The WaterHouse Project (Hackney), London - 8.5/10

A 'Social fine dining' supper club, hosted in a daytime tiles shop. For sure, a different experience worth trying!

Interiors of the Water House Project space

Overall evaluation: 8.5/10

Food quality/ taste: 9/10

Price: 8/10 (£80 pp for an 8 course menu, with wine pairing - plates are quite small though!)

Service: 7.5/10

Value for money: 8.5/10

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I found out of this supper club via Instagram and got really curious about their concept of 'Social Fine Dining', beyond the fact that it looked quite a good bargain an 8 course dinner plus wine tasting for just 80£. So proposed to Francesco and another couple of friends to book for a dinner at the place.

Just to give a quick history on the concept and chef, the Water House Project began in 2015 when Gabriel Waterhouse left the Michelin starred Galvin La Chapelle with the aim of making fine dining accessible. Initially, he began his supper club from his home in Bethnal Green and then expanded into the current setting which accommodate a much broader numbers of guests.

Calcot onion, nettle purée, macadamia crunch, pickled walnut reduction, apple and dill vinaigrette

Finding the place is quite hard, given it is in a tiles shop, but once you enter the atmosphere is really cool. The dinner starts with a standing happy hour (an Americano in our case) where you can walk around the restaurant/ shop and meet other guests. It is also quite nice, that the kitchen is in the middle of the dining area and you can see the chef and team preparing the dishes from scratch.

After a bit, the first starter arrives, in our case a celeriac veloute served in a sort of mug, pretty tasty I have to say.

After this, other few starters arrive accompanied by home-made bread and butter; I really liked the Smoked cods roe mousse, squid ink and fennel cracker, herring caviar, parsley and the Calcot onion, nettle purée, macadamia crunch, pickled walnut reduction, apple and dill vinaigrette.

Smoked cods roe mousse, squid ink and fennel cracker, herring caviar, parsley

The mains to follow were both fish (Mussels, artichoke purée, preserved lemon ) and meat (a Braised lamb shoulder, which I switched for a vegetarian option - braised onions).

I have to say, however, that one of the things I liked the most it has been the cheese course, with Perl Ias with rye cracker and pear sorbet. I really liked to contrast between the saltiness and acidity of the cheese and the sweet pear sorbet.

Also, funny enough, I was also able to eat the dessert, given it was not really sweet! The dessert consisted of Beetroot meringue, sheep’s curd sorbet, chocolate soil, caramelised walnuts and thyme - the savory chocolate soil was really spot on in my opinion!

Ah! Forgot to say that all these dishes were accompanied by abundant glasses of wine. In all honesty, whilst I think the size of food portions could have been a bit more abundant, the wine was quite a lot instead!

Perl Ias with rye cracker and pear sorbet

Another thing I liked, is the fact that the chef Gabriel was presenting each of the dished when they were arriving and speaking about the source and story of the main ingredients.

All in all, I strongly suggest to try the place, given it is a really cool atmosphere and a bit different from the classic restaurant dinner; food was good and well cooked, even though I could have appreciated a bit bigger portions.

Good luck to chef Gabriel with the Project!