Dates for your diary..

2 new dates for this month..

Sunday 4th September- Vintage afternoon tea..
Saturday 17th September - Secret supper..

Menus are not disclosed so come with a broad palate, alone or with friends. lovepoppyfood@gmail.com for booking and further information. Payment in advance.


I look forward to welcoming you..

Casillero del Diablo

Lovely evening hosting with Casillero del Diablo... will write in full soon

The Spanish Inquisition on Friday 13th...

My second venture onto the Secret Restaurant scene was to Fernandez and Leluu's supperclub at a secret location in Hackney.

We were welcomed by the lovely Uyen who offered us a glass of wine and showed us to our table. We were sharing with another couple but despite being in someone's home and only about 20 other guests it very much feels like a normal restaurant and so after a friendly hello no one feels obliged to chat to eachother.

The meal was a 6 course Spanish themed feast served prettily on mix matched china. We started with roasted almonds followed by Catalan tomato bread with salami on top. Then some delicious roasted chick peas in cider and russian roulette peppers accompanied by a potato salad. The next course was a very tasty garlic soup with pine nuts and apple

followed by tortilla with salsa piccante and chorizo in wine, there was definately some squash in the tortilla and the salsa piccante which gave it a delicious flavour.

The savoury courses were finished off with monk fish wrapped in serrano ham with squid ink rice. Delicious! This was by far the prettiest course so a photo would have been appropriate but I only managed to remember once I had eaten the lot! Dessert was two scoops of ice cream, one cardamon and one green tea, both scrumptious.

All in all a delicious meal, lots of interesting flavours and I have found that there is something oddly enjoyable in just having the food bought to you with no choice in what you eat.

Guests are encouraged to write on the bathroom mirrors with the general gist of messages along the lines of "will you marry me?", "yummmmm", "can I move in with you?".

Supper started at about 8pm and finished around half 12 so be prepared to miss your last tube (as I did) but if its fast food you are after there is a McDonalds around the corner...

Not a transvestite, Tina Turner impressionist or anything at all odd it sight...An altogether very different experience to The Pale Blue door but equally as enjoyable.

Supper club night - Winter warmer

Have decided to be brave and launch my first supper night. Bit scary to be honest but hopefully
with a warm welcome and a full tummy people will leave happy !
As it's so chilly out now I have decided on a hearty menu to include pumpkin soup ( served in their original cases ). Oxtail as a main, which I know is not that common these days, but I think it makes a delicious meal as it's cooked on the bone and the marrow makes it unctuous to eat. It is one of the cheaper cuts so needs long slow cooking which means once in the oven you can busy yourself with more important things...like dessert ! Which if left to me I would eat first. !

I have opted for a flourless chocolate cake, which resembles a fallen souffle of sorts, it's delicate
because of the absence of flour, but fingers crossed, the end result should be a cross between a cake and a mousse.
Friday December 11th...... wish me luck !

Vintage Afternoon Tea is next.... menu and date to follow

A new venture

After my visit to The Pale Blue Door, I've been thinking....unless I am wrong, despite being such an eclectic town, it seems that Brighton doesn't yet have an underground dining scene, (I can only find one at present) so I thought to open my door and offer something similar and gauge the response.

Working on a warming winter menu now, will let you know details as soon as I can...

The Pale Blue Door

It seems the new and popular way to dine out is at a secret restaurant, which are popping up in people's homes all over London. If you are unfamilar with this, it is people enthusiatic about food who open their homes as an 'illegal' eating venue for the night. Menus vary, from home cooked fare to professional chef standard, hosted in anything from a lock up to a stylish apartment.

My daughter and I chose to dip our toes into the world of the secret restaurants by going to The Pale Blue Door...and dove in at the deep end! We arrived in Hackney and ventured down a precarious looking alleyway in search of the infamous Pale Blue Door. The door swung open to be greeted by our fabulous transvestite front of house. Tables and chairs all crammed in to the garage style house, table clothes and napkins made of old shirts, walls strewn with various bizarre 'collectables' by set designer Tony Hornecker.

Encouraged to wander around we climbed the make shift staircase up to the host's bedroom to be greeted by two people seated for a 'date' at a miniture table for their dinner in the bedroom.

Dinner was a simple fare of greek salad, roast beef and crumble, all delicious and cooked in a tiny kitchen shrouded in virtual darkness.

Mid meal entertainment was provided by our lip synching transvestive with a fabulous rendition in Tina Turner drag of 'Simply the Best'. No one appears uncomfortable, all enjoying the surreal surroundings, the waiting staff friendly but not interferring.

Highly recommended, I think I will return....