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The view from here
As we clean and clear Tim’s flat with the precision of a well drilled military unit I start to think to about life and what it means and why we do the things we do, why do we constantly put pressure on ourselves? Why do we take on that little bit too much? and why do feel the need to out do ourselves as well as each other. After the second old hat club experience I began to realise why, we do it because we love it, we love the people and we love the food, I personally enjoy the way we transform the flat in to a restaurant then back to a flat in the space of a few hours, it kind of symbolises a momentary leap in to insanity then a sobering climb back to normality, but when you arrive in normal land your faced with subtle clues as to what has occurred, extra large pieces of pork belly in the fridge, fifteen bags of rubbish instead of the customary two, and the large dent in ones manga style manaquin.
Aside from the deep journey in to the mind of a lonely supper club wanderer, I will also try to put across to you the wonderful atmosphere our guests created for us at old hat club number two, we had Ricardo and his band of avid tweeters and bloggers, all so impressed by Tim’s flat that the bathroom was tweeted more than once (my first ever manager always told me that guests always see the toilet before they see the food) and the placing of the sink was the topic of some discussion, we also had some supper club first timers who were wonderful guests and offered us some sound marketing tips, the main one being the old hat wives and singles evening we are currently considering where by the guests arrive and put there hats in to a large box in the middle of the room and on the way out grab whichever one they like the look of, we had Doc Scott and Mr Purdon who’s in depth knowledge of Scottish cuisine has led us to consider a variance on the Scottish classic ‘fruit puddin’ for one of our future desserts, alongside Mr Pete Scott who’s appetite for sardines and short shorts was overwhelming and inspiring. I must digress at this point and take a moment to thank Ricardo for choosing the Old hat club to showcase his wonderful Prosecco, an absolute Gentleman from start to finish and his calm and cool exterior will surely only help to further his brand in the future, I would like to raise a glass to the London Foodie Luis for his encouraging and kind words to us all throughout the afternoon and I sincerely hope to see you and your lovely partner back at the old hat club in the near future.
All in all we enjoyed the company hopefully as much as the company enjoyed the food, I feel the secret to a good dinner party is in the timing, a good dessert should never be rushed and good wine should never be quaffed, once again thank you all for coming and we will hopefully see you all again soon.
Tags: pop, pop up restaurant, supper club, underground restaurant |
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Secret Sunday session No. 3
Right then here we are all prepared for tomorrow. Prep list written and executed, a few nerves as we have a few new friends booked in with food blog reputations preceeding them. To oil the machine that is TOHC we are tucking into sangria made with cider in place of R Whites – gorgeous. Strong gorgeous, but gorgeous none the less.We are waiting for what is now known as ’staff dinner’. Staff dinner comes like staff lunch about 4 hours late when one of us has enough time and food enthusiasm to sort out calories for the workers. Tonight’s late night snack is currently being roasted outside in the fire that is due to caress the pork all night and smoke the summer squash in the early morning. It’s a warm evening, we are pissed, it’s been a day of sardines and crackling. Blinding. 6am start – I have already put out the ibuprofen.
To distract ourselves from our hunger we knock together the next menu, starting with the easiest which always seems to be starters, working towards what is usually the most difficult – dessert.
Our third Sunday sees us playing pinball geography. We are aiming for a summer joy, something that is substantial enough to be memorable, but fresh and not too wintery.
I have been fly fishing loads recently and basically I am a trout killing machine. I have a trip to the mighty River Test on the Saturday prior to OHC3. With this in mind I decided that the high risk approach of catching to order is well worth a go. Two biggie brown trout will be delivered for our starter to be treated with a Northern European style, for mains we head down across the Mediterranean, bouncing off North Africa and finishing in France with comfort and a twist on a classic.
We aim as always to give you something that’s different, from our hearts, and good funky food. So here goes. Third Sunday joy set for 22nd August, 1.30 pm
Menu
Mint tea julep
Wild brown trout horseradish and beetroot gravlax
Quail’s North African style – we go deep into the mezquita for a mass of Moorish dishes
Pineapple tatin with coconut ice-cream
As usual we have a few surprises to keep your taste buds excited.
Booking is done through our secure buddies at Paypal over on the right hand side. We hope you will join us for some superb food, a great atmosphere and tables full of good people.
If you have any questions email us at oldhatclub@gmail.com.
