It's so nice going to other people's supper clubs. I do so many of them myself, it's lovely to see what other people are doing with theirs. So when I was invited to Juma Kitchen supper club I was very keen to go. Not only to experience someone else's pop up but this particular supper club is Iraqi food - something I'd not had before. Throw in a few of my favourite bloggers sitting next to me, and it was bound to be a good night.
The first notable difference between Juma Kitchen and my supper clubs is the venue - mine mostly happen at my house (or at a local hotel) whereas the Juma event I went to was at a proper restaurant - The Jam Tree in Clapham - in the back room, which they'd made private for the event. The second obvious difference was the number of people. Mine range from 12-30 guests, but I'd say there were at least 50 diners in one sitting at Juma. So it's much more like a normal restaurant than lots of supper clubs I've been too, apart from you sit on a table with strangers, and there's a fixed menu.
The menu on the night was long! We had entrees, starters, second course, mains and pudding to work our way through, but it was also full of some of my favourite things - all with a very Middle East influence, so I was excited to see what was in store, especially after a lovely welcome cocktail of gin, elderflower, fig jam, fig liqueur and fresh lemon juice - a refreshing, slightly sharp, fruity concoction that disappeared far too quickly and left me longing for another.
We started with a slate of 3 classics - lamb bourek, falafel and baba ganoush. They were all delicious and a great way to kick off the meal - the falafel being my actual favourite of the 3. I was expecting the baba ganoush to win, but it wasn't as smoky as other versions I've tried, so although it was good, it wasn't my favourite.
The first notable difference between Juma Kitchen and my supper clubs is the venue - mine mostly happen at my house (or at a local hotel) whereas the Juma event I went to was at a proper restaurant - The Jam Tree in Clapham - in the back room, which they'd made private for the event. The second obvious difference was the number of people. Mine range from 12-30 guests, but I'd say there were at least 50 diners in one sitting at Juma. So it's much more like a normal restaurant than lots of supper clubs I've been too, apart from you sit on a table with strangers, and there's a fixed menu.
The menu on the night was long! We had entrees, starters, second course, mains and pudding to work our way through, but it was also full of some of my favourite things - all with a very Middle East influence, so I was excited to see what was in store, especially after a lovely welcome cocktail of gin, elderflower, fig jam, fig liqueur and fresh lemon juice - a refreshing, slightly sharp, fruity concoction that disappeared far too quickly and left me longing for another.
We started with a slate of 3 classics - lamb bourek, falafel and baba ganoush. They were all delicious and a great way to kick off the meal - the falafel being my actual favourite of the 3. I was expecting the baba ganoush to win, but it wasn't as smoky as other versions I've tried, so although it was good, it wasn't my favourite.
