…well, the SSSC, to be more precise. Friday night signalled the welcomed end to a busy week, and was even more eagerly awaited as we’d managed to book ourselves two places to dine with the Secret Service Supper Club.
The SSSC is the brainchild of Louise Barnard, a local Cordon Bleu-trained chef and the owner of Baby Bites, who you may have come across at one of the city’s Love Food Festivals. Since June 2009, Louise has been hosting infrequent dinner parties at the beautiful old house that she is currently house-sitting – dinner parties where 24 guests (an increase on the original 20, due to popular demand) are treated to a five course meal, welcome drink, canapes and coffee for only £25 per head.
As we arrived, we were shown into a warm and beautifully decorated sitting room, where we were presented with our welcome drinks – a refreshing but warming cocktail of vodka, elderflower cordial, ginger, lemongrass and a slice of lime. Enjoying canapes of oriental-inspired salmon and cucumber parcels, and Jerusalem artichoke, bacon and walnut pesto bites, we admired our surroundings while waiting for the remaining guests to show up.
At 8pm, we and our fellow diners – of a variety of ages, professions and backgrounds – were shown through to the dining room to take our seats. As the log fire crackled beside us, Louise introduced her glamorous assistants Lizzie and Alice, and ran through the menu on the chalkboard in one corner of the room.
The menu was another secret to us – until the evening of the meal, we had no idea what we would be eating. We had been warned in advance that vegetarians or those with food allergies should make themselves known, but had no indication of the meal we would be treated to…
All I can say is that I’m very glad that I had a late breakfast and no lunch! First course was a rocket, potato and lemon soup with homemade smoked garlic foccaccia – a soup that we’d assumed would be thick and wintery, but turned out to be relatively light and refreshing, the tang of the lemon and peppery rocket waking up our tastebuds for the rest of the meal.
Mopping up the last of the soup with the bread (until realising we should probably keep our stomachs free for the next four courses…) we were presented with a salad of beautiful pink seared duck breast, poached pear slices and watercress salad, before moving on to a main of trout roasted with cherry tomatoes and fennel, served with new potatoes. The sweet aniseed flavour of the fennel (one of my favourite vegetables) was the perfect accompaniment to a main course packed full of flavour. Conversation with our neighbours, who work for the BBC and have some very interesting stories to tell, is free-flowing, but stops abruptly whenever a new course is served, showing how much we’re all enjoying the food…
A cheese course of organic, unpasteurised Double Gloucester, served with grapes, walnuts, biscuits and chutney provides food for thought for the next discussion – whether cheese should be served before or after dessert. The cheese lovers amongst us suggest at the end of the meal, as shared plates provide a conversation piece and dessert is a more “solitary” course. Either way, I need to find out where Louise sourced her cheese from, as the quality was the real conversation piece!
Onto the final course of a chocolate and panetone tiramisu that proved our “conversation piece” point…apart from the occasional “mmmm” from our fellow diners, the course was served to a contented silence and blissful grins. An unconventional tiramisu, maybe, but a successful one, and the perfect end to a fantastic evening.
All in all, a great night. We met some interesting people, shared some fantastic food and had a great time overall. Louise’s love of food – and her success in bringing people together for a novel dining experience – really made the evening. At only £25 a head, this was, in our mind, a ridiculously good value-for-money way of not only finding a unique experience for a Friday night in Bristol, but also of meeting fellow foodies in a relaxed environment. A big thank you to Louise and her team, and we’ll definitely be booking again next time round…
For more information, check out the SSSC Facebook Group, or follow them on Twitter.
Not so much as a "brainchild" this sssc just a continuation of all the good work achieved at colleys supper rooms over the last 25 years. Sadly closed down over the last couple of years.
good to see it revived although menu sounded okish…not earth shattering or much of a brain child but good value for money. Rocket and trout are not two ingredients that are naturally in season in this country at this time of year, ….or indeed local……..
Still….an interesting read
yum! very jealous! good post…
the duck was the highlight for me
and the cheese was excellent
great to see you there
Got some pictures posted now
They're here http://eatpictures.posterous.com/covert-food-phot…
I attended the SSSC and had the same menu! It was delicious and I had a great time.
[…] The Secret Service Supper Club was launched in June 2009, when Louise began hosting meals for 20-24 people in the fantastic north Bristol house that she was house-sitting. We attended in March, being treated to an amazing meal, using fresh, locally sourced ingredients. You can read our review of the evening here […]
[…] appear to be enjoying a great deal of success in Bristol. We’ve already seen the likes of The Secret Service Supper Club and Cloak and Dinner receive rave reviews, and Sam Leach of Mark’s Bread will be holding his […]
[…] the great foodie events that go on in and around Bristol, one of which was Louise Barnard’s Secret Service Supper Club. I think it was at this point in the year that I began to realise that London’s not the only […]