London was just crying out for the hotel like Corinthia Hotel London. A beautiful and utterly luxurious hotel that’s also perfectly modern, elegant and subtle. 
Fully decked out and in the Christmas spirit, the Whitehall hotel has a delicious pick and mix display…
Beautifully festive swan decorations…
And an elegant white and silver Christmas tree. Obviously I love a bottle of fizz all year round, but it always feels extra special to pop one open at Christmas and with that in mind The Corinthia was celebrating the season with a festival of bubbles.
At the launch of the event guests enjoyed the signature champagne Laurent-Perrier or Biddenden English sparkling wine in the Northall Bar or a crisp glass of Adami prosecco or Sparking Chilean wine in the Massimo Bar, part of the Italian restaurant. I had a fab time at the event enjoying delicious bubbles and tasty canapés with Lauren, Nathan and Robert on Friday at the launch but I was back the next day for something very special.
I was attending a fascinating master class in order to learn the art of mozzarella making and following that a four course dinner paired with specially chosen prosecco from Adami. I’ve had the opportunity of visiting the Corinthia’s private dining room before when I was taught to carve salmon with culinary director Gary Hollihead but I was excited to be returning with Mr S in tow!
Corrado Sorano from Italian milk and cheese company, Sole & Latte was on hand to demonstrate the process. 
Milk is added to a large pot before a citric acid mixture included and it is heated on a medium heat, next rennet is added and the mixture is stirred. Once the mixture has a gelatin like texture, the curds are cut in a criss cross pattern and heated again. From here we watched the twosome use a sieve to separate the curds from the whey and drain as much away as possible.
The curds are then lowered back into the heat and then they are stretched until they take on a more elastic consistency. It’s important not to overstretch as the cheese can become rubbery; so it’s rather a fine art.
At this point we put on gloves and were encouraged to give it a prod, it was quite supple and reminded me a bit of a stress ball. 
Finally the mozzarella is shaped into balls, knotted and plaited. It’s kind of magical watching it all come together and the mozzarella forming before your eyes. 
As well as trying the delicious freshly made cheese we were given a huge ball of it to take home but instructed not to refrigerate it as it could dry out. 
Next Thomas White representing Adami Prosecco, talked to us about the wine pairings that we would be enjoying with our meal. The name derives from the Italian village that prosecco grapes originated in and the wine is produced in nine provinces spanning the Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia regions. The Adami family has been producing prosecco since 1920 and have long been regarded one of the leading producers of the Italian wine.
Head Chef at Massimo, Andrea Cirino, got cracking with preparing the food while we sampled a delicious prosecco and tucked in to the bread basket.
I love Italian breads and there was an absolutely fantastic selection to try along with some beautifully fragrant olive oil. Our dinner menu was four courses, each of which incorporated mozzarella in some way and was paired with a carefully chosen prosecco introduced by Thomas. 
First up was the ‘The Evolution of the Caprese Salad’, mozzarella and basil foam were encapsulated in spun sugar on a bed of tomato gel. The dish was remarkable inventive, perfectly put together and totally delicious. It was paired with the dry, crisp and slightly tart notes of Adami NV Garbèl Brut Prosecco DOC Treviso.
Our next course featured buffalo mozzarella filled with squid ink and hazelnut risotto, a dish that was deliciously creamy and rice with the perfect bite. The zesty seafood was paired with a fruity and very high quality Adami 2015 Vigneto Giardino Dry Valdobbiadene DOCG Prosecco Superiore Rive di Colbertaldo which made a fantastic combination. After devouring more than my fair share of the bread, this dish was a little on the heavy side so regrettably I had to leave some to save room.
As you can imagine, with so much seafood, the menu was really up my street and I loved the roasted red mullet. Interestingly Chef Andrea chose to incorporate the mozzarella in liquid form for this dish and in was an innovative idea that worked beautifully. The very dry finish of the Adami 2015 Col Credas Brut Valdobbiadene DOCG Prosecco Superiore Rive di Farra di Soligo that it was paired with was the perfect flavour enhancement. 
Feeling full, but not so much that I couldn’t sample this deliciously light dessert. Billed as soft Mozzarella flavoured with Sorrento lemons, it was more like a very light citrus sponge cake with white chocolate dome over it, and the Adami NV Bosco di Gica Brut Valdobbiadene DOCG Prosecco Superiore acted as a dessert wine.
As we were enjoying our meal we heard news of the Beckhams, Eva Longoria and other A-listers being at the hotel in attendance for the Global Gift Gala, I kept hoping for a sneak peek but when rumours reached us that they were in the bar we headed there after dinner and caught a thrilling glimpse of the famous power couple. A fantastic night made even more exciting!
Corinthia Hotel London
Whitehall Place
London
SW1A 2BD
020 7930 8181
We attended this event as a guest of Corinthia Hotel London.
