Fernandez & Leluu

Yesterday Gaby and I went to Fernandez & Leluu’s supperclub, and it was a very interesting evening. Either of us hadn’t been where they live before, and we misjudged how long the bus would take and was slightly late. So embarrasing, but they waited for us, which was really sweet. When we rang the bell a girl called Mia opened the door, and it turned out she was Swedish too. She was also our waitress for the evening and really sweet. When we approached our table with other supperclub ‘virgins’ we were greeted by a bunch of friendly people. Only one person at our table of 12 or so had been there before, five times! In the room we were about 25 people sat around 4 different tables, and everyone was outgoing and seemed to enjoy themselves. It was people of all ages and nationalities with one thing in common – they all love food! One lady was there to see what it was like because she was thinking of setting one up herself, one man was in the UK for business and had read about the supperclub in his newspaper in the US and decided to go, and around one table it was a group of eight friends and co-workers who decided to go together.

As one woman said, at a supperclub the food and the company is equaly important where as if you go to a restaurant you are there only for the food. I would say that it is worth going for the food alone, but meeting nice people with the same interest as you makes it a very different experience to a restaurant visit. It is more informal and much more sociable.

Both Gaby and I expected good food, since this is a very popular supperclub, but this was over our expectations. it was several courses, all very well executed and with amazing flavours. As the guy next to me pointed out: “there is no salt and pepper on the table – because you don’t need it”. We started off with a mackarel pate on endives with garlic foccacia, and it was wonderful. I really want the recipe for the bread! Next course was parma ham with ripe melon and king prawns with a lovely herb mayonnaise, I think this course most people could make, but simple is good when you have good produce. Next (I think, I am so afraid I will forget one of the many courses) was black squid risotto and it was superb. Full of flavours and not too rich, definitely one of my favourites. Next was marinated tuna cubes with chips and wasabi mayo. The tuna was amazing, very tender and rich in flavour and the wasabi mayo was lovely too, I don’t think chips was the best complement to it, but it was a fun take on fish and chips. Next was an octopus carpaccio, and lots of it, with small capers, and it was absolutely delicious. I would never come up with the idea myself to make it, but will definitely try it. Perfect inbetween courses or as tapas. Next was another of my favourites, slowroasted lamb with potato salad. The potato salad was quite ordinary, similar to the one I make, but the lamb, OMG it was lovely! It was crunchy and tender and tasted absolutely amazing!

By this point it was quite late for us, as we had to trek home and go to work the next day. Most other people in the room and certainly at our table had had quite a lot of wine, and Gaby and I wish we had too. We felt really really sober compared to some of the others, singing, shouting etc. So next time we will go at the weekend and make sure we bring lots of nice wines! 🙂 We were the first ones to leave, but eat the dessert quickly, and I’m glad we didn’t miss it. It was pannacotta with vodka and orange with berries on top and it was really good. I think pannacotta in general is a bit boring and playing it safe when it comes to dessert, but this one was really good. As Gaby pointed out, the vodka really takes the edge of it, so it doesn’t feel as creamy.

We managed to sneak upstairs into the large kitchen and say hello and goodbye to the hosts, and it was lovely to meet them! I certainly hope they keep up the good work because both Gaby and I are coming back!

Thank you so much, we had a lovely time!