Ferdiesfoodlab – a supperclub filled with fusion

I am starting to delve slowly into the world of supperclubs, and it’s an incredible network, filled with even more incredible food! Sites such as Grub Club and Edible Experiences are great at aggregating all the different ones, and last week, I visited my second one (after Paocha last year): Ferdie’s Food Lab.

Unlike many others, this supperclub isn’t held in somebody’s home, but rather at the London Cooking Project in Battersea, which meant there was a huge kitchen and room for more guests. Ferdie describes it as a banquet, and that is definitely what it felt like, with 6 courses of very generous portions!

Whilst the evening was BYOB, we were greeted with a glass of Prosecco and very soon, the smell of veal – both of which were absolutely divine!

We got to talking to some of the other guests, which I always find fascinating; London is full of so many interesting people, and this is a great way to meet and bond over food and drink. We were mostly analysing the menu, though, and trying to figure out what the ‘green bombs’ would taste like.

Ferdie, or Simon Fernandez, started off with an absolute stunner and my favourite dish of the night: cube-abs, or simply, lamb croquettes. They were far and away the best breaded and fried meat I’ve ever had, and trust me, I’ve had my fair share! I greedily took more than the allocated number without the slightest feeling of guilt, and mopped up the gorgeous dip with it too.

The bread that came with it was garlicky and amazing too – I couldn’t get enough.

The morcilla and apple tart was tasty, although it almost felt like a sweet dish due to the apples overpowering the meaty flavour. Even though the morcilla looked dominant, unfortunately I couldn’t really taste it much at all. Loved the perfectly flaky pastry though!

The highly anticipated ‘green bomb’ was a very flavourful veggie delight, and the cucumber salad was wonderfully refreshing, and akin to what I’ve tasted in Vietnamese restaurants before. It was pretty spicy though, and the reason became clear when we spotted some bits of fresh chili lurking amongst the cucumber!

And then…. The veal.

Oh. My. Goodness. I chewed every last bit of meat from that bone, and I wish I could have had more. The meat was superbly succulent, and would not have been out of place in a Michelin establishment. Perfectly salted on the outside, slightly pink in the middle… I want to eat it every day of my life!

However, the cauliflower salad that came with it didn’t quite match up. I would attribute this to the outstanding quality of the veal… it almost didn’t need a side dish. I also happened to get a very spicy bit of the fruit salad, and the last thing I wanted was for something to overpower my precious veal. The same goes for the crispy tomato bread on the side; it felt superfluous. But the veal was certainly far and away the best ingredient of the night (the lamb remains the best overall dish).

Unfortunately, the first of our many sweet treats, the treacle tart, was a bit of a disappointment on my part. I found the treacle just too sickly, and the pineapple ice cream didn’t help. Instead, I focused on the cocoa almonds that came afterwards, which were lovely and nutty!

Overall, the 6 courses that had been put together for this supperclub were each lovely in their own right, but didn’t quite feel like they matched together – hence my ‘filled with fusion’ label. From the Vietnamese-like quality of the cucumber salad, to the Spanish morcilla, and the British treacle tart, it felt like we traversed the world in one evening! But there were some absolute diamonds in there, and believe me when I say that I will be dreaming about the lamb croquettes and the veal for a long while to come…

I was a guest at Ferdiesfoodlab, but as always, all views are my own!