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Party pieces

Want to hear more about how to throw a successful cocktail party? See our video interview with Savva Savas.

For some of Plated's fab canapé recipes, pick up the November 2008 issue of Gourmet Traveller.

Savva Savas knows how to party. As owner of Plated, The Event Caterer, he and head chef Clancy Atkinson create food served at some of Sydney’s most elegant social functions. Plated’s reputation is founded partly on Savas’s irrepressible wit and good humour and partly on the refinement and verve the kitchen brings to its work, especially when it comes to crafting chic canapés. Who better, then, to ply for tips on successful entertaining?

Savas’s mantra is balance – in the menu, the guest list and the drinks served. It’s something he learned making his bones as a caterer back in the day with local legends Juste Nous, and it’s served him well over more than 10 years running his own company. Savas’s other key piece of advice is to remember why you’re entertaining in the first place. Is it a simple, casual get-together with friends? Then keep it genuinely simple. “Buy the best leg ham carved from the bone you can find, pick up the very best bread and serve it with a great potato salad,” he says. “I’m less inclined to put on a three-course sit-down dinner these days.”

The time of day should dictate what and how much food you serve. If your party crosses dinner time it’s essential you serve substantial food or you have a recipe for disaster – and boozed-up guests – on your hands. Early evening calls for delicate canapés – bite-sized bursts of flavour such as those featured in our November issue. Great produce and beautiful presentation are key when you’re turning out these tiny treats, perhaps even more so than with other food. And never underestimate the power of sweet canapés, says Savas. They satisfy the sweet tooth and also serve as a subtle hint that things are to wind down soon. Food punctuation, he calls them.

And while food is essential to a great party, it shouldn’t overwhelm the event. “Food is secondary,” Savas says. Not what you’d expect to hear from a man who makes his living catering glittering luxury-brand events and upmarket private functions, but he’s adamant. “Guests aren’t there to talk about the food, they’re there to talk to each other. Food should complement the occasion.”

Plated, The Event Caterer, 664 Bourke St, East Redfern, NSW, (02) 9699 6000, plated.com.au.

WORDS EMMA KNOWLES PORTRAIT CON POULOS

This article appeared in the November 2008 issue of Australian Gourmet Traveller.