The new dining concept gaining traction fast
Communal eating promotes a sense of connectedness and wellbeing. No wonder local supper clubs offering great food and company are fast gaining popularity.
For chefs, wine people and those who simply love to cook and entertain, the pandemic was a particularly tough time. But with eating out on hiatus, some took the opportunity to dream up their ideal dining experiences and, as lockdowns eased, made their visions of supper clubs a reality.
Months on, they have become some of the food world’s most exciting new experiences, offering those in attendance the chance to connect with like-minded people over a meal. To follow, we pulled up a chair at five Australian supper clubs revolutionising the modern dining landscape.
PASTA CLUB The Italian degustation
Jenna Holmes’s supper club wasn’t born out of Covid. Rather it sprung from a university essay she wrote in 2011 about a restaurant concept inspired by the blue zone of Sardinia, where ingredients are fresh, simple and seasonal and where family and friends are omnipresent.
“I always loved going to little restaurants in Europe where there’s no menu, no wine list,” says Holmes, who’s more commonly known by her Instagram handle @pasta_mama.
In 2019, Pasta Club was born in the courtyard of a Melbourne cafe. It started off with Holmes hosting events for friends, and then friends of friends, before she decided to open spots up to the public. Today, it’s not uncommon for Holmes and her small crew of cooks to cater for groups of 100 or so – they travel around to various locations, Pasta Club-ify the space and serve bowls overflowing with strozzapreti slicked with the most indulgent sauces.
“Disorganised chaos is the vibe. Nothing matches, it’s all from op shops, everyone spoons their tiramisu out of big communal platters. It’s like a kitschy European table setting with loud Italo disco and lemon margaritas. It’s all of my favourite things put together,” says Holmes.
ARLO COMMUNAL The seasonal spread
Like so many of life’s best creative ideas, Arlo Communal (@arlo_communal) was conceived at a fashion party. There, model Cal Fernie met chef Tobi Fox. Months later, the pair connected and decided to launch a supper club, with wine guru Miles Ryan coming on board to curate vino pairings.
“We saw people in New York and London hosting these intimate dinners, and we felt like it was something the Sydney dining scene was missing,” explains Fernie, who runs the floor at Arlo events. “And then during Covid, when we couldn’t be around people … it also came from an urge to share food and have that experience,” adds Fox, whose ‘day job’ is working at Sydney Italian institution Fratelli Paradiso.
Since hosting their first intimate event in the inner-Sydney suburb of Chippendale, Arlo has become the go-to caterer for Sydney’s fashion crowd. They’ve hosted events for brands and retailers like Assembly Label and Incu.
“It’s really about what we like to eat and drink – which is always changing – and then bringing that to other people,” says Fox. “It’s pretty cool. When you start talking about food and wine, you realise people just want to listen. Eating is something we all have in common.”
CLUB SUP The conversation starter
Sophie McIntyre, a self-taught cook, launched Club Sup (@clubsup_) as a way to meet new people. “After the lockdowns, I was hearing so many stories of loneliness,” says the founder of the Melbourne-based pop-up. “I wanted there to be something you could go to and meet some new people … I always enjoyed cooking for people, and so I thought: why not bring groups of strangers together over food?”
Club Sup started small, but today, it partners with restaurants such as Melbourne’s Waxflower, and soon, Sydney’s Dear Saint Eloise. While they do the menu, McIntyre is able to focus on hosting. Crayons are scattered across the table and colouring sheets dotted with questions like, ‘What are you grateful for?’, to encourage conversation.
“My absolute favourite thing is watching people shift from being terrified and shy, to relaxed and confident just talking to complete strangers,” says McIntyre.
HEARTBAKE BITES The heartwarmer
For Charlotte Ree, cookbook author and profuse baker, it was a major life event that inspired her to launch Heartbake Bites (@heartbakebites).
“My husband and I divorced, I moved into this new, three-storey terrace by myself during lockdown and somewhere in the middle, I’d kind of lost all love of food,” admits Sydney-based Ree. “So I started baking for my new neighbours, and then when the lockdowns lifted, I hosted a few friends’ birthdays, then a wedding … I just realised that food is a way of connecting with people; it created a shortcut to intimacy, and I just decided that was how I wanted to live my life.”
Ree hosts her supper clubs on her rooftop, and they’re always themed. As the name infers, Heartbake Bites is all about food with feeling. “I want people to come in and feel like they’re at home. I’m usually barefoot, wearing a fun dress.”
Happy-crying at a Heartbake Bites dinner is not an uncommon experience. “Over dinners, some of the most authentic, open conversations happen. I’m not saying you’re going to sit down and immediately pour your heart out. But for three hours, you’re relaxed, you’re comfortable and you’re most yourself, and that’s what this is all about.”
TEN HATS The party people
When lockdowns led to lay-offs and shutdowns in the food industry, the friends behind Ten Hats (@tenhatsbistro) decided to use the time productively.
“We wanted to bring fun, hedonism and spontaneity back into food. The pandemic gave us this unique type of motivation, and we took the attitude of nothing being too silly or outrageous,” says chef Anna Ugarte-Carral, who is one quarter of Ten Hats. Sommelier Ella Stening, film and events producer Maddison Costello and fellow chef Elizabeth Mitchell round out the all-female, Sydney-based quartet.
The dishes are experimental and sometimes even challenging – in the most exciting way. Think steak tartare, cured yolks the colour of tomatoes and white gazpacho shooters garnished with melon balls.
At Ten Hats events, dancing shoes are mandatory. “We’re just as inspired by the trimmings of fine dining as we are by the reckless joy of a house party,” adds Ugarte-Carral. “It’s like a fancy restaurant where, once the plates are clean, you can push back the tables and start a dance floor.”
This article appears in the August issue of Vogue Australia, on sale now.