Will Torrent and Olly Rouse among guest chefs at charity gala dinner

Some of the UK's top chefs and hospitality and catering students will cook a five course meal as part of a gala dinner to raise money for charity next month.

The East Avenue Restaurant situated at Eastleigh College, Southampton will hold a special guest chef gala dinner in May in a bid to raise funds for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance and Epilepsy Research UK.

Chef Lecturer at Eastleigh College, Greg Cheeseman said: "We chose Epilepsy Research due to a member of staff who unfortunately had a fit and passed away and the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance charity was picked by a vote, which is also quite local to us and important with what goes on within the area.

"As a department we generally wanted to help those charities."

On arrival guests will be treated to some bubbly and canapes followed by a five course dinner prepared by some of the nation's most renowned chefs and promising catering students in the industry.

Canapes will include Mushroom Arancini, Asian Pork Belly and Lobster & prawn cone created by Essential Cuisine's Gary Kilminster. A quail's egg starter will be created by Chewton Glen's Luke Matthews followed by a cured salmon dish from Apprentice Chef at the Ritz Hotel, Ruth Hansom. For the main course Lainston House Hotel's Olly Rouse will serve lamb rump  and sweetbreads and to finish the meal Pastry Development Chef and author, Will Torrent will present a chocolate rose dessert followed by petit fours.

The guest chefs will have additional help on the evening from a selection of one, two and three professional cookery student chefs.

The dinner will be held on Thursday, May 12 between 6:45pm and 10:30pm with tickets priced at £30 per person which includes a golden ticket for the chance to win a special prize. A charity raffle will also be held on the evening.

On talking about what they want to achieve on the evening, Greg said: "We have got quite a few prizes coming through to us at the moment from different companies and people we deal with so hopefully the dinner itself will raise about £1, 500 and with the prizes on top of that, varying on what people are willing to pay out on the day, we’re hoping for around the £2, 500 mark."

For more information and to book please contact chorton@eastleigh.ac.uk or call 02380 911 053.