Tags: pop up restaurant, Sunday lunch, supper club, underground restaurant |
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Fachin Brilliant
It’s last Monday morning, and I have woken up in a van in the middle of a field. The odd bit is that I actually planned to, and I’m not even (very) hungover.The thing is, Tim has bought a van, and this is no normal van. Well, yes, it is a normal van but what I mean is that he loves it like it’s his only child, and that’s not normal. And I have to admit, it is pretty cool with it’s electric doors, it’s swivel chairs and most importantly, it’s space for our darling mountain bikes. Ah, the pitter patter of tiny spokey dokeys.
So, Friday afternoon comes along and we pack up the bikes, the fishing gear, a couple of disposable barbeques and a great big duvet, and it’s off to Wales. Hang on, back for the sat nav – and it’s off to Wales.
Friday evening sees us camping with some friends who are about to take on a 24 hour enduro mountain bike race. We aren’t racing, but it seems only right to join in the carb loading and whisper words of encouragement. “You’ll be great guys – what’s 24 hours anyhow? Eat your farfalle.” And a gently packed weekend of some fairly heavy single track (“Power through Em, power through”) and a couple of fly fishing hours that resulted in no less than 4 rainbow trout (“I’m a trout killing machine!”. Yes, dear.) sees us through to Monday morning, when, as I mentioned, I woke up in a van in the middle of a field.
Bikin’ and fishin’ are all well and good, but sometimes my hunter-gatherer boyfriend and I like to treat ourselves to a bit of decent grub that we haven’t had to bang on the head with a small truncheon, and never more than when we have woken up, showerless and toiletless, in the back of a van in a field in South Wales. And so to the actual point of my story – trusty old Google sent us to the Felin Fach Griffin, and I will be ever grateful.
Rolling into the carpark in the v dub, having been briefly distracted into a local whiskey distillery on the way (where we bought vodka and gin. Heathens), the Griffin packs it’s first punch. The veg garden. We are led through the bar for our drinks (cider for me, ale for the Trout Killing Machine) and to the beautiful oak tables set up outside.
It’s idyllic – in the near distance we can see row after neat row of strawberries, lettuce, and peas, all of which Joe the gardener happily chats us through – what’s ready, what’s late, what’s good this year (I have since found his blog for even more veg chat).
From the short and confident menu, we finally settle on a chicken terrine with caesar salad, a black pudding and liver salad, and both go for the blade of beef. With chips, obviously.
I have to mention before we start salivating over the food that the service was an absolute delight. Polite, attentive and friendly staff were a joy to chat to and nothing short of perfect in their delivery.
It’s a real pleasure to find that elusive balance between being made to feel welcome and an intrusive amount of attention (even more important since they do rooms too), and the Griffin got it just right.
So, it would have been a massive disappointment if the food in this beautiful setting with it’s perfect staff hadn’t been up to scratch.
Fortunately, the Griffin rolled another double six.
I’m not a fan of all this deconstructed-reconstructed business, but the chicken terrine and caesar salad took all the good bits from a traditional chicken caesar and left behind the claggy, pasty mouthfeel that the original can sometimes throw at you. It was clean and fresh, and big chunks of chicken in the terrine made it a proper dish, not just a flimsy salad. To my left, the black pudding was soft and rich, and a perfect partner to the liver. Those bad boys are so often paired for a reason, and that plate of food made perfect sense.
As the blade of beef was placed in front of me, anyone watching closely would have seen a flicker of disappointment whizz across my face – Tim’s too I think. Purely through my own naivety, I was expecting a steak. A cut I was new to, but a steak nonetheless, so a mould of slow cooked shredded meat came as something of a surprise.
How foolish of me to doubt these guys after the performance we have seen so far, and even as I sunk a fork into the soft, gooey beef I knew it was all going to be just fine. I can’t describe it, I just wish I knew how to make it myself.
So, full to the brim and grinning sleepily, I bundled myself into the back of the van and snoozed as Tim drove back to London. The perfect luxury ending to our outdoorsy weekend. Next time I’m in Felin Fach, I think I’ll book in and stay the night.
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D’oh
Last Valentine’s day, my boyfriend bought me a book on making dough. I bought him… zilch. Ooops – sorry about that Tim. However, what better gift for him than me baking loaf after loaf of perfect, golden bread? I think he thought this through.
