James Ramsden x Lurpak Supper Club

“I believe in fuss-free food” begins James Ramsden’s introduction to Small Adventures in Cooking “…Cooking that demands 18 different processes, 12 saucepans and an assemblage of kit makes me want to seek refuge under a duvet”. While I’ve done my fair share of lauding the fussier styles of cooking, I have been eager to try James’ more laid back style of food adventures for some time so when I was invited along to Lurpak Butter‘s event with the Secret Larder chef I was eager to go along.

Away from their usual setting which is now hosted in Shoreditch, the night took place at VagabondN7 – a great little coffee shop on Holloway Rd with big windows – perfect for the glorious sunny weather we had on Saturday, in fact now I think about it the entire menu seemed to accompany the sunshine perfectly, spring menus bring out the sun clearly.

On arrival we were greeted by James himself as he stood behind the bar, eager to chat and mix us up a tasty moscow mule – or something a little softer (but no less delicious) for the pregnant amongst us (not me for the record but three out of the 18 people there were… at least I hope they were pregnant or at least that they never read this).

While we got stuck into our mules and chatted to the really lovely bunch of people around (just as important as the food at a supper club) it was time for the wonderfully fresh and locally produced crudités were served with roast garlic and anchovy mayonnaise and spring onion sour cream. The photo below is Toby’s “mmmm radish” face if you couldn’t tell.

Once we had finished off what could have possibly been the world’s supply of radish and aspragus, it was time to get stuck in to the next course, chilled watercress soup topped with edible flowers and olive oil from The Gay Farmer. So deliciously refreshing, perfect starter to any summer dinner party.

The main of lamb with fattoush and cow’s curd was again un-fussy but perfect. In my friend’s words, it was “like a posh kebab” – which is kind of true but in the very best way and the wonderful cow’s curd made for a very different experience from my usual dose of garlic mayo.

For dessert was the incredible strawberry and basil cheesecake style tart – perfect end to the meal. Well I say end but we followed this with great coffee from the guys at Vagabond and James’ truffles – I think a few of these may have made it into some handbags around the table if that’s any testament to their quality.

This was the perfect menu for this summer’s day and after waiting so long to attend one of James Ramsden’s Supper Clubs, I was not disappointed.

The Secret Larder is now booking for August email james(at)jamesramsden(dot)com to enter into the ballot (this place is that popular, it needs a ballot). Dinner costs £30 for the whole lot. Find out more about James Ramsden and Secret Larder.