THE new way to experience fine dining is in the comfort of your own home, courtesy of private chefs like Christian Ørner who bring the restaurant experience to you.

Christian who is half Norwegian and trained at Bournemouth and Poole College, invited me to organise a dinner party for six people to put his five star service to the test.

When it comes to cooking, he describes his approach as “relaxed and uncomplicated”.

“I love fine dining, but rather than having hundreds of different elements on a plate, I like to keep it simple but each bit done well,” he explains.

Christian who has worked on cruise ships and a luxury yacht, says he much prefers working as a private chef rather than in a restaurant.

“It’s much more fun and you get the menu that you want,” he explains. “I start by working out what people’s preferences are, if there are any allergies and so on until everyone is happy. I usually do the prep on the day so everything is super fresh.”

To whet our appetites, he presented us with a large, homemade Fogasse sharing loaf, dipping dishes of Sicilian olive oil with balsamic vinegar, bowls of mixed kalamata olives and two different types of butter - one with smoked salt and the other with truffle - which was an exquisite start to our eight course feast.

The first few courses included a cucumber consommé, served at room temperature, which was delicate and fragrant with a tangy tomato concasse that lifted the flavour, followed by a stunning beetroot panna cotta, served with beetroot crisps, raw apple and a drizzle of lemon oil which was an inspired combination of textures and flavours.

Next up were pan fried scallops served in their shells with a globe of sweetcorn puree and salted popcorn on the side which sounds outlandish, but it worked!

Our main course was pan roasted, smoked chicken breast (he has a smokery at his home), served with ravioli, butternut squash brunoise and sage butter sauce.

His main speciality however, is chocolate. You can see his eyes light up when he talks about his work as a chocolatier.

“Chocolate will always feature in the menu. I buy it from Crafthouse Chocolate in Poole which imports from Madagascar - it is really fruity, incredible stuff.”

The last two courses included his textured chocolate cake which was the work of culinary genius, nine cleverly crafted layers, which oozed melted chocolate sauce as you sliced through the centre followed by Jaffa cake macarons

Christian is just the sort of character you are happy to welcome in your home - polite, friendly and professional. What’s more he buys all the ingredients, serves and presents each dish and then cleans up. Hosting guests at home has never been so easy.

Prices depend on whether it’s a weekend or week day and number of guests - ours was £65 per head. For details, email Christian at dine@salt-co.co.uk