At the next Old Hat Club, our stuffed scrowlers will be served on a slice of wholemeal toast. Since February 14th I have been perfecting the art of decent white bread – loaves, foucasse, epi, all that good stuff – but I hadn’t yet so much as laid a yeasty hand on grainy, wholemeal flour. Our lunch is less than 2 weeks away – it’s time to step up to the plate.
I think it might be fear that has stopped me short of my dough scraper so far. Every sane person in the world loves a good, chunky slice of crusty, wholemeal bread, lightly toasted and smothered in butter, and I’m just not sure my bread making skills are up to scratch. White bread, yes – I’m not so nervous when being compared to a 39p white sliced, but there is so much great wholemeal around the place. This is going to have to be good.
So, this morning, I put my trust in Richard Bertinet and consulted chapter 3 of his book, Dough, which has been pretty reliable so far. Bertinet has a non-traditional technique for preparing the dough – so unconventional in fact that his book is supplied with a DVD to help aspiring bakers like myself learn the technique. Bertinet doesn’t knead the dough, he slaps it down on an unfloured work surface to get a stretch, then folds it over itself to trap air in. Repeat, repeat, repeat. It takes a bit of getting used to, but is actually much less tedious than kneading and is a very satisfying channel for tension.
Having spent the last half hour slapping the dough to the background drone of America’s Next Top Model, it’s resting in the warmth of the office whilst I sit down to a bit of surfing and blogging. Lo and behold, the most cursory research sends me straight to an article written by Felicity Cloake for Word of Mouth on the Guardian site, on how to make the perfect wholemeal bread. Fool – should have consulted the online foodies before I started.
Felicity has also tried Bertinet’s technique, but found that although the loaf rose well, it made for a pretty heavy, dense bread. She recommends Dan Lepard’s use of a Vitamin C tablet in the dough mix. Sounds a bit weird to me, but there is a pretty sound scientific explanation for it, and everyone says baking is about chemistry, don’t they?
So, is it back to the scales for me? Let’s see how this loaf works out, and I might need to give Felicity/Dan’s recipe a bash too. I’ll let you know how it goes. Oh, and come for lunch in a couple of weeks time – you can try the winner for yourself and let me know what you think.
Tags: ingredients, old hat club, pop up restaurant, Sunday lunch, underground restaurant |
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On the Second Sunday
Bosh. Gone like a flash.
Nothing left. Well one portion of Guinness cake, but that’s all.
We sit down Harry and I on the stairs sun beating down, beaded beers in hand. One ‘service’ done. A few last min things. Cheese out. Someone wants chutney?
We gaze at the room, filled with cheer and new friends being made. Ami and Emma getting it all sorted. The beer; frozen bottles, stored in the freezer space liberated from whiskey ice cream. Brooklyn lager tastes amazing, clean and so much better when you stare at a living room filled with the great and the good getting on with everyone. Simply ace. Our feet ached and we laughed and smiled.
“So the easy bits the cooking then? It’s the set up and break down that needs some effort”. I say. Short order cooking lessons learnt, and still hungry for more? Then Harry said it. Clear and present. No waiver in his estuary twang. “So, when’s we doing the next one?” Deal sealed and done. Four united behind a drunken idea that enjoyably worked. Guests enthusiastic, twitter ringing with positivity. “Topeth Notchez” said one of our finest.
What we have learnt from this second time around? The advantages of pastry vs. spice are just too emotive subjects to confine to email. Menus are difficult things, food evoking memory, and destined for disagreement. Trifle over trifle and all that. What we needed was pasta, creamy velvety, sensual pasta, then cider and a different garden in North London. Then decisions can be made and lists written. Only then did we crack it.
This time we are moving a little further south in food terms, down the World and right-a-bit. It feels right given the weather and the galloping seasons.
So here goes. Second Sunday joy set for 11th July, 1.30 pm.
Menu
A glass of Prosecco Riccardo – from our friend Riccardo who knows Prosecco
Scrowlers on granary – Cornish sardines straight from Newlyn sweetened with own grown tomatoes and herbs. Served on Emma’s nutty bread.
Arista with smoked squash – We head to Tuscany for Milk-braised pork, served alongside overnight smoked squash, accompanied with a little crunch from crackling and goose fat potatoes
Citrus Tart and Orange ice cream
As usual we have a few surprises to keep your taste buds excited.
