Three little words that will transform your dinner party hosting experience. La Belle Assiette.I tried out the concept before Christmas and was so blown away I put them straight into my Little Black Book of best businesses.

Basically, rather than huffing, puffing and panicking over the cooking, serving and cleaning up from your dinner party, you can hire a private chef from La Belle Assiette to do all the hard stuff for you.While I know that’s kind of what any private chef does trust me, this service goes much further.

Firstly because you have the choice of so many chefs (over 600 and counting). So you choose your chef based on his or her proximity, the type of cuisine offered, numbers catered for, the kind of party you’re having (canapes or tasting menu?) the reviews (anyone who has a dinner party is encouraged to review honestly) and price which is transparent and easy to cost up – basically £39, £59 or £89 per person, depending on your budget. Then your chef calls to discuss your likes and dislikes, pre-preps before arrival, cooks, serves and cleans up afterwards, allowing you to truly be part of your own party.

I booked Chris Bond, a young private chef from Chesham, Buckinghamshire (about 35 mins from me) and OMG he was amazing. Just rocked up on his own, and not only provided the food but also brought along the crockery – I guess if you’re a chef the worst thing that can happen is that your beautiful food is served on some horrific plates that are the wrong shape and colour to showcase your dish.

We went for a tasting menu, basically because it’s been about a year since I’ve had a dinner party and probably another year before I have another, and we wanted to experience everything La Belle Assiette had to offer.

This was the menu:

But what I really loved was the theatre Chris brought to the evening. The menu we were given at the table turned out to be edible rice paper and we used it to eat the hummous and tatziki.

A candle that Chris put on the table turned out to be beef dripping which he then blowtorched to melt it, before we mopped it up with soda bread.

Everything was thought through and creative, and I absolutely loved it. The food was incredible, particularly the Heritage Carrot (yes it was a course – possibly the best carrot ever!), and the beef.

Tasting menus always fatigue me in the end and I was defeated by the desserts, but it’s a very easy recommendation from me both for the chef and this excellent business.

One to book for February when you’ve tired of the lycra and positive affirmations? Oh you have already?!

La Belle Assiette. Tel: 02033185003. Email: contact@labelleassiette.co.uk