For anyone out there who has thought a little about perhaps hosting or wanting to go to a supper club, and wants to know a little about it, here is my first and very exciting experience of hosting a supper club...

Last week myself and partner hosted a supper club at our flat in Wandsworth. Not having done one before and not knowing quite the general etiquette or rules for this particular branch of dining institution, we were relatively unequipped. I mean, we knew how I thought the supper club should be run, but beyond that didn't know what to expect, who would be coming, how the direction of the evening would form. What if the conversation ran dry?! Shit. Coupled with the pronounced notion that it could be an actual re-enactment of 'Come Dine With Me' with diabolically pretentious guests critiquing my food, like assholes, and picking holes in my decisions. Cool, not worried at all then...

So, starting with picking a date, followed by the development of a very vague outline of a menu, I posted details of the event online through the website 'meet up'.  You can click here to see my posting (and also some pretty fab reviews from my very lovely guests!). 

Having capacity in our flat for 8 people, I was pretty stoked to see places claimed within a day, and conscious that we were going to have to do some monster re-jigging in the flat to make extra space for the guests. Logistics. Much like the kitchen space was going to have to be maximised for plating all the courses I had in mind.  

(To the left is my Mackerel starter.) 

Onto the money - payment comes through paypal in advance so funding the evening was in advance, pretty tidy in case you just so happen to be living by the skin of your teeth...

The premise of the evening was british seasonal fare, meaning the menu wouldn't be finalised until the week leading up to the event, so I could source the best quality and most bang on season produce. A few weeks prior to the event, I started making syrups and vinegars from seasonal foraged berries (which i previously posted about). The blackberry and hawthorn vinegar was tasting particularly good in my mind, and my gut instinct was telling me it was going to be an epic partner to a tasty bit of venison. Thus, I had selected my main course and later devised the rest...

Scouring borough market, whole foods, and supermarkets for the best produce was my aim, and I indeed finalised my menu which, despite all the planning, left me with very little time to spare to sit down for a much needed glass of fizz before the guests arrived! 

So, at 7 o clock on the dot, we welcomed our first guest, and the rest trailed in from there, meeting (thankfully) abundantly flowing conversation and a full evening of seasonal fare. 

Here's the menu:

Welcome drink - 
My version of a 'Jamaican' - cold steeped hibiscus tea, with Vodka, Orange, Burnt Orange and mint.
Canape 1 - 
Marinated heirloom tomato with goats curd yoghurt and basil
Canape 2 - 
Salt cod brandade with gentleman's relish and sea purslane
Canape 3 - 
Crispy chicken skin with hibiscus granita and sorrel
Starter 1 -
Earl Grey Smoked Mackerel with Gentlemans relish, carnival squash, pear, kale crisp and nasturtium
Starter 2 - 
(Homemade) fresh cheese with rosehip and yeast emulsion, malted sourdough croutons, 
Mid - 
Fermented barley grains with sorrel reduction and chestnut mushroom
Main  - 
Slow cooked shoulder of venison with venison reduction, blackberry and hawthorn, celeriac puree and a celeriac sheet. 
Dessert - 
Earl Grey baked custard, with whisky caramel, almond meringue and creme fraiche

Unfortunately - due to the hectic schedule we gave ourselves of plating up in our small kitchen, and the number of courses, neither myself or partner remembered to take pictures of everything, frustratingly, but in the gallery below at the bottom of the page are a small selection from the evening...

Supper clubs can be as easy or as hard as you make them, i made mine a little tricky - lots of courses, but I wanted to impress! In the future, I would without doubt simplify things for myself, but then again, that's half the fun, and I kind of thrive on the challenge. 

