East Sheen's first 'secret restaurant'!

Posted on 25/6/09 by Maddy (2 comments)

Until about a week ago, I had never even heard of a 'secret or underground' restaurant, let alone been to one! In case, you fall into this category - it is the latest food craze to hit London! Organisers host the 'restauant' usually in their own home, there is one menu (and a vegetarian option), you make suggested donation to the cost and all of this is organised through social networking sites, like Facebook and Twitter.

I have to confess, when I first heard about it and did some research - there have been articles/reviews in The London Paper and The Guardian - I was a bit spooked by the whole concept. I imagined turning up to a large dinner party where you know no-one and you are expected to be on top form, but I am assured that it is nothing like this. The venues are set up just like restaurants, you are greeted at the front door, there are waiting staff (inevitably friends of the hosts), tables are laid out to accomodate for the number of guests in a party, there are tablecloths, tea lights, flowers on the tables, in fact just about everything you would expect from a restaurant.

I met up with Lara Newman who is about to host Sheen's first ever 'secret restaurant' - Sheen Suppers - on the 10th July, between 7-10pm. On the face of it, she seems like an unlikely person to launch one - her background is management consultancy and she has no interest in food blogging (apparently this is often how it starts), but delve a little deeper and it all comes out. Lara is a foodie - she and her boyfriend thoroughly enjoy eating out and are regulars in many of the restaurants in Sheen, she also loves cooking and entertaining - so perhaps not so strange after all. When Lara first heard about 'secret restaurants' she was intrigued, she dragged her rather reluctant boyfriend off with her to Brixton to check out Salad Club (at the time the nearest 'secret restaurant' to Sheen) and they were so impressed they decided to give it a go.

Often these 'secret restaurants' are held in quite small flats were most of the furniture needs to be moved in order to make space, but Lara is lucky in that her lounge and dining room are knocked through giving her plenty of space to seat 10-12 people. Her boyfriend is a wine-buff, so they are hosting a 4 course meal paired with wines and they are keen to attract a local crowd. Lara is an ardent supporter of the area and wants her 'secret restaurant' to be an enhancement to Sheen rather than somewhere that people come from miles around to visit; although there will inevitably be the food bloggers, drawn in by the lure of a new 'restaurant'.

The menu is going to be:

Starter: Carpaccio of peaches with parma ham with gorgonzola and honey dressing

Main: Pea and mint risotto with barbequed leg of lamb

Dessert: Clotted cream strawberry cheesecake

Cheese Course

All of these courses can be adapted to become vegetarian. And four courses with 4 glasses of wine is going to on offer for the suggested donation of between £25-30 (exact amount to be confirmed) - which is really quite a bargain. So, if this sounds as delicious to you as it does to me, then reservations have opened at Sheen Suppers: sheensuppers@googlemail.com and the twitter account is www.twitter.com/LaraNewman

I like this 2 people like this.

Share It's quick and easy!

Flag this Inappropriate content?

Twitter

Facebook

Digg

Stumble Upon

Member Comments (2)

		on 17/7/09 1. helloh says: Boo...sorry I missed this. It looked really yum - and interesting. Glad to see this site generating some traffic!
		on 30/4/10 2. Ali says: Nearly a year later and I agree - great idea. I have a friend who was telling me another dinner idea she has got involved with, where an organic vegetable supplier provide a box of veggies and a cook for the evening to demonstrate the sort of dinner party you can devise using fresh organic vegetables. Not necessarily a vegetarian menu - they are happy to dish up meat too. Their motive of course is to get people to start buying organic veg direct from them. But there is no obligation.