Back in 2009 I started The Underground Restaurant, a home restaurant or supper club. My first night to go public was February 9th. I was both terrified and excited.
Since then there are hundreds of supper clubs in London, the UK and Europe. I also started Find a Supper Club, a site for the supper club community. Below is the manifesto I published at the time:
The aims of this project are humble. I wish to:
- subvert the system
- encourage a do-it-yourself attitude
- reinvent traditional notions of motherhood in Western society
- cook for other people
- stretch myself on a culinary level
- make new friends
- enable them make new friends (you can talk to other tables at my restaurant)
- convert the internet world to face-to-face interaction
- make real food (no towers or plate grafitti)
- be an ”invisible meta-legend vagabond anarcho-restauranteur”.
Now virtually every food writer/cookbook author has a supper club. Many restaurants started ‘supper clubs’ or pop up versions. Countless people, particularly women, have started new careers in food because of the movement I started. It’s been very successful. I am very happy about that.
I have a few pretenders to my crown as the Queen of supper clubs, but they all started later than me. I took the risks. I came up with the format: the pre-booking, the shared tables and plates, the themed meals. So yeah, back down bitches. You are all welcome, but don’t stand in my light.
Now this year on Saturday February 9th, I’m recreating my first supper club, same menu, same price of £10 a head. BYO.
Buy tickets at this link.
Kir Royale
Home-made Tomato soup with Rosemary Focaccia
Gratin Dauphinois with Smoked Salmon
Celeriac Remoulade
Orange Chocolate Mousse with Candied Orange and Chocolate-dipped Physalis
Do come along.
Early blog posts when starting my home restaurant:
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