What's really great, is that you get to hear feedback from complete strangers, not friends who may be biased, and when it ispositivve feedback, it's something that you honestly really want to hear. I hope to god they weren't lying, but I don't think so! Here's the feedback that was posted on the meet up website:

An amalgamation of a beautiful setting, lovely company and fantastic food (oh that venison!) by an extremely talented and creative chef... Thanks for a thoroughly enjoyable night Harriet and Richard (and for the ski-tips!), I'd say let's have this supper club on a weekly basis :-)

Harriet Mansell is a delightfully friendly and fabulously skilled chef! Her supper club with her lovely partner Rich, is the best I have ever been to!!

A seriously talented chef. Inventive and surprising dishes, very well presented. Great ambience. Cool evening.

Lovely exciting food with unexpected twists. Beautifully done!

Fantastic night with exceptional good, company and atmosphere! We'll done Harriet and sous chef Richard! You nailed it!


Can't wait to do the next one!! 

I'm incredibly excited to be posting news about my Autumn supper club, which is taking place just two weekends from now. Through the Meet Up website, I have posted my supper club and feel honoured to say I have had lots of interest, and will be opening my house for a full evening of supper and merriment on the 25th October. With the help of my partner, we will host and hopefully delight guests with a very British and Autumnal themed menu. 

On the cards, to kick the evening off, are an array of snacks, of course. To showcase the best of what's out there at the moment. Carnival Squash... A fresh cheese starter with Hawthorn vinegar, Rosehip emulsion and Malted Sourdough Crumb. For main, Cured Mackerel, Kohlrabi, Apple and Sea Herbs. Dessert is to showcase of a few of the best things from the Autumn, though one thing for certain is that one of the dessert dishes  will be ever so warmingly whisky related. 

Click HERE to see the event posting.

So, to help get everything prepared for the upcoming feast, I went looking for extra rose hips on my walk home from work at the end of last week, and rather stumbled across a secret(ish) field, full of Sloes. Untapped by South Londoners. Needless to say, I got right involved.  Quite the find, and meaning that a batch of sloe gin is sitting getting, preparing itself, hopefully in time for the supper club. For anyone who has not made sloe gin before, it's the easiest damned thing. Just clean your sloes, if they are ripe then no need to prick the skins, place in the freezer overnight to simulate that first frost and encourage the skins to split. Sterilise a jar, simply by heating it to 140C in the oven, leave to cool,  then add your sloes, the gin and some sugar. I'd say only add a couple of tablespoons of sugar at this stage as you can always add more later if needs be. Then leave the sealed container for at least two weeks, ideally a month or so, to infuse, and make sure that in this time you show it a little bit of love and attention by giving it a move round or a gentle shake every day.

I've also just finished making a very tasty hawthorn & blackberry vinegar to be used on the evening and have been working on a reduction to accompany some venison, one of the evenings first forecast snacks. Plus the rose hip syrup is all ready, sat in the fridge, waiting to be whizzed up into it's accompaniment for the fresh cheese and also to form a key part in below's cocktail... my autumnal take on the classic Agua de Jamaica, or Jamaica Iced Tea.

The Agua de Jamaica I experimented with yesterday  simply involved cold steeping the hibiscus for around 2 hours, then  sweetening with a little brown sugar and adding some lemon to balance out the sweetness, and of course, some vodka. I was pretty happy. It is a little summery right now, but the dry citrus, sorrel notes, appeal to my taste buds very much. To 'Autumnal up' this summery cocktail, I'm going to get some clove spices, if I can find some then in the guise of wood avens, but if not, just the normal clove. Instead of the Lemon, I will add orange notes with some flamed orange zest, plus a dash of the freshly made rose hip syrup instead of the brown sugar. Plus a touch mint for both contrast and colour. Winter Pimms, if you like... If anyone wants the full recipe, let me know and I'll post it.

Finally, one other thing I will most certainly be including in my autumnal feast, probably my favourite fruit from this time of year, is the classic Fig. Figs, Honey and Cheese... too good. I made some Fig Tarte Tatins yesterday, below, and that's exactly what I realised they were missing, the honey and the cheese. Never omit the cheese; that's my motto.