Bringing gourmet cuisine to Garsington Opera

In 2025, Payne & Gunter embarked on a new catering partnership with Garsington Opera – the international opera festival hosted at the resplendent Wormsley Estate in the Chiltern Hills. 

We were delighted by the opportunity to bring refined summer dining and polished hospitality to the festival, elevating the already exquisite experience even further. 

The seven-week event featured 32 performances and 4 different opera productions, across which our chefs served a refined collection of pre-performance canapés, afternoon teas, three-course interval dinners and beautifully presented picnics overlooking the famous Wormsley Cricket Ground. 

Created in collaboration with acclaimed chef Will Devlin, the menus we presented were designed to celebrate British seasonal produce at its peak, through elegant, contemporary cooking.  

We worked closely alongside Will Devlin, founder of Acre and The Small Holding in Kent, to make seasonality the main character in the Garsington Opera catering menus.  In line with his farm-to-fork philosophy, we used produce grown on Will’s own one-acre farm, along with other carefully sourced ingredients. Will is known for his sustainable approach, with The Small Holding being among the first to receive a Michelin Green Star for sustainable gastronomy. 

Great care was taken to ensure the menu showcased those ingredients with finesse, pairing scorched Wiltshire trout with fermented gooseberries, fennel and buttermilk, while roasted lamb saddle was served with English aubergine and potato terrine. Baked monkfish with roasted red peppers, Charlotte potatoes and basil offered another elegant expression of the season.

Garsington Opera’s celebrated 90-minute interval gives guests time for something more indulgent. Our three-course offering aimed to make those 90 minutes as memorable as the show itself, showcasing seasonal British ingredients through elegant contemporary dishes, followed by coffee and after-dinner truffles, a menu enjoyed by over 7,000 visitors in the course of the event. 

Our talent for exact timing served us well behind the scenes, with kitchen and front-of-house teams working closely around the performance schedule, ensuring each course was served with precision and polish before guests returned to the Opera Pavilion.

For those who prefer a luxurious start to the evening, we offered pre-performance canapés every night, from Hampshire trout blinis with sour cream and caviar to lamb tartare croustades with pickled onion and mint. Sourdough flatbread with barbecued broccoli and smoked goat’s curd adds a more relaxed, savoury note.

Meanwhile, afternoon tea was available to pay homage to British tradition, comprising buttermilk scones with clotted cream and homemade strawberry jam, as well as savouries, sandwiches, pastries and optional Champagne Deutz for an added flourish – all served overlooking the Wormsley Cricket Ground. 

“We are incredibly fortunate to have our home in an exceptionally beautiful setting, and this new partnership enables us to offer a quality dining experience to match the renowned opera productions on our stage.” 

-    Nicola Creed, Executive Director, Garsington Opera

To truly make the most of the unique setting, guests could partake in the Garsington Opera Gourmet Picnic and over 1,000 visitors did just that. Served to table and presented on fine china, it was enjoyed in shared tents overlooking the Cricket Ground. 

The spread featured fresh breads, chalk stream trout en croûte with cream cheese and spinach mousse, alongside roast beef with salsa verde and vibrant summer salads.  Strawberry choux buns with rhubarb, British cheeses and dark chocolate truffles added an appropriately generous finish. 

Our traditional picnic options offered another way to enjoy the grounds, presented in cool bags complete with china tableware. Vegetarian menus were also available, with seasonal dishes designed with the same attention to flavour and presentation and were successfully served to over 190 guests over the seven-week event. 

To accompany our exceptional British cuisine, we had Champagne Deutz heading up the sparkling selection, including its Brut Classic, Rosé and Blanc de Blancs, in fact, a total of 1,057 bottles of Champagne were served throughout the festival. 

The wider wine list took guests on a journey through English vineyards and some of Europe’s celebrated wine regions. Hattingley Valley Chardonnay brought an English note to the white selection, alongside bottles from Burgundy, Provence, Piedmont and beyond. Guests were able to pre-order drinks alongside their dining reservation, enabling us to ensure bottles were ready and waiting on arrival. 

Across the seven-week festival, Payne & Gunter delivered a varied programme of dining across the Wormsley Estate, with each element tailored to the pace and character of the showstopping occasion. 

From refined interval dining to elegant picnics, our service combined culinary creativity with the precision required for one of the summer calendar’s most prestigious cultural events, and we’re thrilled to be catering the festival again in 2027. 

The success of the event speaks to the expertise Payne & Gunter has developed since 1786, bringing polished hospitality to major occasions including Wimbledon, BST Hyde Park and the BRIT Awards. At Garsington Opera, that experience was (and will continue to be) expressed through seasonal menus, gracious service and dining that feels entirely at home in its spectacular surroundings. 

We’ve been creating memorable dining experiences since 1786. If you’re planning a unique event, let us bring the same creativity, precision and polished hospitality to your occasion.

Get in touch or call us on 0121 457 5092.