There’s a reason that the Terra Nova All-Suite hotel is multi-award winning. Whether you’re a hotel guest or having a family dinner in one of the restaurants or a busy exec squeezing in after-work drinks with colleagues, or a student of Tivoli Gardens High School, you’ll encounter true white-glove service and an experience not easily replicated by others in the game.

Thursday Food had a seat at the table as hotel Managing Director Ruth Hussey and director Christelle Harris hosted nine students and their teacher from the Tivoli Gardens High School for an Applaud It! luncheon. In its fifth year, Applaud It! is a “week-long initiative that provides a unique opportunity for industry leaders to meet the next generation exactly where they are at and guide them through an awesome experience that exposes them to social and dining skills”. The luncheon table was tasteful and impeccable. Exquisite linens, fine china, silverware with heft and a top-notch three-course lunch showed the students that in the eyes of their hosts they were VIPs.

Cream of pumpkin soup and the hotel’s signature garlic bread kicked the meal off. It’s in the simplicity of things that you find true beauty, and a perfectly executed cream of pumpkin soup is a gem of an appetiser. The multi-component main course was substantial but did not weigh guests down. A fine act to balance. On the plate were Cajun-spiced grilled snapper, chicken Florentine, seasoned rice, fresh market vegetables and candied plantain. Each element was without fault. The intricacies were not lost on Thursday Food; the sauce for the Florentine was the right viscosity so it didn’t spread across the plate and muddle the flavour of the Cajun-spiced fish. Which, by the way, had a fantastic sear, just enough spice to make you raise an eyebrow (but not choke) and translucent seasoned onions along with bright thyme that added depth of flavour.

Dessert could have almost been a meal unto itself with a dessert plate of almond mousse, carrot cake and black forest cake. There, too, was the decadent chocolate vanilla raspberry cake by pastry chef Dawn Mitchell which was, in a word, moreish.

The afternoon was awesome. And as head girl, Tilia Williams gave the vote of thanks her fellow students nodded in agreement at the memorable experience that was had. It was a luncheon truly worthy of applause.