Spanish Wedding Food Tasting | Mijas Hacienda Menu
What to Expect on a Wedding Food Tasting Tour when getting married on the Costa del Sol…
Once a bridal couple’s dream venue has been secured, thoughts quickly turn toward perfecting and orchestrating some of the most important of the finer details. Top of that list is the all-important wedding catering. An increasing number of destination wedding venues are opting to curate a high-end culinary experience ‘in-house’ for their guests – for ease, peace of mind, and to work with chefs, kitchen and waiting staff who know the venue intimately; something which translates into smooth, professional and exquisite service and final product for a day to remember.
The Hacienda is no exception there.
Located in the stunning countryside of Mijas, this luxury wedding venue consistently delivers exceptional quality and experiences for its bridal couples and their wedding guests. Sunshine Weddings Spain is honoured to have been working with the Hacienda team for many years, both considering the other as family.
Originally the villa venue was a boutique hotel, but then in 2010 it became one of the first villa wedding venues on the Costa del Sol and has been leading the way in the Mijas area ever since, celebrated for its excellent reputation.
Typically, the Hacienda’s catering team will look after every aspect of the wedding day’s menu, as well as an event of the couple’s choice the following day – the latter is often a relaxed affair such as a barbecue or a paella. Menus can be adapted to the clients’ personal requests, and children, vegetarians and vegans are also well catered for.
The inspiration behind the Hacienda’s fabulous food is a fusion of Spanish-influenced tapas dishes alongside a gala menu for mains and dessert, offering up a middle-market approach full of choices that are perfect for the Western market. On the food tasting day, clients will have flown in from all over the world (combining the food tasting with other aspects of wedding planning alongside the Sunshine Weddings Spain team). Scott, the owner of SWS will accompany the couple to the unit and a waiter will bring them drinks, hot bread, cold and hot canapes – the latter are a popular choice accompanied with cocktails in the gardens whilst the newlyweds have their photos taken around the venue post ceremony. Depending on the menu requirements, dishes will then be sampled by everybody present. So for a gala menu food tasting, four starters, four mains, and four desserts will be tasted by the bridal couple and Scott. This is the starting point from which tweaks and adaptations can be discussed and made.
Very occasionally a couple is unable to travel to a food tasting prior to the wedding day. In this instance, family or friends who live on the coast can step into the role. Alternatively, the planner and clients can communicate via images, breaking the menu options down through preferences. The Hacienda team will guide them every step of the way to ensure they have the perfect menu on the day.
Some of the most popular dishes in the Hacienda’s repertoire are selections of deliciously authentic tapas, which lend themselves well to a summer wedding in particular and give guests a taste of many different foods that are typical of the region and country. Traditional Andalusian paella is another crowd-pleaser that never fails to deliver the wow factor. The catering team finds that (predictably perhaps!) men tend to opt for the meatier dishes, whilst women favour the chicken and fish options of the gala menu. Again, the team can guide the bridal couple to ensure the menu offers a perfect balance to suit all tastes. Interestingly, with the rise of vegetarians, a goats cheese stack is often a great dish to start off with, whetting all appetites.
Every year the catering team re-evaluates the menu options to adapt them to any changes in popularity – as well as taking into consideration the rise of food intolerances. One of the Hacienda’s most popular dessert choices is brownies, but nowadays they ensure that no nuts are used in this, or any of the rest of their dishes – unless specifically requested. It is safer to simply remove nuts from their menus, and that’s exactly what happened to their chicken skewer with satay dish too – peanuts were omitted from the sauce. Likewise, they are able to adapt to gluten-free and fruit free requests. All of which is refreshingly reassuring and helps couples relax, safe in the knowledge that they and their family and friends are being truly looked after.
Last, but by no means least, children are served their main meals first on the wedding day, and in sync with the grownups enjoying their starters. Their taste buds will be delighted by chicken and fish goujons, chips, pizza and lasagne. The kids menu offers a choice of two dishes.
Despite a much quieter 2020 than normal because of the pandemic, last year’s bridal couples have re-booked their wedding days for 2021, and the Hacienda are optimistic that this year’s weddings can take place without a hitch. Happily, they have also been able to conduct a small number of food tastings with bridal couples over the Christmas period – all socially distanced and observing the new norms to make things as enjoyable as possible.
The Sunshine Weddings Spain team would like to thank the Hacienda team for their time and input in today’s feature and we look forward to working together on many more weddings in the up-coming season.