Immy At 33

Last December, Immy booked in to eat at our supper club – and she loved it so much, she asked us to cook for her birthday in May. Since then, she had been back to eat and  we have met a few other times over dinner and bottles of cabernet to discuss plans, menus, schedules, timings etc as well as many heart to hearts as it turned out. We always had a great time with Immy – she is one great lady.

Immy is always full of smiles and giggly banter – perhaps if we had a lot of clients, we would say that she is the ideal client, but we don’t – and she is a great client to start with! A strong and determined character, Immy planned everything from scratch – from where the location was to every detail on the table setting. This event, themed 40s Vintage, was going to be full of love, full of Immy and we were really lucky to have been asked to collaborate on such an event at such an amazing place in Central London, so famous for its parties.

What tied our small worlds together is that Immy works for an advertising agency who did the After Eight Campaign with Jim Haynes – our supper club hero has been hosting Sunday dinners for over 30 years. (Check our event with him here). It was a great coincidence that our worlds collided. Some would say that there is a reason for that… Immy played a very influential role in this as she has tried out a lot of supper clubs and loves new, emerging and underground things.

This is the first time that Simon and I entered a professional kitchen and hell – we loved it! We have cooked everything in seven or eight months in my tiny bachelor’s kitchen – here, we had double huge sinks, large steel surfaces, 2 ovens, 12 hobs, a real fryer and space! We could get on with our prep without being in each other’s way and bidding over one work surface. It was fantastic! We loved it!

We prepped for one full day before, shopping, and pre prepping. We got all our equipment together in a taxi and headed over, prepping non-stop til we executed everything one hour prior to service. We were so on time because we had so much space to work in and not having to wait for one person to finish. We forgot our chopping boards but apart from that – everything went to plan.

(Humming Bird Cupcakes)

(Beef Wellington Preparation)

The main room was immaculately set out by Immy and her friends Olivia & John who arrived amidst the set up chaos and were thrown in to help last minute. As dusk set through the glass ceilings, the atmosphere in the room changed from a sunny summers day to a warmly candle lit banquet, fantastic for Immy and her friends and family.

We got a round of applause at the end and felt really chuffed that everyone enjoyed all the food and had a wonderful night – creating great memories of being with Immy for her birthday.

Like so many professional women of today, who work so hard and are independent, I relate and aspire to be like Immy: Strong, funny, with a positive outlook and in control of her own destiny and getting on with things surrounded with love and without ties to convention.

Another perfect example of how ‘Hector’ in his ‘Search For Happiness’ would find that - happiness is about having inner peace and being around people we love, in celebration, accepting who we are, as we are.

 

If you would like us to cook for your party, please get in touch to discuss: bookings@fernandezandleluu.co.uk

The Dolphin

Sometimes, they manage it – they stay til 2am and we are all happily drinking the remains of any wine anyone has left behind and then someone says – “lets go to The Dolphin!” and Simon will immediately respond, “brilliant!!!”

On Friday/ Saturday night, dinner was:

-Rice Pasta With Pork Scratchings, Vietnamese Salami (Lac Xung),

Coriander, Grated Egg & Sweet Soy Sauce

-Miso Aubergine


-Summer Rolls With Omelette, Prawns, Shredded Pork Skin, BBQ Pork,

Mint, Sweet Basil & Cured Vietnamese Ham


-Carrot, Coriander & Chicken Salad W/ Prawn Crackers


-Salmon Sashimi & Chips


-Won Ton Noodle Soup 


-Caramelised & Braised Coconut Pork Belly & Quails Egg With Rice

-Coconut & Lime Panna Cotta With Mango Jelly

It was one of the smoothest operation – we even finished dessert by 11pm. Record!
It was strange as I didn’t greet our guests and stayed heavily in the kitchen making everything with Simon. Our lovely waitress, Mia welcomed and served everybody and so at the end, I felt so shy about being downstairs with a bunch of people I had never met before. I understood how Simon has been feeling all these months when he is the one always upstairs in the kitchen.

It was so great to come and join our guests for dessert and saw how people sitting on the same table had made friends with each other and were having such a good time. The best thing about having a supper club is meeting people and making friends. We had a great time with a group of girlie friends. We all went to The Dolphin...

The Dolphin is a shabby, dirty, old man’s bar that has been made trendy by Hackney coolies open til 4am. It’s a place where if you are in good company, you will always have a good time. But please don’t encourage us to take you there – please!

"Thanks For Coming" Jim Haynes

Its been a week since we hosted an evening for After Eight’s new campaign featuring Supper Club maestro Jim Haynes in association with Qype. Every day since last week we have been reading so many great write ups about this event. Electric shock waves run through our bodies as I read out loud to Simon all the reviews and blog posts. Our faces light up instantly and we are chuffed by every kind word that is written, that is spoken or said.

Thank you so much.

We feel truly honoured to have been asked to host such an event with the wonderful Mr Jim Haynes. As previously mentioned, he has been holding his supper club for over thirty years. Over thirty years!!  (To those who ask how long do we think supper clubs will last – it seems like the good ones do – everybody loves a good party)

From talking to Jim at some length on the night as I was on front of house duty (yeay!), I found out that he is more than I expected. Not only does Jim ooze in charm and great charisma, Jim is inspirational as a human being, promoting peace, love and kindness to those standing nearby him with a smile or a giggle at the end of all his sentences. It is no wonder that people love to go to his supper clubs – it must be a place where one just feels really good!

