16 Nov Portuguese Supper Club
About delicious food and Portuguese culture – Last night saw the start of an exciting dining experience with hopefully much more to come. Stella Pereira held her first Portuguese Supper Club in the comfort of her home in the city centre of Cambridge. A bit more than a month ago, she picked my brains about the possibility of running a Portuguese Supper Club and where should she have it. Stella is a person, who puts her thoughts into action so the Portuguese Supper Club came together very quickly.
I have to say for a Portuguese person it isn’t very difficult to throw a party or a dinner or I actually should say a dinner ending up in a party as feeding large numbers of guests is part of their culture. At Portuguese dinners, you can always expect a table laid out with lots of food and they always expect you to have seconds. If not, then they think there is something wrong with their food. So it is best to take a small portion first and then another helping.
These days ‘the diet rules’ tell you never to have seconds, but eat what is on your plate to stay trim and slim. The Portuguese have a great solution for that, which I could easily adapt. They eat a lot and then the table get’s pushed on the side and they dance and party to work off the calories.
It was a lovely intimate evening with 10 guests and the food was delicious. I had planned not to write about her Supper Club this morning as Stella will host another 10 guests at her home tonight, but the menu is going to be completely different. Her Portuguese Supper Club is called ‘ A Mesa” as it is sharing food around the table.
We kicked off with delicious Portuguese mini snacks, Bacalhau cakes, Rissoles with prawn and Beef croquettes and to wash this down, she served us ‘Black Caipirinha’ made with Black vodka (made of blackberries). Very nice indeed! Followed by a 4-course menu paired with Portuguese wine, Sangria ( made of white wine) and coffee with liqueurs. The delicious olive oil was brought back by a friend from a Portuguese lagar in Arouca.
All in all, it was a great evening with many local foodies around the table with most of them having a passion for pastry, there is no guessing which topic was raised often.
Keen to taste her delicious food? Make sure the 11th of January is blocked off in your diary for her next Portuguese Supper Club at St. Paul’s.
“Don’t expect Michelin style food, but comforting Portuguese food’ – Stella Pereira.
About Stella Pereira
Since the age of four, Stella has had a love for baking that was first inspired by her mother, a cake designer herself. Her childhood was also strongly influenced by a family of creatives, artist, musicians and inventors. She went on to study Biological Sciences in university, but quickly realized her passion laid in a creatively challenged world.
She is the cake designer at Norfolk Street bakery, Cambridge. Her custom-made cakes are delicious works of art, commissioned to exclusively reflect each client’s personal taste and style.
Stella’s handcrafted celebration cakes are an artistic alternative, offering quality, individuality and a lasting impression.
Find more about Stella on www.stellascakes.com
Just a small note; there will be a lot of Supper Clubs held in January. The full list of dinners to look forward to will be posted on my blog next week.
Gerla
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