We had a full table with both hungry and generous guests!

We had yet another great evening and managed to raise a fair amount of money for charity. Our guests were in constant conversation with each other all evening and were asking when we were going to sit down with them to eat! I suppose one should do that if you have such a small group of people at the table. One guest said he wanted to learn more about the food as they were eating each dish and hoped that next time Ma Rani would be at the table!

Joginder's Pancakes with spicy onion, potato and paneer. Every plate was polished off when I brought them back to the kitchen!

Different from previous supperclubs’ was that we served the dishes in stages rather than all at the same time and this worked so well. Everyone got to enjoy each dish and didn’t feel full by the time the next dish came out. Joginder’s Pancakes went down really well, we also decided to change the menu slightly and served the potato, paneer and  spicy onions on top rather than in the pancake. They tend to break very easily when rolled so the version that was served up was tried out on the family the night before!

Always on our menu is Joginder’s Chicken Masala and this time we served up Lamb Biryani as well. Both dishes were served on to the plates at the table and everyone had seconds of both dishes! Mum usually makes up a plate for my Dad but there was nothing left! Another dish that required more helpings around the table was the Boondi Wala Dahl (Yoghurt with Dumplings). It was served as a side dish to go with all the courses and needed refilling at each stage.

Indian Sweets washed down with Masala Chai or something a little stronger!

A topic of conversation that came up which we were all involved in was how people found out about supperclubs and underground restaurants and what would prompt someone to eat in a stranger’s home and indeed cooking for strangers in your own home. It was agreed that the size of our supperclub meant that everyone spoke to each other throughout the evening and there was a feeling of comfort in each other’s presence. Some of our guests are members of the ‘fans of the underground restaurant’ website set up by Ms Marmitelover to encourage ventures such as ours and to help people find these places to go to. Three of our guests have been to every supperclub we have done so far and it is so nice to have that support, apart from the fact that we are all becoming friends! The Jamie Oliver programme came up in conversation and most of us had seen him visit the underground restaurants in New York. All of our guests came prepared to talk to and sit next to strangers for the evening. What they didn’t expect, as was pointed out, was that they did all get on with eachother and every person around that table had a story to tell. It was a really enjoyable evening but once again I was rubbish with the camera so please excuse the lack of pictures! George the cat also made frequent guest appearances and as far as I know our guests didn’t notice her staring at them and the food from her place in the living room!

They evening finished well after midnight!

‘Thank you for such a lovely evening, fantastic food and good company. This is our first experience – thankyou for making it memorable’ ~Philippa & Colin

‘Thank you so much, yet again, for a lovely – and delicious – evening. We thoroughly enjoyed the company and Rani’s beautiful food. What a great way to spend an evening – its a celebration! Thank you yet again’ ~Chris & Dave

‘Thank you so much for a lovely evening. We’ve really enjoyed the food and the experience of dining with complete strangers! Thanks once again for a wonderful introduction to the world of underground supperclubs’ ~Naaz & Howard

‘First of all I am delighted to have met you. Second thank you so much for such a wonderful evening and you are a superb cook’ ~Matti

Georgie the cat in a rare moment of serenity ~ probably because there was no food to be had!

Thank you once again to our guests for helping to make it a great evening and for being so generous with the donations. We have been asked to do another charity supperclub and we are thinking maybe at some point during the summer when we try out our Punjabi barbeque evenings!