Saltoun Supper Club

Back on this supper club exploration of mine, this time at Arno Maasdorp's Saltoun Supper Club. I'd dutifully read all the other reviews and had somewhat high hopes for this one as the unforgiving, harsh but absolutely spot-on and fair food critic Jay Rayner reviewed it last year. Past stints at Loungelover and Les Trois Garcon came through in Arno's kitch and eclectically decorated home in Brixton. One wall covered with woven baskets, across another which was a mosaic of household items, dried insects, dolls and bric-a-brac. All intentfully arranged to create a cosy, playful and personal surrounding to the dining experience.

And so how was the food? Restaurant quality. It had all the swooshes, purees, blobs and dots of a top notch place. Each course was very filling (Hungry Female felt about 2 years pregnant with a baby elephant after all five courses) and had multiple elements that made unique and new food ensembles.

Hot and Cold Smoked Salmon with Spiced Apricot Puree. A little garden of salmon, beetroot, purees with a sprinkling of pomegranates. Lots of colours, textures and fresh flavours. Pardon the camera lanyard! Naughty lanyard!

Truffle Infused Cauliflower Gnocchi. This is what probably caused my overdue food pregnancy. Topped with loads of parmesan, I couldn't resist the little clouds of pasta that made their way into my mouth until the whole plate was clean. Cauliflower has an almost sweet taste when cooked that goes so well with earthy truffles. 

Roasted Duck. Hello Lover! Really tender duck with a celeriac puree, roasted onions and shallots. Couldn't get enough of the duck with the concentrated sweet onions. We were astonished by the portions and the ease in which Arno seemed to roll out these culinary feats from his home kitchen.

A Chocolate Plate. One of the most rich chocolate tortes and ganaches I've eaten. Despite it being gooey and that my throat felt coated by the dark gold, again I found it hard to resist. Beneath the chocolate was a caramel sauce and with regret I cannot remember what those Hershey shaped blobs are. How all these   sumptuous sweets are all on one dish but that the overall result was not sickening is real genius. 

Petit Fours. A quirky, random but adorable platter of ginger cake, chocolate cars, flying saucers and marshmallows put a smile on our faces. You can bring top restaurant food to the home, but you'd never bring humorous touches like these to a top restaurant. At least not the ones with puree swishes.

When the meal ended, Arno came over to chat. When asked why he wanted to have an underground restaurant in his house, he replied with "I wanted to do good home-cooked meals". Well Arno, you and I clearly live in very different homes! Bravo!

A minimum donation is £30 per person and is BYO. 

Ichi-Riki Sushi House

Underground restaurants you say? Currently a foodie phenomenon exploding all over the UK, it's as if everyone with a decent kitchen, lots of spare plates and some YouTube cookery tutelage has decided to play chef and open an underground restaurant or supperclub.

Now then, Ichi-Riki is actually a restaurant located underground. Near where I work is a lane called Strutton Ground but is lovingly known to its punters as Sandwich Street. So you can guess what is competitively sold there during lunchtime. And it gets very boring. As much as "Any sandwich filling fuh juzza pound noigh-ee-noine, larvf" is the economically wise choice in these frugal times, we all have to live a little and listen to our bodies. This day my body wanted sashimi.

So downwards from street level into the sweetest little Japanese restaurant. The waitress did her cutesy Japanese curtsy and giggle and showed me and and fellow foodie colleague in. The entire room could not have fitted more than 20 people and whilst underground, didn't have that bomb shelter effect. It even had the adorable sushi bar in the corner with paper curtains. The menu is not fancy, listing all your favourite Japanese comforts alongside specials of the day. We had to try the Soft Shell Crab Tempura special, which came with an unusual green sauce that made us think miso, with wasabi, perhaps some ponzu? A hint of chilli too, which complemented those crustaceans really well. Bits of leg, salty light batter and brittle shell fell apart in my mouth, as I thought "Why can't we have more??".

My own dish was salmon, tuna and trout sashimi over a mound of rice that lay on a solitary shiso leaf. Elegant, with excellent sashimi (I had Tsuru last week to compare with, you see!), I'm told by my colleague who's been to Japan numerous times that this quality of sashimi is all over Japan, though more elusive in London.

