LS Review: Little Blue Door’s Multi-Sensory Supperclub
Push the Boundaries of Pain & Pleasure at The Little Blue Door’s Multi-Sensory Supperclub
Dates: Wednesday 31st October – Friday 2nd November 2018
Time: 7pm-9.30pm
Prepare for a multi-sensory dining experience like no other, as this Halloween Fulham’s late night neighbourhood bar and restaurant, The Little Blue Door, invites guests to experience Pain Vs Pleasure, a multi-sensory supper club designed with guidance from Oxford’s Professor of Food Phycology, Charles Spence.
From Wednesday 31st October to Friday 2nd November, join the flatmates for a five-course menu of daring delicacies, incorporating all five senses; sight, smell, sound, touch and taste, alongside terrifying tipples, guaranteed to get your blood pumping and heart racing. Designed in partnership with Charles Spence, infamously known for his work with Heston Blumenthal, the experience is set to push the boundaries between one’s pain and another’s pleasure offering a full body dining experience.
Our review:
We had the pleasure of attending a media tasting event at The Little Blue Door Bar and Restaurant in London’s Lower Westside. Read all about our wonderful experience below!
Stepping through the not-so-little blue doors of the The Little Blue Door, we knew in an instant that we were going to be in for a right treat. The modest Fulham hang-out was recently voted the ‘Best Bar in London’ by Tattle magazine, and after having been there ourselves we can wholeheartedly corroborate this claim! The cosy yet spacious layout of the bar, combined with its upscale Bohemian-chic decor (the stuffed fox took us a bit by surprise!) promised an interesting experience, and we were not disappointed.
The theme of the night was to be ‘pleasure and pain’; blending the psychology of food with experimentative micro-gastronomy, the menu intended to revamp London’s bar food scene by bringing together explosive, free-flowing flavours and the precise ‘science of deliciousness.’ To be honest, we weren’t exactly sure what that meant in the beginning, but we were about to find out!
The night kicked off to a great start when we were brought our first drink – the classic, élégant-chic Margarita. Except, of course, this was no ordinary Margarita; besides being quite strong (or perhaps that was just my low tolerance making an appearance), the rim of the glass had been coated with chilli-spiked salt crystals, which stung your lips with each invigorating sip. Painful though it was, there was something tantalizing about the buzzing sensation on your lips – and with the speakers blasting The Red Hot Chilli Peppers at full volume, by the time we had finished the last drops we felt hyped up and ready for a night out.
Next came the starters. Waitresses bustled around us offering ‘locust-dusted’ ham and cheese croquettes (not the most sophisticated of names, but they tasted amazing!) and batter-fried ‘Russian Roulette’ Padron peppers. Despite their somewhat-creepy titles, the hor d’oeuvres themselves were crispy and comforting, and provided a nice, stocky base for soaking up the next drink – ice-cold Duvel beer, served in a serrated glass. There’s not much we can say about this one – deep-fried food and cold beer? You just can’t go wrong with that!
After the macabre starters we were directed into the dining room for the mains. The tables had been arranged in a communal seating layout (we were sat in groups of four) and the lights had been dimmed to a warm yellow glow to encourage socialising and spark conversation. A feast of delights soon followed – ceviche with Granita, a seafood platter of fried squid and succulent cod cheek (served with a whole fish head!), and pork knuckle ‘Bonehenge’ with capers and mushrooms – all distributed on communal wooden trays laid in the middle of each table. Everything was absolutely delicious, especially the ceviche; served with a tall glass of Tio Pepe sherry, the bite-sized pieces of marinated white fish were mouth-wateringly tender and refreshingly tangy, reminding us of hot, sandy beaches and fresh ocean spray.
Dessert came in two parts, the first of which took us completely by surprise – a chocolate Osso Bucco with Sichuan and Chilli, ladled onto a mound of piping-hot jasmine rice (delightful!). The next was a bit more traditional – a wine glass filled with what the menu told us was a ‘Syllabub Surprise’ titled ‘A Shade of Blue.’ And boy, was it blue. The brightly-coloured cherry mousse had been topped with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream that melted in your mouth and gave the whole thing a cloud-like feel. A heavenly end to a heavenly meal!
