first supper club

After months of planning and even more months of thinking about running a supper club, it finally happened. We had our first supper club last Saturday. I would have not had the courage to start the supper club without guidance and encouragement from Aoife who runs my home supper. I've helped Aoife on two occassions but nothing could prepare me for Saturday's meal. I had sleepless nights building up to the event, constantly waking from my sleep thinking about every element of the supper club. Luckily on the night everything went according to plan.

I'd like to thank Amy for her great front of house hospitality, Naseem for helping me plate up the food and taking photos and Parvez for running around for last minute ingredients and continuously washing up cups, plates and dishes that were brought through to the kitchen. Maybe one day I will get to buy a dishwasher, but first another supper club menu planning. Hopefully a date will be published soon. 

One of my guest, Jessica Adair was kind enough to write a review of the night....Thanks Jessica

Variety is the spice of life at Edinburgh’s first Indian supper club

By Jessica Adair

Is it a dinner party? Is it a restaurant? No it’s a supper club! After months of reading about the latest craze to hit the foodie world Mr A and I finally decided to find out what all the fuss is about. And what better way to start our journey than at a supper club making its own debut on the Edinburgh circuit? Chai Lounge, run by the lovely Meena, opened its doors for the first time on Saturday 29^th October, promising a feast of Gujarati and South African fare. Our taste buds were tingling in anticipation!

By their very nature, supper clubs are slightly unpredictable and no two events are the same, so we weren’t quite sure what to expect when we walked into Meena’s flat on Saturday night. However, we were soon made to feel right at home by front-of-house hostess Amy, who ushered us into Meena’s delightful dining room with the promise of a welcome drink and canapés. The other guests were quick to introduce themselves and it became clear that we all shared a love of food, new experiences and meeting other Edinburghers.

Amy soon reappeared with our welcome drink, ‘Gin Jinn’, a refreshing blend of gin (obviously), lemonade and a magic ingredient, curry leaves! This gave the cocktail a subtle but distinctive spicy kick and made it a perfect partner for Meena’s canapés of pauthudi (beautiful little rolls of gram flour and curd studded with spices) and potato bonda (deep fried spiced potato balls). Taste buds tantalised, we took our seats for dinner.

Meena’s starter dish of chicken muthia, a delicately spiced chicken patty, and vetkoek (a South African take on a puri) was a great introduction to the winning combination of Gujarati and South African flavours. The main meal was served in traditional Indian ‘family style’ (where everyone has a bit of everything), and bowl after bowl of aromatic food soon arrived at our table. The central dish was the classic South African stew, ‘bunny chow’, made with locally sourced lamb, accompanied by a sambhar salad. Meena’s side dishes were tangy daal, cinnamon pumpkin, spiced aloo, cumin rice and a boondi and cucumber raita. Needless to say, we couldn’t wait to get stuck in!

The meal went down an absolute storm, and in between periods of satisfied munching, we all raved about the variety of the food, the fantastic flavours and the sociable nature of family style dining. I particularly enjoyed Meena’s pumpkin and potato dishes; they were subtly flavoured but still packed a punch, and the whole meal delivered a pleasant heat without being ‘hot’. When it comes to spicing and seasoning, Meena clearly has the magic touch.

After a much-needed pause (and the chance to compare our favourite main course dishes!), pudding arrived. Cooling and delicately flavoured with cardamom, the yoghurt-based ‘shrikhand’ was the perfect way to round off the meal. Cups of hot sweet chai followed, along with home-made ‘nankhatai’, a kind of Indian shortbread that was sweet and crumbly and better than anything I’ve ever had from a tartan tin.

At the end of the meal, Meena and her trusty crew came out of the kitchen to say hello, and we all enjoyed the opportunity to linger over our cups of chai a little longer (it was so delicious, I ordered seconds!). Finally, in a flurried exchange of contact details and Twitter IDs, we headed out into the night, full and very happy. Mr A and I chose to sit at separate tables to get the full Chai Lounge experience between us, and we both agreed the night had been a big success. Thanks to Meena’s beautiful food, fantastic hospitality and wonderful guests, we have both been well and truly bitten by the supper club bug!