What better, to go to a place and meet a bunch of people whom can end up being your life long friend, your wife or husband, your fling, your friend for now. Add in the atmosphere and good food and drink, makes a perfect present, a perfect memory.

 

For us, this is something that we will treasure forever. A perfect and beautiful milestone to the Uyen & Simon who sat back in the garden last summer, eating each other’s cooking, having who-makes-the-best-roast competitions to the ones who can not think of a better name for a supper club than that of our own, to the ones who couldn’t get anyone to come to the supper club to the ones who were asked to hold an evening with Jim Haynes for After Eight. – its like a dream we dare not dream coming true.

 

 

Simon & Chris During Prep

 

 

Johan from DinksFushion made utterly fantastic cocktails

We worked on this project for 2 weeks solid. It took about 4 days to get the flat in order, employing removal men to lift things, get rid of things to prepare for our supper club to be turned into the way Jim has his. No tables. You stand and mingle. We had to change a lot. Didn’t mind -  What a great idea!

The menu was dependent on fork only or finger food. And we were asked to do a slightly different format, three courses! This is what we decided to do:

Starters
Fresh Summer Rolls With Mint, Shredded Pork Skin, Barbecued Pork, 
Roast Pork Belly, Cured Vietnamese Ham, Sweet Basil & Lettuce.

Spring Rolls w/ King Prawns, Minced Pork, Black Fungus,
Carrots & Glass Noodles.

Pork & Chicken Liver Terrine On Ciabatta

Whole Prawns With Green Herbs Mayo & Salmon Caviar

Carrot & Coriander Salad w/ Shredded Chicken

These photographs by Kany Leong -  

The London Eater (nice aren't they) go check more out here

Second Course
Carpaccio of Argentinian Beef Fillet Rolled in Black Pepper With Raspberry Jus
Mashed Garlic & Spring Onion Inside Baked Potato Skins
Lambs Lettuce In Olive Oil & Lemon
Garlic Foccacia

Dessert
A Trifle Of Croissant Bread & Butter Pudding With Whisky Raisins, White Chocolate Custard & Strawberry, Raspberry & Blackberry Soaked in Cointreau

 

Chris & Lacey - cool love birds

 

We wanted to serve really successful dishes we have previously made. It was for Jim Haynes for goodness sakes! We wanted to do our famous Fish & Chips but due it being the Easter weekend, we could not get fresh fish that had just been out of the sea. We could have got fish but it would have been sitting in the Steve Hatts fridge for 3 days.

We planned the menu and times like a major operation. Simon composed a 7 page hit list of things to do, who does them, at what time and for how long. It was great! And we obliged to it with precision except the night before, Simon and I went out to the pub and indeed messed up on the timings somewhat the next day : /

But we did it, with help from our friends, Chris & Lacey (they’ve been to the supper club since the beginning – something like 4 or 5 times and now are our dear friends) and Claire from Green Onions Supper Club and her/ our waitress Lucy.

 

 

 

 

Before Jim arrived at 6pm, the atmosphere was calm yet electric in the kitchen. We were all so excited and proud to take part of such an event. We all felt so honoured to do this for Jim and for all the Qypers and bloggers who made it through to the list. We only wish that we had as much room as Jim and could have invited so many more you, and our friends too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a very unique experience and such a great party. You can read all the blogs on your right about the evening. Great pictures from The London Eater, and lovely write ups from One Million Gold Stars & The Grubworm. You can visit Qype for more too. It was fantastic to meet bloggers and qypers that we have only met on Twitter and bonding face to face. There are great friendships to be made from this event.

Jim has been in contact with us, saying that his Sunday dinners are getting ever so popular. He had 100 guests last weekend after turning away 40! “I hate to say the word, ‘No’”. We hate it too –

Amongst some great advice about parties and how to deal with these supper clubs, one important lesson Jim taught me is ‘acceptance’ of people. People are who they are and you got to just accept them as they are. Also, to ‘look forward’ and never look back. Enjoy.

We gave him a doggie bag to take with him back to Paris of which he said he enjoyed the evening after. Jim has invited us to stay with him in Paris where we can cook for his supper club one Sunday. How exciting is that? Will keep you all posted.

We have traveled so far and we are so proud of ourselves too. We only hope that we can continue to meet the expectations generated by guests reviews of our food, thanks so much by the way, and yikes! We are loving what we are doing at the moment. Thank you to all who have come, had a great time and are spreading the word. Thank you so much.

Thanks to Chris, Lacey, Claire Roberson & Lucy for their wonderful help. Sian Meades from Domestic Sluttery & Qype London for coming to us in the first place and being brilliant. Jo Seymour Taylor at Grayling PR for After Eight Mints and of course to Jim Haynes (book into his Sunday suppers in Paris)– without whom this would not have been the most exciting event for us and many others.

Jim Haynes has an autobiography called "Thanks For Coming" published by Faber & Faber

(whose do these photos belong to? Qype Blog? We love them! Hope you don't mind us using them)