FOOD&DRINK

Melissa Blease dons her Che Guevara beret and goes dining with the guerrillas.

Imagine a restaurant so exclusive that only the very, very privileged few know it even exists... and by the time the hoi polloi find out about it, it’s gone: welcome, diners, to the world of underground restaurants, aka pop-up/guerrilla dining events or, to give the trend a more genteel title, private supper clubs – for all you know, there’s one thriving in the house next door.

What does it all mean? Academic types claim that the origins of the “here today, gone tomorrow” kitchen began with the Cuban paladares: small, privately owned, usually family-run restaurants operating in a domestic setting. A statement on the Bristol-based Cloak and Dinner website, however, puts it like this: “Eating out combines a sense of occasion, the company of friends and that most revered of sensory experiences: eating delicious food. Doing it well costs the earth [because] ingredients are flown for miles, staff have to get paid, bosses have to make profit and someone’s gotta pay the rent. [But] the recession continues so we decided to screw all that, take a building, work for free, source food as locally as possible and put on a one-off restaurant experience for you, priced at whatever you want to donate.” Mmm, tasty...

...but is it legal? Yeah but no but yeah, but... um, no, not really. But if a guerrilla operation isn’t selling alcohol (BYO is the general MO) and not putting on any entertainment beyond some background music, the event is, ostensibly, a dinner party with guests chipping in some cash to cover costs. As for Health and Safety rules and regulations: well, did you get your home checked out last time you had your mates over for supper?

I wanna eat guerrilla! Due to the secretive cloak of hush-hush that surrounds both the organisers and the locations of these captivating events, tracking down a gourmet guerrilla willing to talk freely about their behind-the-scenes activities isn’t an easy task. To the best of our knowledge, however, the contact details for the events listed below should take you down to your local underground network faster than you can say “expect to pay around £25-£35 for multiple courses”; Twitter, Facebook and blogs, meanwhile, are the doormen in-the-know.

FIVE FURTIVE FEASTS FOR YOUR DIARY

Full As An Egg Suppers An offshoot of local food blog Plein Comme Un Oeuf launched a Knowle-based supper club on Thur 17/Fri 18 Mar. Ffi: http://tinyurl.com/fllsngg 

Chez Iza Supper Club Bistro-style dining in a Clifton living room headed up by passionate multicultural foodie Iza Redon. Ffi: http://tinyurl.com/lcznspp 

The Blue Door Supper Club Operates in Windmill Hill, Bristol and specialises in “proper British food in all its glory”. The next event takes place on Thur  31 Mar; email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for further details.

The Bishopston Supper Club Relaxed, friendly and informal, offering menus wrought from seasonal, locally sourced produce resulting in homely, simple but personality-laden classics. Bookings are now being taken for the next event on Fri 8 Apr; web: http://restingchef.wordpress.com; email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Montpelier Basement Visit http://tinyurl.com/mntplrbs for the full rundown or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 

Copyright Melissa Blease 2011

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