Booking is done through our secure buddies at Paypal over on the right hand side. We hope you will join us for some superb food, a great atmosphere and tables full of good people.
If you have any questions email us at oldhatclub@gmail.com.
Tags: old hat club, pop up restaurant, Sunday lunch, supper club, underground restaurant |
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Recipe requests
We made a couple of things on Sunday that some of our guests have kindly asked for the recipes for – thanks guys, a massive compliment.
Even if you were just being polite, here you go:So, the first was the courgette pickle – this one we took from the Riverford site, where Jane Baxter posts lots of lovely ideas for veggies. It’s a tart, mustardy pickle – we served it with terrine, but it would really sparkle up a cheese sandwich, or a salt beef one. The only change we made to the recipe was to go for long strips of courgette rather than rounds, purely because it looks better on the plate.
Courgette Pickle – for 1l of pickle
Slice up 500g of courgettes (thinly – we used a speed peeler to keep the slices skinny), sprinkle them with a couple of tablespoons of salt and cover with water for an hour or so. Drain and dry in a salad spinner or with kitchen roll.
In the meantime, bring 500ml of Cider Vinegar up to a simmer with a teaspoon of turmeric, a teaspoon and a half of mustard powder and a teaspoon and a half of crushed mustard seeds (brown, yellow or a mixture – makes little difference). After 3 minutes of simmering, let the pickling mixture cool, cover the courgettes with it and store them in a jar. They say it keeps forever in the fridge, but in my experience it’s perfect after a couple of days of pickling and beautiful for a couple of weeks, after which time it looses it’s bite that lovely crunch you get at the start.Next, the Guinness Cake. This was a Nigella recipe, but rather than ice the top as Nigella does (which looks fantastic – the dense black cake with a thick, white, frothy icing could almost be a pint of Guinness if you have a glass of wine and squint a little) we served it with some home-made whiskey ice-cream (the whiskey ice-cream is a recipe we did make up ourselves! Let us know if you’d like that one too).
Guinness Cake – for one great big cake
For the base of the cake, preheat the oven to 180 and line a 23″ cake tin.
Get a pan on the heat and pour in 250ml of Guinness with 250g of butter. Stir until the butter melts, and whisk in 75g of cocoa and 400g sugar. Whisk up a 142ml pot of sour cream with a couple of eggs and a tablespoon of vanilla extract, and add that to the pan too.
Finally, whisk in 275g of plain flour and 2 1/2 teaspoons of bicarb, and get the mixture into the cake tin as quickly as you can – once you get the flour in there it starts to get cakey so you don’t want to hang around too long at this stage. Bake for 45 minutes and cool in the tin.Now you need the frothy white icing for the top. Whip 300g of cream cheese until it’s nice and smooth, seive over 150g icing sugar and beat that in. Finally beat in 125ml of double cream until the icing is thick enough to spread. Paste it over your cool, black Guinness cake, and you’re done!
Hope this helps. Do let us know how you get on.
Tags: old hat club, pop up restaurant, recipies, supper club |
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Our first one
Gone are the stomach cramps, gone is the overwhelming feeling of dread every time I inadvertently match eyes with an oven, gone is the constant nagging feeling that what we’re doing is a completely ridiculous idea and we’re all going to regret this in the morning!!!!!
It all began early on Saturday unfortunately I had to attend my day job until six in the p.m so had to leave the majority of the really hard stuff to Tim and his team of Angels (gutted). After a quick tally of ingredients a trip to the shop was announced, so florist and general girlie girl Ami was left to roll and tie five pieces of very badly butchered Mutton. Tim and Emma returned an hour or so later to find Ami covered in sheep’s blood, massaging a large knife wound to her inner thigh, but also five beautifully rolled pieces of Lamb.
After making a Guinness cake that would tempt even the most avid watcher of one’s dress size to throw the scales over the side of a cliff and chow down, Emma calmly produced her courgette pickle, the secret weapon! I arrived dazed and confused at half six to find three tired and proud looking old hatters sitting around the table testing the pickle, I tried some, waited, then experienced a rush of pure glee as I realised the true meaning of underground dining, a group or single person who enjoys creating an experience so exact, that the smallest detail was still magnificent in flavour and style, and I am truly proud to have worked with three others who in themselves are full of flavour and at least two of them have style (sorry babe).
