My First Vegetarian Supper Club with Khao, London

I was very kindly invited to review Khao through Love Pop Ups London with in return for a review. However, as always, all opinions are entirely my own.

Back in September, I tried a new style of Supper Club, well a new style to me! I went to a totally vegetarian Supper Club, Khao,  that’s run by Punam at Poster on Hackney Road. As you all know, I’ve really cut down on my meat and dairy intake so I thought this was a great way to try new foods!

Poster are doing their best to bring a carefully selected curation of food, drinks and art, to create a new kind of bar experience to area, including hosting Supper Clubs.

Punam comes from a family where cooking has always played a core part of their home life, but her love from experimenting with flavours comes from her Father. He’s always encouraged Punam to push boundaries and that’s what has spurred her on to bringing Khao to life.

Upon arrival, we were given the choice of an alcoholic drink or a mocktail and of course, I went in for the alcohol option. It was a really refreshing way to start the evening whilst making new friends.

We kicked the evening off with spiced spinach leaves topped with crunchy chickpeas, pomegranate, tomato, onion, tamarind and mint, with a side of potato patties finished with tapioca seed crisp and date sauce.

I actually think this was my favourite course as I loved all of the textures and those potato patties, well, I could eat them with all sorts of meals as they were so good!

The second course was really quite the flavour sensation and many of the flavours were ones I’d not tried before. It was made up from fragrant fenugreek leaf flatbreads served with tomato and black chickpeas on one and swede and cumin seeds on the other.

Again, another great array of textures from the soft swede and the bite from the chickpeas, I’d happily eat these again too as a side alongside a curry as I think they’d work really well together.

Next up was the split red lentil stew with wholewheat and coriander bites which reminded me a little of tomato soup with pasta in and I mean that in a really great way as soup with pasta is a winter staple for me! I’d never experienced lentils like this before I’d love to learn how to make soup like this at home so I can make this one a new winter staple.

The lentil stew was served with peppery poppadums, onions and tomatoes which complimented the dish so well. The crispiness of the poppadums gave a great contrast to the softness of the wholewheat bites within the stew. Yes, I know I’m big on textures as I find it makes a meal so much more interesting!

The final course was a Shrikhand which is sweetened and strained yoghurt topped with apricot puree. This was a great way to end the meal as it neutralised the spice and left me feeling refreshed.

Poster had a fabulous Argentinian wine selection and I had a couple of glasses of the Argento 2018 Malbec that complimented the spiciness of the dishes but didn’t overpower them. My plus one went with a couple of glasses of 2017 Altos De Jose Ignacio Reserve Tannat that she equally enjoyed with her meals.

Punam was a great host who joined us throughout dinner and kept us all chatting, laughing and discussing with a little pot of questions that were pre-prepared on the table. Who knew that favourite condiments could divide a table of foodies so much?!