While in the US we tend to compare these not quite official eateries to speakesies of prohibition times, our British friends use the classier 'supper club' moniker.
Oliver Thring gives us his list 5 Top London Supper Clubs (September 29, The Guardian).
He dates their arrival on the local food scene to late 2008 while the recession was gathering strength.
Oliver was introduced to the concept while helping one of the early ones, The Secret Larder…
His 5 picks are:
Fatty Bristow's Sunken Supper Society, their opening night was in September, 7 courses for 40 Pounds.
Fernandez & Leluu run by an electrical engineer and a clothing and jewellery designer from the comfort of their appartment. They seems to be running things smoothly as their 3 upcoming dinners (Sept 30, Oct 1 and 2) are sold out) and one of them shares the Fernandez name with my mother (gives him extra points).
Next The Loft Project, an expensive (around 100 Pounds per person) and elaborate side project for chef Nuno Mendes, Oliver notes.
Moving on to The Old Hat Club where the earliest you can have a seat at the table is December 5th. Price is more of the people at 30 Quids.
Last Oliver files in Saltoun Supper Club located in Brixton and run by a food stylist so there is a strong accent on presentation (not that the others don't care)….No wonder their site is named 'Eat with your Eyes' offering visions and tastes.
This last one has 16 seats per dinner and pops open only Wednesdays and Thursdays.
I don't remember a caesar salad looking quite like theirs (above).
(* photo of Caesar Salad via Eat with your Eyes)