I awoke on Sunday morning to the sound of my brain informing my body that it needed water to re-substantiate the thinning layer of moisture separating the gray matter from my skull, yes kind readers I had a hangover. My beautiful, ever sensible and perfectly fresh faced girlfriend Ami decided that an early morning version of “cowboy the fuck up sonny and help Tim shift those sofas” would be more of a motivator than a glass of water and a pat on the tummy, and so the day began.
We jumped straight in and got shit done, Emma’s dough slapping was aggressive (slightly erotic) and soon the dough was ready, tables were set and flowers were laid out, we had a small hiccup with table settings as our feeble male brains were unable to comprehend numbers and seating arrangements, the girls were called and soon we had a comprehensive table plan and an entire run through on paper, we needed some last minute produce so I was sent out for deer testicles and the eyeball of a spawning newt for the terrine (only joking) , it was garlic, and returned to find a restaurant in Tim’s living room, we were ready.
The guests started to arrive and the bloody Mary’s were quickly downed to make way for idle conversation and some raucous laughter provided by Ami and mines Mothers who insisted on coming, promising to keep a low profile. We rustled up a surprise canapé of English oak roasted asparagus, topped with Bottarga causing all sorted of guest-ingredient-guessing.
Soon we had bums on seats and some on the floor as Sandy and crew attempted an overzealous Mexican wave which tipped a whole bench load of diners on to the floor, well done Sand, you really broke down some social barriers and certainly broke the ice, we had Debs from the states. Craig and Karen who had come down for lunch from Sheffield, Emily from Time Team and Lara and Claudia who kindly came along to support their fellow ‘pop-uppers’.
Thanks to all 27 of our Old Hat Clubbers, for your kind words, and enthusiasm for our passion. We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible on 11th July, and we hope a load more new friends.
Tags: pop up, supper club, underground restaurant |
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Welcome to the Secret Sunday Sessions
Crawl out of bed, order a taxi and be transported to a world of wood fired ovens, slow cooked meat, whisky ice cream and the best hangover cure to grace the insides of your dry and fluffy mouths.Be welcomed into Tim’s beautiful home and allow yourselves to be led to your table. Enjoy the fresh sent of flowers as you marvel at Ami’s tabletop creations, and be waited on as we prepare a Sunday lunch that you will never forget.
We will be serving five dazzling courses all of varying size, complexity and style, there is no need to rush as we have all day to enjoy the food and each others company. This will, of course, be made easier by Harry’s freshly prepared bloody Mary’s that will lower inhibitions and encourage free speech.
The first food course will be a mixed game terrine served with Emma’s homemade tear and share bread, courgette and mustard pickle and a knob of skillfully crafted butter.
This will be followed by a white bean Cassoulet, sheltered by fresh wilted kale leaves delicately laid bare under a generous slice of mutton that has been tended to by the gentle heat of Tim’s wonderful wood fuelled oven for no less than 14 hours,
What better way to finish a meal than with a walk to the pub, a pint and a chaser? But what thoughtless swine would encourage walking on a Sunday, especially since you’ve barely had time to digest your meal? So, to save your feet and your soles, we are treating you to a slice of Guinness cake dressed with a homemade whisky ice cream which will liven and destroy all at the same time.
By the time our sweet has been devoured, I fully expect to walk out of the kitchen and into a sea of glazed expressions and relaxed belts and buttons. All that is left is for idle conversation over cheese. Browse from table to table to table and sample our wonderful selection and feel free to relax and enjoy the rest of your evening.
First Sunday joy set for 13th June, 1.30 pm.
Menu
Real deal Bloody Mary
Venison, rabbit and gin terrine, courgette pickle, tear and share bread
14 hour oak-roasted mutton, butter bean cassoulet, greens
Guinness pudding, whiskey ice-cream
English Cheese
Brilliantly all Sunday lunch places have been snapped up.
A new date will be posted in the next few days. If you want to be notified of this next bash email us at oldhatclub@gmail.com.
We look forward to seeing you at the next Old Hat Club.
Tags: old hat club, pop up restaurant, Sunday lunch, underground restaurant |
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The start…
Scene 1.
4 drunks, 1 table, coffee untouched, cocktails reordered; strippers everywhere.
“That looks like a plan”
“Certainly so”
“So we’re doing it then”.
“Yep”
“what’s its name”?
“Something fresh. Pop ups just seem old hat don’t they”?
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