Swallow Tail Secret Supper Club in Vancouver

Secret Supper Club or Underground Kitchen.

These are some of the names that describes the popular private eating places that operates behind secret addresses, often in the homes of the chef. It offers a very unique experience quite unlike in a restaurant. The whole mystery of the unknown and being in a somewhat exclusive private party appeals a lot to those foodies who had seen them all.

My first experience of dining in an underground kitchen is at “12B”. I actually dined there twice. The first was when I was invited by the local Chowhounds and then I followed up by organizing one for chowtimes’ readers. I enjoyed both experiences.

Jonathan had been very active organizing such dinners for food bloggers. He earlier did one with an underground kitchen creatively called NFA, which stands for No Fixed Address. Suanne and I couldn’t make it for that one.

When Jonathan (who writes on the blog Food and Tell) organized a subsequent one to Swallow Tail, Suanne and I signed up not wanting to miss this one.

We met on a nice afternoon. Jonathan could not have picked a better day. I could have swore he ordered the sunshine for us too.

Having only experienced 12B, I like the start here. Meeting on the deck and soaking in the sun (although it was slightly chilly that day), it was just perfect to start the evening. The deck wasn’t really big enough to fit all of us. So it was quite a squeeze.

Let me think … I think EVERYONE was armed with a camera. I certainly remember there were lots of black SLRs poking at the very sight of food. Between us, we can do that without shame. LOL! I always think it is a spectacle for those of you who had never dined with a group of food bloggers. Yeah, admittedly we are not exactly the most well behaved. However, you must understand that we are working here.

I hope I don’t forget anyone. The bloggers who attended the event are Jonathan, Victoria, Mijune, Joyce, Frank, Anita, Kim, Sherman, Jenny and R.

The Swallow Tail Secret Supper Club does not seem very much of a secret club because they have a website and if you look, you can find their address.

The first course, the amuse-bouche, was served in the backyard. He he he … the cameras were already firing away even before it is set on the table.

This is a homemade pastry filled with stewed apple and topped with a tough gruyere cheese. Not much of a 1st course I would say. It was because I was hungry and wanted dearly something more substantial. :-)

After a while we were ushered into the house and down to the cellar. The dining room was cool and dark … very much like an underground supper club in every sense of the word. I was thinking how different Swallow Tail is compared with 12B. In 12B, we could pop into Chef Tood’s kitchen and see him work. Here in Swallow Tail, we dine in the confines of a private dining setting.

The person behind Swallow Tail is known as Chef Robin. She hold such dinners about twice a week. I understand that she also conducts culinary tours.

The dinner at Swallow Tail costs $50 per person and has five courses (including the amuse-bouche above). While Chef Robin did say that the dinner stretched over 3 hours and she encourages a break in the middle, we actually ate through the courses without much of a break.

With an almost growling stomach and seeing butter on the table, I thought … OK, goodie, bread. Guess not.

Anyway, Chef Robin says that she likes to use wild, seasonal, BC, organic produce with a passion for crab and wild mushrooms.

The dinner started with soup. It is a soup with sweet pea, arugula served with homemade crouton. She also mentioned that she uses hand harvested stinging nettle which she rescued from … More after the jump. Click to read the rest of Swallow Tail Secret Supper Club in Vancouver (612 words)

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