Village Raw - ISSUE 6

VILLAGE RAW
FOOD & DRINK
DINNER WITH A DIFFERENCE
If you like dinner parties, but not the hassle of playing host,
then get yourself down to one of north London’s supper clubs. Whether
they’re held in someone’s home or in more unusual spaces, they’re
a great way of meeting people and supporting talented locals.
Words by Carla Parks. Photos by Emily Manos.
I’ve lived long enough to have had some memorable dining experiences,
but it’s safe to say I’ve never seen a chef spray chocolate
sauce all over a white dining table while accompanied by the
pulsating soundtrack to Pulp Fiction. I hold my breath as dessert
is served with a theatrical flourish and added sparklers. It’s not
entirely the sedate evening I was expecting when I was invited
to a supper club hosted by Thrown Contemporary, a ceramics
gallery in Highgate.
I’d had some apprehensions about the evening. I was going
on my own and, even worse, knew nothing at all about ceramics.
Did watching Demi Moore sitting at a pottery wheel in Ghost
count? But the gallery looked inviting on a blustery night, and I
was quickly handed a welcome cocktail by Maja Pauling, one half
of Fabulous 698B – the team behind tonight’s six-course menu.
“We started by hosting supper clubs in our flat,” Maja says. Having
had success at home, they expanded to private events, pop-ups
and special occasions and are now looking to start a restaurant
in London. She introduces me to Guillaume Jounot, her business
partner and chef, who hails from Brittany and has trained with the
likes of the Soho House Group.
“What’s difficult here is the logistics,” admits Guillaume, who
is squeezed into a corner that looks a bit impractical for serving
12 guests. There’s no kitchen and the menu looks ambitious –
it includes chestnut hummus, “funky” beets, Cornish mackerel
escabeche and pulled pork with cider reduction. “You have to
adapt to different situations,” he says with a wry smile. “Often
you don’t know what you are walking into.” In this instance, all
the food – with an emphasis on seasonal and local produce – is
prepared in advance.
Claire Pearce, the gallery’s director, explains that tonight’s
di s hes will be served on plates sold by the gallery. Initially, the
supper club was simply part of a series of events tied to a specific
tableware exhibition, but they proved so popular that she
now hosts one to celebrate each new show. Claire loves the creativity
of Fabulous 698B: “I saw that they were already doing
wonderful, creative things [on Instagram] and got in touch with
them to see if they would like to work with me. Within 24 hours,
they were standing in front of me and going through ideas.”
Supper clubs are not a new concept, having been popular as
all-evening entertainment in the 1930s and 40s. The modern interpretation
is going through a renaissance in cities, spurred on
by social media and a positive trend of pop-up foodie events. As
I take my seat, I find that one of my dining companions is Tom
Kemp, a ceramicist whose work is being exhibited by the gallery.
There are several large vases with bold calligraphic strokes on
display. The brush strokes, he explains to the table, are inspired by
ancient techniques once used in Rome for signwriting. I learn that
Tom used to be a mathematician at Oxford and has only taken up
ceramics recently, yet he’s finding commercial success.
Across from us is Anne, a Highgate resident since 1979, who
has been to one of these events before and says they are “great
fun” for meeting people, including some of the artists. She sits
next to Elise, another mathematician and MA student in ceramics
and glass, who follows Tom on Instagram and has travelled from
Battersea to be here. If I was worried about the conversation
stalling, I needn’t have been. Tom is easy to talk to and we are
soon swapping pictures of pets. We discuss the merits, and drawbacks,
of city life and adapting to new places. “I have no regrets,”
says Tom, who sold up in London and moved to Devon so that he
could work on his art full time.
Each course is introduced by Maja, while Claire gives a brief
description of the plates it’s served on and the techniques used
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