11 months ago
Except it is rubbish. But that’s the whole point! It’s a celebration of zero waste food. Everything on the menu has been rescued from the bin.
The Farmer’s Mistress is hosting the second in their series of ‘surplus supper clubs’ on Monday 12th February and, having been to their debut, we couldn’t recommend this evening more. But first things first, what is a surplus supper club? We explained it all here but in a nut shell it’s about reducing the “9.5 million tonnes of food thrown away per year in the UK and to, hopefully, inspire their diners with the creative dishes they produce”. If the idea of ‘surplus’ makes you a bit squeamish then please don’t panic. This isn’t food that has been foraged from a dumpster or has had the mould scraped off it- far from it. This is food that would have ended up in landfill because it’s a bit wonky or because a restaurant over ordered.
What’s even cooler about these dinners is that the menu is a surprise for the night. Because the chefs won’t know what produce they’ll be getting in beforehand, they’ll create the menu on the day and get something spectacular for you to eat in the evening. All you need to do is let them know any dietaries and get ready to be excited.
When we visited for their first surplus supper club we were so impressed. 5 courses of interesting dishes appeared in front of us that we’d never have guessed was anything but perfect produce. We had incredible things like cheesy mushroom croquettes, gnocchi, a big, beautiful salad, a main course of fish and roasted cauliflower and we finished up with a take on bread and butter pudding… except it was made with croissants (which made it all the more delicious). There were even a few cocktails that were at a reduced price because they’d been made from surplus bits too!
The whole evening was a real eye opener to what can be done if you just get a bit creative in the kitchen. We left feeling a bit horrified that the fantastic food we’d just eaten would have been binned if it wasn’t for the imaginations of the chefs at The Farmer’s Mistress, but more than that we left feeling a bit hopeful that there will be more initiatives like this in the future. Get your tickets to the next one.