It's certainly elusive, and easy to miss amongst the baps and baguettes of haphazard Sandwich Street. If you're approaching from Victoria Street, walk along the left, until you see Crussh, Ichi-Riki is nestled in between that and a dodgy Everything-for-a-Fiver store.

For 1 special, 2 mains (including miso soup) and green tea each, it was £14 per person. It is sashimi and it is a great hidden gem with personal service, so my only gripe would be bigger portions. Other than that, give me underground sushi over sandwiches any day. 

Fernandez & Leluu

It had been one of those weeks, I had been chugging throughout and was actually shocked it was Friday. And I love Fridays even more when there are exciting dinner plans to look forward to. I'd never been to a secret or underground supperclub anywhere before, so Fernandez & Leluu was going to be my maiden voyage into this fashionable restaurant scene.

I wasn't sure what the USP of a supper club was meant to be. Interestingly, Wikipedia (LOVE Wiki!) almost suggests the idea springs from Latin America where they are known as restaurante de puertas cerradas or a "locked door restaurant". We are naturally apprehensive when ringing the bell, but were greeted by lovely Uyen (suppose she was Leluu?) who was a warm host from start to finish.

It's a charming space, tastefully decorated with hints of Asia, vintage, and even country chic. There must only be enough seats for 20, and us three (Boy & Best Friend) are seated at the long communal table. Whilst we are offered a welcome drink, it's a BYO arrangement. When everyone is seated, service begins and not much later than the suggested start time.

Borrowing from their site, this was the menu:-

Summer Rolls of Egg, Barbequed & Cured Pork, Shredded Pork Skin, Mint, Corriander & Lettuce
Lemongrass Beef With Vermicelli
Shredded Chicken With Coriander & Lime Salad with

Prawn Crackers & Puffy Sesame Rice Paper

Woven Spring Rolls With Prawns, Pork, Black Fungus & Vermicelli

Braised Ham & Quails Egg In Fish Sauce & Coconut Juice Served With Rice

Beef Pho Noodle Soup

Banana With Tapioca in Coconut Milk

I was impressed. Every dish was served with care, and each course had distinct presentation. I hate to imagine the washing up pile later! They were classic Vietnamese dishes in small to medium portions of which ingredients had not been scrimped on. 

Summer Rolls: Beautifully wrapped. I guess there are infinite combinations of what you can put inside, this one had chinese sausage and barbequed pork meat. I loved the sauce that had generous amounts of garlic and peanuts for added texture.

Lemongrass Beef on Vermicelli: Super tasty beef, though traditionally the meat tends to be more caramelised. I'm really nit-picking, that shows the standard they were at anyway.

Apologies for the slightly blurry picture. I might steal this as a dinner party idea. Juicy, tangy Shredded Chicken with freshness from the herbs on top of crunchy Prawn Crackers.

Woven Spring Rolls with Black Fungus and Vermicelli: Really delicious. Super crunchy and light on the outside and the filings were ideal to soak up the sour sauce. Boyfriend had to fight me for the last one.

Braised Ham with Quail's Eggs in Fish Sauce Soup: I've had Chinese versions of this which just have regular chicken eggs, so I thought the richer Quail's yolk was a nice partner to the smoky tea-esque stock.

Beef Pho: Again I'm nitpicking - if I had to choose I would have said this was the most "ordinary" dish of the evening. I'm probably used to the uber Ajinomoto versions in Vietnamese restaurants a la Kingsland Road.

Banana in Tapioca Milk: Rather pleasant and simple end to a meal, and am afraid I can't remember that much at this point! I blame it on a very friendly but self-absorbed thespian sitting next to us. Whilst he jabbered on about himself and his great knowledge of wine (which in fairness, he had some), he kept mixing  sherry (apparently the saltiness complements spicy food dahhling) with the same white wine he generously poured earlier. As the Boy would say, "Character". 


I'm kinda keen to try others. For £30 a head I'd encourage you to meet some funny folks, and enjoy the relaxed vibe and yummy food. Bravo Fernandez & Leluu!