“Kayli, do you want to go to a dinner based on the 10 commandments?”
“Hahahahhaha!”
“I’m being serious.”
“What?”
“Dinner. The 10 commandments.”
“That’s weird.”
“There are 10 courses.”
“Yes, I’d love to.”
Blood. Theft. Adultery. Dinner.
The launch of the Supper Lounge at 6 Spin Street was catered by the young and talented, Johnny Hamman of Slippery Spoon. The concept is the bringing together of people who enjoy good food, discovering new restaurants and chefs, and love meeting new people.
1. I am the Lord, your God.
Gold-crusted figs, served with a mushroom and roasted garlic mousse. The figs were sweet and juicy, but were balanced perfectly with the beautifully seasoned, light mousse. Neither the fig, nor garlic overpowered one another or the delicate mushroom flavour.
2. Thou shalt not make any graven images.
Jesus-image burnt brioche toast served with pulled pork and raspberry lard. I had it with roast veg since I don’t eat pork – the whole course was quite something for this Jewish gal. I hear the pork was very rich but worked well with the brioche. The lard, although also rich, was tart because of the fresh raspberries. Not my favourite, but very nice.
3. Thou shalt not say the Lords name in vain.
Dark chocolate-centred chilli meatballs, embedded into the word, “BLASPHEMY”. The chilli symbolised the heat on your tongue when you blaspheme and the meatballs were served cold – a reminder of the food Johnny ate in Church as a child. This was my least favourite of all the courses. A huge chunk of hard chocolate in the centre, contrasted too heavily with the meatballs.
4. Thou shalt remember the Sabbath
Salmon sashimi, cucumber, ginger, red onion served on cos lettuce, with engraved nori and vanilla-seed dressing. The raw food represented the Sabbath law, which forbids cooking while the nori represented the 7th day. The salmon was great quality, the salad was refreshing and the engraved seaweed was gorgeous. The vanilla dressing was more of an emulsion (with no acid from lemon or vinegar) and was quite rich against the oily salmon – but the vanilla flavour was pure magic.
5. Honour your father and mother.
Hay smoked, poached egg on ciabatta, served with a hot truffle oil filled syringe. This course was brilliant. The egg symbolised the mother and the syringe, the father. You had to inject the gorgeous, aromatic oil into the egg. It was just… wow.
6. Thou shalt not kill.
Twice-baked goats cheese soufflé, with bleeding rose and beetroot. The beet/rose was cool and fragrant, and was served in a “blood bag”, which you poured over the dish. The soufflé was a tad dry (a risk with twice-baked) but combined, it was delish.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Oysters topped with black pepper cream and strawberry spaghetti. The “spaghetti” was a strawberry gel served in a tube. We were each given an enormous syringe to “blow” it out of the tube and onto the oyster. A fun and interactive course but as I’m a bit of an oyster naturalist (I love them straight with only Tabasco) it kinda hurt my feelings. The flavours sat well together, but I missed that pure, salty freshness.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
Cauliflower soup with blue cheese and red wine poached pear. Every second person was given a bowl with the pear so you had to “steal” from your neighbour. The soup was then poured over once stolen. This was my absolute favourite course. The soup was heart, rich, and cheesy and the pear matched it PERFECTLY. I could happily eat this every day.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness.
Green olive ice cream with burnt rosemary infused oil and charred sweet potato. Completely weird and wonderful. The ice cream was sweet, creamy and salty with just a hint of rosemary. The caramelised sweet potato added crunch and pulled all the flavours together. Watching people’s expressions as they tasted this – priceless.
10. Thou shalt covet your neighbours goods.
One person receives an apple. Their neighbour receives a white chocolate and cinnamon velouté with butter-confit apples and salted pecan nut crumble. I was the lucky one to receive an apple so I scooped up half (three quarters) of my friend’s dessert and uncontrollably immersed myself in it. This was equally as magnificent as the soup. Two favourites. It was perfect: the velouté wasn’t too thin, the apple cooked to perfection and the crumble was crunchy. I need to eat this again before I die.
And that was it. 10 courses, 10 commandments. And it was phenomenal.
Other than pop-up dinners, Supper Lounge will start offering specific interest-related events and cooking courses ranging from 8 to up to 50 guests. They help with admin, hosting, organisation and promotion of events on their site.
Although not every course was 100% perfect, the night itself was just too amazing, which made up for it. The food, the ambiance, the people – it was all well considered and well planned.
I wonder what they’ll do for the next one?
