Prohibition

Saturday saw an old church hall which now resembles a bit of a shack in the Suffolk countryside be converted into a 1920’s speak-easy complete with a make-shift kitchen and bar for 22 paying guests to have a six course dinner and be transported to 90 years ago!

I’ll admit, it took months of planning and sourcing the right bits and bobs but I was very happy with my first pop-up restaurant success and have already started planning many more.

Apologies though, I forgot to have photos taken of every course!



The event was advertised as a 5 course secret dining experience for £40 [the extra course was a sneaky free gift!] Guests paid before arrival and received a ticket designed as a newspaper article from the 20’s that gave them more information about the location and theme.

On arrival, guests were greeted through a curtain wall and offered a drink of strawberry prosecco, served in a tea cup out of a tea pot, all to conceal the alcohol.

Canapés were spiced nuts, pretzels and rarebit on toast with onion jam, poached quails egg and crispy bacon. My good friend and fantastic singer Beth sung some 20’s classics, supported by my boyfriend and very talented guitarist Jamie. Guests then sat down on their tables which were empty apart from a central candle and two old music books. Inside these books were the cocktail and food menus.

Water was put on the table, served from watering cans and the guests had jam jars to use as vessels. The waitresses then delivered an old suitcase to each table where the guests were simply told “here is your bread and butter and a glove for your first course…!” The guests then emptied the case of napkins, a knife, bread from the brilliant Pump Street Bakery, Orford, and a single white glove.

First course was mock-turtle soup served in a small sweet-corn can. The heat of the can was the reason for the glove! The soup was made with a rich stock of beef and veal bones, oyster, ox-tail and the traditional addition of tomato ketchup.

Second course; Waldorf salad, apple compote, julienne apple and apple crisp, thinly sliced celery, toasted walnuts, walnut foam, lemon mayonnaise and crisp lovage [sadly celery leaves are pretty scarce at this time of year], served on wooden boards. The two big tables had long boards to share across the table which worked really well, encouraging people to engage and talk with the other person.

Third course; turbot ceviche, julienne kohl rabi, thin radish, courgette and lemon dressing, served in scallop shells complete with lids.

I used the vegetable garden of the venue as much as possible too, and you can’t get fresher courgette than running out to pick it 10 minutes before it was served due to forgetting it was on the menu!

Fourth course; pigeon breast, pearl barley, cavalo nero and sweet corn puree, served on a vinyl. It was definitely the first time I had to consider the consistency of the sauce and puree and how to plate a dish due to it’s plate, it all worked fine and the ridges in the vinyl actually helped the dish not to skim around the plate. My waitresses also commented it made it a lot easier to clear tables as they were so light!

Fifth course; bourbon bourbons. When having an initial meeting with the bar man – Will – about the bar menu and my concept and what I hoped to achieve, I’ll admit I got confused as to which bourbon was the biscuit and which was the drink. This resulted in the idea of creating a bourbon bourbon biscuit to solve any issues! The biscuit base made by James [a friend and great chef who was helping me throughout the evening and leading up to the event, follow him on twitter here: @furrydragon55 ] tasted just like the real thing, we then sandwiched it with a bourbon marquis filling so it set. These were served on espresso saucers with an espresso martini.

Final course; jam doughnuts. The alcoholic version of this was a layered shot of chambourd and baileys served in a miniature plant pot with a strawberry syrup sugared rim. Honestly did taste like a doughnut! For people not drinking, mini doughnuts were offered.

The night ended with Beth and Jamie singing/playing 1920’s style music and cocktails flowing from the bar.

Many thanks must go to [in order of picture below]

James Jay @furrydragon55

Sarah Newell

Charlotte Lawson

Will Dinmore for the drinks
Aime Newell for her brilliant props and decor
Mike and Sally Ball

Bethany Browes for her voice
Jamie Christensen for his guitar talents

There were many more but the above were those who I really could not have done it without.

Next evening is October 13^th as part of the Aldeburgh Fringe events: http://bit.ly/qmRELM, payment for tickets being taken 1^st August, 1/3 of the seats are already booked!

More regular news on events here: http://on.fb.me/Hr7LXa