Turning 21 Never Tasted So Good
LOLA St Kilda, Melbourne

How Catering By Chefs brought the food and the flavour to Sarah’s 21st birthday celebration at one of Melbourne’s most stylish venues.

The Event at a Glance

  • •Client: Sarah
  • •Occasion: 21st Birthday Celebration
  • •Date: Saturday 15 March 2025
  • •Venue: LOLA St Kilda
  • •Format: Cocktail and canapé party with roaming cold and hot canapés
  • •Guests: 50
  • •CBC Arrival: 7:00pm
  • •Guest Arrival: 7:30pm
  • •Food Service: From 8:15pm
  • •Uniformed Chef: 1
  • •Uniformed Waiter: 1
  • •Dietary Requirements: None

The Story

Just Bring the Vibes. We’ll Bring the Flavour.

A 21st birthday is one of those occasions where the food genuinely has to keep up with the energy of the room. Guests are on their feet, the music is up, everyone is socialising, and the last thing anyone wants is food that slows the pace or feels out of place. When Sarah chose Catering By Chefs for her 21st at LOLA St Kilda, she needed a catering team that understood that dynamic from the start.

The answer was a roaming canapé menu of eight items spanning cold and hot selections, each designed to be easy to hold and eat while standing, generous enough to keep 50 guests properly fed throughout the evening and varied enough to keep the food interesting from the first platter to the last. CBC arrived at 7:00pm to set up ahead of the 7:30pm guest arrival, with food service beginning at 8:15pm once guests had settled in.

Just bring the vibes and we’ll bring the flavour.

The standouts on the night were the Peking duck pancakes with spring onions, cucumber and hoisin sauce, and the fish and chip boats with tartare sauce. Both combined a familiar, crowd-pleasing base with a level of execution that guests did not expect from a roaming canapé service. The peri peri chicken on brioche buns and the Tuscan chicken strips with garlic and rosemary crumb were consistently the first hot items to go, replenished throughout the service by the CBC wait staff.

LOLA St Kilda provided the perfect backdrop. With its warm amber timber booth seating, checkerboard floors, rose gold confetti balloon decor and the 21 light box centrepiece, the venue had exactly the kind of stylish and relaxed energy that a Melbourne 21st deserves.

The Food

What Was Served

Eight Roaming Canapés – Cold and Hot – for 50 Guests

The canapé menu at Sarah’s 21st was built across eight items, split between cold and hot roaming selections. Every item was freshly prepared by the CBC chef and served by the CBC waiter circulating through the event from 8:15pm. With 50 guests and eight canapé items, the spread gave every guest genuine variety from the first pass to the last.

Roaming Cold Canapés

  • 50 x Peking duck pancakes with spring onions, cucumber and hoisin sauce — an elegant, flavoursome cold canapé that set the tone for the evening from the first pass
  • 50 x Assorted mini rice paper rolls; vegetarian, prawn and chicken varieties, light and fresh
  • 50 x Peri peri chicken on brioche bun with micro salad; a warm, flavour-packed bite that proved consistently popular throughout the service

Roaming Hot Canapés

  • 50 x Spanish chorizo and chicken rice cups; a substantial, satisfying hot canapé with bold flavour
  • 50 x Zucchini tartlets with ricotta, parmesan and a splash of lemon; a light and elegant vegetarian option
  • 50 x Bruschetta with fresh chopped tomato, basil and golden parmesan; a classic done properly
  • 50 x Tuscan chicken strips with garlic and rosemary crumb and aioli; one of the most popular items of the night, consistently among the first to be taken from the platter
  • 50 x Fish and chip boats with tartare sauce; the clever, crowd-pleasing combination that guests kept coming back for

The Venue

LOLA St Kilda

LOLA St Kilda is one of Melbourne’s most sought-after venues for milestone birthday celebrations. With its warm amber timber booths, checkerboard floors, intimate cocktail lounge atmosphere and dedicated event spaces, it is the kind of venue that makes a 21st birthday feel genuinely special rather than just another hired function room.

Catering By Chefs has catered events at LOLA St Kilda over the years and knows the venue well. For Sarah’s 21st, that familiarity with the space meant the food and the environment worked together seamlessly from the moment guests arrived.

If you are planning an event at a Melbourne function venue, call Phil directly to discuss how we can work with your chosen space.

What Made It Work

Three Reasons the Food Was the Talk of the Night

The details that made Sarah’s 21st genuinely memorable

One

The Right Food for the Right Kind of Party

Cocktail canapés suit a 21st birthday better than almost any other format. Guests stay on their feet, the food keeps pace with the energy of the room, and nobody has to sit down and stop the conversation to eat. Phil built the menu around this from the start, choosing eight items that were easy to hold, genuinely satisfying and designed for a social standing event.

Two

A Menu With Genuine Variety

Eight canapé items across cold and hot selections meant 50 guests had real variety throughout the service. From Peking duck pancakes and peri peri chicken brioche to Tuscan chicken strips and fish and chip boats, the menu moved across cuisines and cooking styles in a way that kept the food genuinely interesting from the first platter to the last. No guest was eating the same thing twice.

Three

Seamless Coordination With the Venue

Because Catering By Chefs knows LOLA St Kilda well from catering events there over the years, the coordination on the night was effortless. No friction, no logistics stress for Sarah or her family, just a celebration that ran exactly as it should.

Planning a 21st Birthday or Milestone Celebration in Melbourne?

Talk to Phil Today

Whether you are planning a 21st birthday, a milestone celebration at a venue, a private home party or any occasion worth doing properly, Catering By Chefs brings 30 years of Melbourne event catering experience and the right menu for the right moment. Phil personally handles every enquiry and would love to hear about your event.