Black Market Supper Club

Okay, we've seen this all before...  Swallow's Tail and NFA (No Fixed Address) were some of the earliest supper clubs in the Lower Mainland where diners would meet at a location (could be a residential address) for a meal prepared by a chef.  Usually, a reasonable price would be paid and often, it was BYOB.  The premise also afforded the opportunity for strangers to socialize over good food and drink.  Well, I haven't been to one recently, but an invite to the French Laundry-inspired menu from Black Market Supper Club got me intrigued.  Viv and I made our way out to the location (which would be in South Surrey) and met up with old friends (Joyce and David) and also some new ones.

At first glance, the Charcoal & Dutch Cheese Gougères looked like hot rocks that were ready to cook something.  Nice deception, yet at the same time, utterly delicious.  They were cheesy and light while amped further by the 3 butter options served on tongue depressors.  From top to bottom, we had matre'd, burnt onion brown butter and everything bagel.  My favourite was the brown butter as it was nutty, aromatic and sweet from the onion.  Next up, we were served the Truffle Custard presented in an egg with black truffle ragout.  This was luxuriously silky and truffly with on point seasoning.  The only thing that could've been better was the viscosity as it was on the thinner side.

The absolute best dish of the meal in my opinion was the Lobster Pancake stuffed with marscapone, lobster, shrimp and chives.  The delicate crepe had a great mouth feel and was beautifully aromatic from the chives.  Lobster was perfectly tender with an appealing rebound.  The brown butter and carrot puree added a sweet nuttiness that didn't overwhelm the rest of the dish.  Onto our last dish before dessert, we had the Yabba Dabba Do consisting of braised shortrib, Wagyu beef, roasted potato with bone marrow and chanterelles.  Nice take on Thomas Keller's dish as the Wagyu literally melted-in-my-mouth.  Loved how the bone marrow provided the fattiness needed for the firm potato.  Bordelaise sauce was on point being meaty and full of umaminess.

For dessert, we were served the classic Chocolate Velouté sitting atop cinnamon ice cream and chocolate sauce.  In terms of impact, the chocolate really came through and was tempered by the cold ice cream with a hint of cinnamon.  I would've liked to see the "cookie" itself to be softer, but it was fine nonetheless.  In general, the experience as a whole was a fun and tasty adventure where we got to meet new friends over delicious food.  A good value at $65.00 IMO.

*All food was complimentary, wine was BYOB*

The Good:
- Generally solid execution and impressive considering the kitchen limitations
- Enough food to be full
- Fun social event

The Bad:
- Random locations not known until a few days before, so be prepared to drive or taxi

Black Market Supper Club

Summer of Love (Presented by Swallow Tail)

Ever since my first experience at the original Swallow Tail Supper Club, I look forward to their special events. The last time, I was invited to their Secret Supper Soiree, which involved moving from location to the next. This time around, I was invited to their Summer of Love dinner which featured an Iranian meal served in the yoga studio at Che Baba. Prior to entering the studio, we met at Robson Park and sat on beach blankets (which we had to bring ourselves) for our first course.

Robin led the procession which included a violinist. Our first item was Iranian Flatbread stuffed with feta, basil, mint and tarragon. The bread was a little dry, but the cheese helped provide some moisture. I liked the combination of herbs which offered up some unique flavours. Not a bad start, but hardly exciting. After that, we were ushered into the yoga studio which was converted into a dining room where we sat on the floor. Authentic yes, comfortable, no (especially for the tall men around me). As we entered the studio, we were presented with a drink consisting of Gin with sage flower and elder flower petals. It was a light and refreshing beverage. Any other drinks (including wine) were extra charge, which is both normal and expected at an event such as this.

After some introductions, the first plates of food came out. We started with Iranian Basmati Rice (Lubia Polo) with beans, cinnamon and pork (at least I thought it was pork). Even from the very beginning, we got very little information as to what we were eating. We were given bits and pieces here and there, but no formal explanation (that we could hear at least). The rectangle thing that you see on top of the rice is "tah-deeg" which is the rice crust at the bottom of the pot. The rice dish was pleasant, but we only got 2 small orders of it to share among 6 of us. The half Meatball (Kufteh) on top of the rice was only one of 2 that we received for the whole table (that would mean we got only one entire meatball for 6 people). It was moist and had a good meaty texture while being soft. There was a combination of herbs, beef and what I believe were nuts or split peas.

Served on the side was Cucumber Yogurt Dip (Maast-o Khiar) which was refreshing. Then we got one, count'em, one small bowl of Eggplant and Tomato (Mirza Ghassemi). This was fresh-tasting with slight tartness. The texture was quite nice though. It was a bit strange to eat this without any bread. For our last savoury dish, we were presented a small dish of Tomato & Cucumber Salad (Salad Shiraz). Not much to comment other than it was crunchy and vibrant with a touch of tartness. We actually got 2 of these for the whole table. Throughout dinner, we requested for more food since we were hardly satisfied. The 3 other tables around us had the same issue. Not only did we not get anymore food, it was difficult to even get our water glasses refilled.

Lastly, we were presented with Saffron Rice Pudding (Sholeh Zard) for dessert. This was not to my liking, nor was it for many other people as well (since many were left uneaten). There was nothing wrong with the flavours as it was quite mild and only semi-sweet. The texture was far too stiff. It appeared that the pudding was made too long in advance and it had hardened. At the end, we were served some Tea which was accompanied by rock sugar (which one would put in their mouth while drinking the tea). Okay... I'm sad to say that this dinner was not up to the usual high standards. We've come to expect innovation, creativity and customer satisfaction from Swallow Tail. This did not happen here. Sure, I was comped, yet it still wasn't a great experience. For those around me, they had paid $79.00 each for this. The feedback I got was one of disappointment. The excuse we heard for the lack of food was due to one table re-ordering early (and essentially consuming all the food). Even if that is the case, that is not our problem and plans should have been in place to make sure people had enough food. Furthermore, the service was slow and unorganized. It is understandable that there are a lot of logistics involved in running a pop-up restaurant, but the bottom-line is that the customers have to go away happy. This was not the case. Now, by writing this "not-so-glowing" post may eliminate my chances at further invites from Swallow Tail. However, if this is direction they are moving towards, I may not want another invite.

*Note: This was an invited dinner where all food was comped*