Georgina Supper Club

"I'd had the idea for a supper club for quite some time, but it took me a while to pull the trigger on it. My 9-5 is in luxury fashion merchandising but I run a small side business as a gluten and dairy free baker at East Bakes, mostly making treats to sell at local markets in East London and celebration cakes.

I spotted a gap in the supper club market to have a completely gluten and dairy free meal without compromising on the menu – I wanted my guests to be able to eat pasta and cream!

I finally decided to take the plunge after finding a beautiful pop-up space in East London. Italian food is not usually sensitive to a gluten and dairy free diet (all the flour! All the cheese!), so I decided to take on the challenge.

The menu

The starter was sharing boards of cashew cream cheese and chive stuffed peppers, baked aubergine, honey roasted beetroot and carrot, rosemary salt crackers, and orange rind marinated olives.

The main course was Tuscan slow cooked beef for the meat eaters and roasted butternut squash with pumpkin seeds for the veggies, with fresh pesto gluten free pasta and baby leaf salad.

For pudding I made salted caramel brownies, which are always a sell out at markets, with stewed Victoria plums, whipped coconut cream and a salted caramel drizzle.

I provided lemon water and had a BYOB policy where I worked with a local wine shop to suggest pairings for each course. This meant we didn’t need an alcohol license.

Getting organised

I charged £35 per head which included a £10 donation to Plan International UK. I designed and printed the menus and all the advertising material myself. The wonderful team at Plan hand wrote thank you cards and included badges for all guests which I placed on the chairs.

I have never hosted a dinner of this size before so preparation and planning were key. I wrote out a timeline for three days before the supper club which included shopping for ingredients, all food preparation and cooking.

By utilizing my careful plan, I was able to pull it off. With help from my husband and Mum who were both sous chefs and servers on the night, it all ran quite smoothly. The guests had a fantastic time and agreed what an amazing cause it was in aid of.

Doing good

For anyone thinking of running a supper club or Do Good Dinner, the best advice I can give is not to over think it. It was so enjoyable to serve my diners and receive great feedback for the food I’d cooked. It was lovely to create an evening where people came together, met new people, ate, drank, and had a brilliant night in aid of a wonderful charity.

Plan International UK are doing incredible things in the world’s poorest countries, helping to improve the lives of girls and their communities. To hear that the money I raised at the supper club could send two girls to school for a year in Sierra Leone made all the hard work well worth it."

Well done Georgina - what a fantastic evening!  

You can host your very own dinner party by signing up for your own Do Good Dinner pack today and raise funds for children worldwide.