the disco, and danced the night away! Or at least until 11:30, when the night finished. Altogether it was a fantastic night, Elliot and I had an absolutely brilliant time and can’t thank Mr. Cuza and the wenches enough, the staff were incredible, the food was delightful and the entertainment was oustanding – a truly magical Medieval night!
