FOOD: A multi-course menu by two accomplished chefs in the company of 31 genial foodies gives ROSITA BOLANDher best meal of the year

TOMORROW EVENING sees the third event from Dublin’s Supper Club Project; a pop-up restaurant that’s open for one night only.“Pop-up” is used as a term to imply something temporary. We’ve had pop-up galleries, shops, markets, events – and restaurants.

These come in various guises. Some, like the chicken restaurant Crackbird in Temple Bar, are open only for a few weeks. It recently “popped up” again on Dublin’s South William Street. Others open for just one night, and at different locations each time. Some are in people’s homes and open to the public via pre-booking.

The Dublin-based Supper Club Project, run by chefs Sandy Sabek and John Wyer, holds a pop-up restaurant night once a month. It began in the Ormond Quay Wine Bar in April, attended by 35 people, with a tasting menu of 10 courses. A recent one was held at the Dublin Cookery School in Blackrock, and had full capacity of 32 people. I was one of them, turning up in anticipation, gleefully unsure of what awaited.

The price charged for these evenings varies, depending on the number of courses and variety of ingredients. The Supper Club Project meal costs €65 and for €5 more there is an additional two glasses of wine – one white, one red (with very generous pours) – and you can also BYO.

When I attended its second event in the summer, they were serving 10 courses for €65 but it is now down to eight. “We found there was so much work involved,” Wyer confesses. But portion sizes will increase, so guests are still getting their money’s worth

With less than half an hour to go before welcoming 32 customers, and serving many courses (each with multiple components), Sabek was calm. I had just arrived and was distracted by the detritus of many boiled langoustine shells that were emitting a fabulous aroma in a bin beside her – definitely the only time in my life I’ve ever been attracted to looking into a bin.

Sabek is a pastry chef at L’Ecrivain. The project is, she says, “like having your own restaurant for a night. You can provide a high standard of food in a relaxed atmosphere.”

Partner John Wyer previously worked at L’Ecrivain, and has just moved to the new Mulberry Garden restaurant in Donnybrook.

“I’m obsessed with cooking,” he confesses. “I’m constantly thinking about food, and ways of experimenting. Having this supper club for a night is a great way of testing new recipes on people.”

They made a “small profit” on the Ormond Quay night, but Sabek and Wyer primarily do these dinners – which they intend to supply monthly – for the love of cooking. Each of them has 10 years’ experience working as chefs. It shows in abundance.They were helped out for the evening by friends and waiters Aoife Carrigy and Michael O’Malley, and gallant washer-upper Pearse Wildes.

Glass of elderflower prosecco in one hand, beaker of popcorn tossed in truffle oil and Parmesan in the other, I chatted with some of the other 31 people arriving for dinner, while Clara Booth (15) played Cuban music on a harp. You don’t usually get that in a restaurant in Dublin, no matter how grand.

The crowd was made up of groups, couples, friends – many of them self-confessed foodies – and everyone sat together at two long tables, simply laid and pretty with flowers and candles.

I was the only person there alone but the people around me were excellent company. They included Matthew and Joelle Coghlan: it was Joelle’s last evening on maternity leave, and a special night out for them. Much of the conversation revolved around food, stand-out meals we had eaten, and the one we were currently eating.

Portions are small on this occasion, and the whole idea is to sample a wide range of flavours. Each course had a key ingredient – mackerel, pea, foie gras, cod, pork, strawberries and so on (there were vegetarian options for the meat courses, and agar was used instead of gelatine in the panna cotta).

For me, four of the courses were exceptionally, knock-out good. In the same way I’d never looked in a bin before with curiosity, I never imagined I’d ever try foie gras again after once trying it at a wedding in France and, well, frankly hating it. But it came here served with a layer of Muscat jelly, and inebriated cherries, and I suddenly got it. I ate all of it, and looked greedily at my neighbour’s unfinished plate.

Next came a sharp, fresh celery and apple sorbet – or granita – that had my taste buds simultaneously confused and marvelling. The roast cod came with the langoustine broth, and my dining companions and I voiced our first and only complaint of the night; there was no spoon in the place-settings to ensure we did not miss the rest of that fantastic, lobstery. intensely flavoured broth. I cannot have been the only one who longed to simply lift the bowl and drink the remainder of the liquid. We parted with those bowls very reluctantly.

The final great dish for me was the pork with the “black-pudding cigar”. I’m not much of a fan of sweet things, and never order dessert in a restaurant, but I did love the salted caramel and sea-salt ice cream. I couldn’t finish the rich chocolate pavé. By then, my neighbours and I were on such good terms that they polished off what I could not eat.

While €65 is not cheap for dinner on a Sunday night, or any night, this is special food, cooked by people who really want to try these dishes out, and who provide a one-off menu. It’s as much about the pop-up restaurant experience as the food, but it wouldn’t work if the food wasn’t so very, very good. It’s been my outstanding meal of the year so far.

I’ll have to start saving, because I’m already looking forward to the next evening that Sabek and Wyer will run, and am now also on the hunt for other pop-up restaurants.

Gobble-de-good: On the menu

Elderflower prosecco cocktail.

Mackerel, beetroot, avocado, pickled cucumber, brown toast.

Summer pea soup, smoked bacon crumb, shaved asparagus.

Goats’ cheese, courgette and basil purée, roasted cherry tomatoes, salted pine nuts.

Foie gras, marinated cherries, Muscat jelly, pistachio nuts Celery and apple granita.

Roasted fillet of cod, wilted butterhead lettuce, truffled potato, langoustine broth.

Slow-cooked cheek of pork, black-pudding cigar, caper and raisin jus, caramelised apple.

Strawberry and hibiscus jelly, vanilla panna cotta (using agar instead of gelatine).

Dark chocolate and hazelnut pavé, salted caramel, sea salt ice cream.

Tea, coffee and petit fours.

Vegetarian replacements

Poached egg with white asparagus and pistachio instead of foie gras.
Grilled portobello mushroom instead of cod.
Langoustine broth replaced by broad bean dressing.
Pork and black pudding dish replaced by a pickled mushroom risotto.

See popuprestaurant.ie, Facebook at The Supper Club Project, or on Twitter, @SuppaClubProjec