I ride the London tube every day for work and I think I speak for most people when I say I would never want to dine on it! Fortunately, the Underground Supper Club provides a much cleaner and fully refurbished tube experience! I do love trying quirky things, and so I headed down with a few friends from LovePopUpsLondon, who had kindly invited me to review the experience.
WHAT IS THE UNDERGROUND SUPPER CLUB?
The Underground Supper Club is run by Basement Gallery; a club started by Chef Alex Cooper and his friend Tom Fothergill, who experimented with a few locations before stumbling upon a decommissioned tube carriage from 1967 on a filming location website, and creating ‘The Underground Supper Club’.
The carriage was part of the Victoria line and is now stationed at The Pump House Museum, Walthamstow, East London, which was much easier to get to than I expected. It’s just a 15-minute train ride from Liverpool Street and the nearest underground station is Blackhorse Road which is on……you guessed it, the Victoria Line!
I did find the overall location a little strange as the train was literally in the museum’s car park, but it all added to the uniqueness of the event and once on board, it really didn’t matter what the outside looked like.
ON BOARD
I loved how the carriage hadn’t been redesigned to look like a restaurant. The layout was kept exactly the same, apart from a long table in the aisle which had been decorated with a white crisp table cloth and candles. This highlighted the quirkiness of the dining experience and kept it authentic. The tube seats were those used in 1967, with smaller two seater tables available to couples wanting a more romantic setting. We were provided with blankets and electric heaters to keep us warm, making it wonderfully cosy and perfect for winter.
As it was quite an intimate evening, we ended up chatting to most people on our table. Meeting so many different people and sharing stories was definitely a highlight, and may I add a rarity to have conversations with strangers on the tube!
THE FOOD
Head chef Beatriz Maldonado Carreño (Bea) who comes from Bogotá, Colombia has cooked in London for over 10 years and was most recently part of the team at Corazón in Soho. She was behind our incredible five course menu.
Once seated, we were served our first cocktail, a Negroni. I’ve never had one before and found it a little strong tasting, but everyone else seemed to love it so it was a pretty good choice. To start, we received an Amuse Bouch; crafted from brown lentils and Columbian chorizo crumbs which was thoroughly enjoyable. I’m really beginning to like lentils – the dish was full of flavour and warmed us all up on a cold winter’s night.
Next up was a variation of corn, guasca crema and cornflower bread. This was probably my least favourite dish as I found it a little dry and quite bland.
The third dish was one of my favourites! It was called ‘Tiradito de Salmon Nikkei’ and consisted of Salmon, tamarind ponzu, spring onion, radishes, and coriander. It was incredible! I never used to like sushi but when it’s cooked well, it truly is delicious.
Moving on to dish number four, was ‘Aji de Gallina’ which was roasted chicken, yellow chilli, beetroot, sweet potato and pickled carrots. This was another phenomenal dish and another favourite of the night.
Finally, for our dessert, we had ‘Merengon de guanabana’ which was made up of guanabana cream, meringue, andeanberry sorbet, and coulis. I am not a huge fan of desserts, but this one was quite light, and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It was the perfect end to a wonderful meal.
All the dishes were beautifully presented and you could tell a lot of thought had gone into them.
I would definitely recommend The Underground Supper Club. The food is incredible, the venue is quirky and authentic, and the atmosphere is friendly and chilled. It is a great place to meet people in an alternative setting, whilst tasting a high class menu and really is the ONLY acceptable time to strike up a conversation on the tube!
For more info and to book, please see their website: Underground Supper Club
Disclaimer
* I received complimentary tickets to review this experience . Views are my own.
Looks very interesting venue and food looks super!