Chaiparty (London supper club)

The pretty posters were by Suchi

I'm a little late in posting about the chaiparty we hosted a while back, but as they say, better late than never right? We had this idea brewing (pun intended) in our minds for so long and finally after almost a year we were finally able to execute it. Supper clubs are popping up every second in London and although this idea was on the lines of a supper club, we wanted it to be more of an experience than just the food.

Chaiparty, as the name suggests is all about chai and an excuse to get together and chat, dance, play games and of course enjoy the food. Since it was our first stint with an event like this, we decided to keep it 'by invite' only. On the guest list were food bloggers, media professionals and food enthusiasts who all enthusiastically took part in the festivities. The dress code was Indian and we all dressed up in sarees, skirts, salwars, kurta's and lehengas. It was at my house in South East London and we decorated my tiny apartment with all sorts of Indian-themed paraphernalia and in the process managed to drive our husbands crazy.

The guests were all welcomed in the Indian traditional way with a small aarti, a sort of blessing, and then gifted colourful bangles and bindis. Everyone was sportive and courageous enough to actually wear a saree and even keep it on till the very end. We had a few fun games lined up, like a treasure hunt of sorts where we used twitter and the #chaiparty to give out clues, which we all had fun doing. Then there was the what's in your purse game where we picked out a few random, bizarre things and whoever had the most number f items in their bags won. Believe me, quite a few of them had most of the items :). Then we of course selected the best dressed which was quite hard to pick, considering everyone looked just as gorgeous as the other.

The menu consisted of dishes from all over India, and we gave it a fusion twist, but keeping in tact the traditional flavours. We also gave snazzy names for the dishes, something we are pretty proud of. Take a look at the menu to know what I'm talking about :)

We also had some lovely gifts and goodies sponsored by amazing brands and i cant thank you enough for the support you have shown us. We had Waitrose Wines sending over a case of assorted champagnes and sparkling wines which we put to full use by making the plum and chai bellini. Priscilla, winner of the best dressed also won a Seriously Peachy Dessert wine sponsored by Waitrose, an absolute fav dessert wine perfect with some citric desserts. There was unlimited tea sponsored by Tea India, an upmarket brand of chai which comes in three delicious flavours Masala Chai, Cardamom Chai and Vanilla Chai. They also gave each of our guests a small goody bag with all their teas and recipe cards for some cooking inspiration. Dessert, a very important part of a meal, wouldn't have been complete without Devnaa sponsoring some gorgeous chai truffles that were gobbled up in no time.

The uber cool online gift store Dotcomgiftshop sponsored a pretty tea pot, quite fitting with our theme for the evening, from their Moorish Stoneware collection. Erin has been thoroughly putting it to good use. Two favourite authors of mine Ottlenghi and Madhur Jaffrey were also present that evening in the form of cookbooks, both sponsored by Ebury Publishing, and won by Hayley and Natalie from Wild Card PR. 

This was our first foray into the whole supper club scene in London and we are sure going to have a couple more lined up this year, with the next one in March for Holi. We shall put up details closer to the date but it would be great if you can extend all your support in this new and exciting endeavour of ours. Thanks in advance :)

The #chaiparty team

Waitrose Cellar launch- a very wine-y evening

                                                                                                      (Photography by Emma Gutteridge)

I am ridiculously late in posting this, but as they say, better late than never right?

Well, about a month back I was invited to the launch of the Waitrose Cellar, and the invite said- with a twist. They had me at wine and I rsvp-ed immediately. I then went back and reread the mail and it said the wine tasting would take place on a canal boat in Regents Canal. Now that was really exciting and i waited patiently for the day. Laura, who was part of the PR team did a fab job reminding us of things like not to wear heels if possible, and directions to the place etc.

                                                                                                         (Photography by Emma Gutteridge)

The weather Gods seemed to like the idea of the whole wine tasting thing on a canal boat and so blessed us with some fabulous sunshine and warm weather in the middle of May, when it was technically still spring. We got together at the London Canal Museum and after a bit of catching up with fellow food bloggers (of course with some bubbly in hand), our wine experts for the evening Xenia and Stephane, took us through the journey of wines and how the Waitrose Cellar came into being. We were then segregated into two groups and asked to head on over to the two canal barges that were ready for us. Once we all got cosy inside the boats, Xenia, who was our group head, went on to explain the different ways to identify the personality of different wines, while opening bottle after bottle of delicious wines for us to taste.

The canal ride was really beautiful, and with wine as companion you'd never want it to end. We tasted quite a few wines, but I must say my favourite was the Cae de Lugny Sparkling Burgundy Blan de Blancs NV which just hit the spot the moment i took a sip. Its perfect for those summery afternoon parties and at GBP 13.99 its a steal. I'm a Chardonnay lover, and so it wasn't too difficult to please me with this anyway! I usually go for whites and Rose's over Summer and switch to the dry reds in colder months, and i'm really really getting used to the sparkling wines this year. I am not too familiar with pairing wine and food, but I'm definitely getting the hang of it. 

Once the canal ride was over, we were all ushered back into the museum to do a round of 'speed wine-ing.' the idea being, we'd by then have learnt a skill or two about wine's in general and a one on one session with a fellow wine enthusiast would help us pick a wine for them based on their character traits and tastes. This was indeed a fun session and we all managed to get whatever we can out of the other in that one minute span. I am yet to go through my entire case of wine that was picked out for me, but from the few opened, I've loved them all, with the Cantena Malbec, picked out for me by Fiona of London Unattached, being my absolute favourite. I am not a sweet wine person, but the Seriously peachy dessert wine from Waitrose, picked out for me by Katja of ifhipscouldlie, was also a pleasant surprise. I recently paired it with a chocolate and coffee panna cotta and it really, really matched well. The bitterness from the dark chocolate nicely complimented the peachy flavours of the wine. 

Urvashi (Botanical Baker) insisted I try out the Marquesa de la Crus Garnache Rose, and that's the first bottle I opened from my case. It was indeed delicious, not too sweet, and perfect paired with spicy food. We had it with some chicken curry and stir fried vegetables. I keep tweeting and instagramming the wines as and when I open them, so follow me on there to be up to date with my wine saga.

The Waitrose Cellar website gives in-depth information on all wines and they also have how to guides that help you learn a few things; and if that's not enough, the wine experts are available on @waitrosewine to answer all your wine queries and food matches.

(Photography by Emma Gutteridge)

With thanks to Waitrose Cellar for inviting me to the event and for the case of wine. All views expressed are my own