I Just Arrived in London. Can I Come to Dinner?

26.12.2023 - 10:22 / nytimes.com / Can I (I) / London

Alone in London with a day to kill, Jon Martin was hungry for an off-the-cuff adventure when he decided to show up for a meal at a stranger’s home.

A writer from North Carolina, Mr. Martin, 36, was finishing up a trip to Europe and had just parted ways with a friend. Sick of restaurant-hopping, he was browsing the event site DesignMyNight when he stumbled across the Fengzhen supper club, a twice-a-month event promising a home-cooked Chinese and Southeast Asian feast.

He found himself taking a southbound train to the end of the line and knocking on the door of a terrace house, where he joined 11 strangers to eat a 10-course meal prepared by Jay Zhang. The host, a hairstylist by trade, was leaning into another passion that evening: taking strangers through an indulgent culinary experience.

The experience, for which Mr. Martin prepaid about £65, or $80, was “absolutely worth it,” and left him feeling more connected to “the real, everyday people that live there and make the place what it is,” he said. “You get things at a supperclub that you do not get at a restaurant.”

Before the pandemic, London’s supper clubs had become a popular alternative to the restaurant scene, offering a more familial alternative for a night out. The events, usually held in the homes of amateur chefs, rode a wave of popularity in the 2000s, until lockdowns forced them to stop.

Now, as communal eating has returned, the trend has evolved, with chefs old and new preparing meals. With a little sleuthing, visitors can eat Indian street food in a chef’s home, Malaysian cuisine at a local community center or Sri Lankan dishes at a neighborhood cafe.

Finding the events and lining one up can take a degree of research: Many local supper clubs, shared through word of mouth or social media, are the passion projects of self-taught cooks wanting to test their skills on beloved cuisines. Those wanting to attract broader clientele post their clubs on sites like Eventbrite and DesignMyNight or offer bookings on food experience sites like Eatwith and WeFiFo. Some clubs go viral with the help of TikTokers and food influencers. Visitors searching for a particular theme can even find supper clubs for singles looking to date, lovers of comedy or listeners of Motown music.

Ticket prices for the events also vary, from £30 to as high as £150, which rivals the cost of high-end dining experiences.

What separates a supper club from a pop-up, aficionados say, involves distinct markers: a venue that, if not at someone’s home, is an intimate space rather than a restaurant. Diners tend to pay for the meal before they arrive, which observers say makes the experience feel less transactional. The menu is fixed (though dietary requests can sometimes be taken into