Dinner Club

Last summer, I had invited over a group of friends for a games night and one thing led to another.

I used to love playing board games when I was younger, nowadays, you’ll only catch me playing on rare occasions. I guess once you are busy with university or work, your mind is preoccupied with more important things and less with having fun and playing games. But I had missed it a lot, so I decided to have a games night at my place. And it was also a great excuse to host people and hang out with friends. At the end of the night, only four of us were left and somehow our conversations had turned into a passionate discussion about food, restaurants and haute cuisine. From this conversation, the idea of starting a dinner club was born.

We decided to keep it just between the four of us because we wanted to try and make it a fine dining experience. So we needed to keep the group small so that we could focus on quality and not quantity. The goal was to challenge ourselves and try new ingredients, new cooking methods and make delicate dishes imitating what you would expect to be served at a fine dining restaurant.

So the dinner club began. Each of us hosted one dinner at a time, hosting the other three at our respective homes. We followed two simple rules: we had to make a three course meal and we had to challenge ourselves.

From there, we planned the first dinner.

First Dinner - Adi

Adi took the plunge and set the standard for the rest of the dinners. We had honestly no idea what to expect and that he would set the bar so high. He even went out of his way to make 2 extra dishes for us. What a show off.

Revisited Caprese

Gelatinised pearls of tomato extract, balsamic vinegar and mozarella.

Lemongrass Chicken Dumplings

Minced chicken and lemongrass dumplings with a yuzu and Thai basil stock.

Homemade Ice Tea

Earl Grey infused ice tea with yuzu and lemongrass.

Roasted Leek Mosaic

Yuzu infused roasted leeks, nori and leek oil.

Pork Tenderloin

Roasted pork tenderloin with celeriac puree, roasted vegetables and raspberry coulis.

Poached Pears

Hibiscus and cardamom poached pears on a mascarpone cream with crumbled speculoos .

Hibiscus Ice Tea

Hibiscus ice tea with rose water and chai spices.

Wow, what a nice first dinner. My personal highlights were the main course with its well balanced components, the perfectly roasted pork and the combination of cooked and fresh vegetables. I also really enjoyed the dessert, I really loved how well you could taste the cardamom in the poached pears. The Revisited Caprese and the Roasted Leek Mosaic were the most innovative and unique dishes, and really showed how far we could challenge ourselves with these dinners. Well done Adi!

Second Dinner - Raphael

For our second dinner, Raphael had invited us to his grandparents home in Ciney, a beautiful and calm town in Wallonia.

Fresh Tomatoes

Sliced tomatoes with olive oil, salt and fresh basil picked straight from the garden.

Seared Duck

Pan-seared duck breast glazed with a fermented hot garlic honey butter accompanied by a potato pavé and pea purée.

Pain Perdu

French toast made with homemade brioche filled with an Earl Grey infused creme anglaise and topped with sliced strawberries.

Our second dinner was delicious. The first things I have to give Raphael credit for was the beautiful table setting. At first we were greeted with these stunning flowers that I do not remember the name of. Really brought a fun ‘wow’ effect to the start of the meal. For my favourite dish I have go with the dessert. He literally made the brioche by hand and the Earl Grey creme anglaise was so rich. You could really taste the black tea and was not overtaken by the sweetness. I have got to give him props for cooking duck, which isn’t usually my cup of tea to be honest, but it was very professionally prepared and I happily gobbled it down very quickly, especially with that spicy garlic honey butter. Yum.

Third Dinner - Simona

Simona nicely invited us to her studio in the center of Brussels and had prepared a super cosy autumn themed dinner with tons of candles everywhere. You can’t see them in the picture but trust me, there were loads.

Pistachio Puff

Puff pastry with goat cheese, honey and pistachio.

Pamplemousse Mocktail

Sparkling drink with grapefruit juice and thyme syrup.

Autumn Salad

Refreshing salad with slides oranges, fennel, black olives and edible flowers.

Ricotta Gnocchi

Gnocchi made with ricotta and flavoured with a lemon glaze, olive oil, parmesan tuiles and parsley.

Chocolate Lava Cake

Chocolate lava cake with a raspberry coulis and fresh raspberries.

What I remember the most from Simona’s dinner was the super cosy vibe she created at her place, with the autumn themed dishes and she even made handwritten menus for us to take home with us as a souvenir. I still have it and it will be a great reminder of the fun times we had creating these dinners. My favourite dish was definitely the dessert here as well. She nailed the chocolate lava cake. It might seem like a simple dessert to execute but actually to time it right is quite hard. Because you don’t want to overcook or undercook it too much otherwise you won’t get the oozy chocolate flowing out like lava. Also props to her for making the gnocchi. I’ve never made pasta before and I know its not the easiest thing to make by hand.

Fourth Dinner - My turn

I had such a fun time attending these dinners. And I was lucky to be the last one to host. I had the advantage of attending all the other dinners first, gather ideas, find inspiration and just have more time to brainstorm dishes.

Gazpacho and Toast

Cherry tomato gazpacho, parsley butter and toast.

Ceviche

Tuna ceviche with cucumber, avocado, mango, tomatoes, red onion, jalapeno, coriander and pink finger lime. Served with crispy puffed rice paper.

White Fish (forgot the name)

Seared white fish, Jerusalem artichoke puree, roasted beets topped with toasted hazelnuts.

Tropical Panna Cotta

Panna Cotta with meringue, tropical fruits, pineapple coulis and a pineapple flower.

Apple Rose Infusion

Cinnamon and apple infusion with rose shaped apple slices.

Now I don’t want to review my own dinner because that would be unfair, but I will mention what I think were the highlights. I think the ceviche was definitely the tastiest dish, as well as the most popular. I’m very impressed with how good the Jerusalem artichokes taste like. It was my first time cooking with them so that was a nice discovery. And I have to give props to the dessert being the prettiest dish. I was especially proud of my pineapple flowers.

I am so happy we actually followed through with our idea, as often a lot of plans are made but never executed. I didn’t expect us to do so well to be honest, but I’m proud of what came out of this dinner club and I really wanted to share it with you guys.

I hope you enjoyed having a look through our dishes and that maybe this will motivate you or inspire you to start your own dinner club with friends.

Thank you for reading through this post till the end and I hope to see you in the next one!