#3
Rhythm found. The best food yet. #3 kicked off 2023 and a ramp up of Sabbatum dinners to come. More dates and photos below.
4 February 2023 - London: I’m so happy at what is becoming a consistent reaction to our dinners in Dalston. The food this time was off the charts (I say this every time, but the food keeps impressing and improving) in large part thanks to my cousin Al helping in the kitchen. The vibe also took off.
Find upcoming dinner dates (and more photos from 4 February) at the bottom of this post. Let me know if you want to join us next time.
On the menu at #3
A cheesy white onion soup that was so fatty you could overdose if not careful - divine. Served with a purple splash of beetroot and carrot puree.
Next, sea bass and salsa verde; lentil,beetroot and feta salad; the crispiest roast potatoes on the planet. They were brought to life with a drizzle of salsa verde and purple carrot puree and garnished with red onions cured in lime which gives them an electric pink colour.
Dessert was a coconut and rum rice pudding dusted with cocoa powder. Al bacio!
A few friends were seen off with a shot of our regular Drambuie and coffee, while others stayed for a salut after midnight.
A gong-like banging coming from the heavens turned out to be an angry neighbour telling us to shut up and so the night came to a close.
I sense from some invitees who didn’t end up coming that the gist of the Sabbatum experience is lost on them. As though I’m charging friends invited to my place for dinner. This is a three-course meal in a lovely venue with a well-curated group of people. A place to truly connect with new people, with no strings attached. No “networking” or “dating”. Just people together, eating, drinking and laughing.
So if you’re reading this and have yet to accept an invite, do it once! If you don’t want to return I’ll give you your money back. If you have attended, spread the word with those who you think would appreciate it.
Six days after Sabbatum #3 I was having dinner with a rabbi. A young rabbi, not much older than me, had invited ten friends to his home. I was a plus one. Things were, as expected, pleasant and warm. But it wasn’t until after dessert that the magic of dinner - granted, a religious dinner - began to blossom.
The rabbi shared the portion of the Torah that’s read during the week’s prayers, covering the festival of nature which aligns with the early beginnings of spring. We took a moment to consider the annual transition from the dark days of winter to the budding brighter days ahead, and the weekly transition from work to weekend. The rabbi then invited us to share anything that had been on our minds this week.
At first, an awkward silence. But then, someone began to share. We all talked about the wider world we perceive and how it relates to our own lives, the culture we inhabit, the narratives that swirl around, prominent but invisible, as if a flavour in the air we breathe.
We soon arrived on a point I’ve pondered on for a while. The sense that some aspects of modern life, with its consumerism, scrolling and the importance of achievement in the eyes of others, can seem a means of plugging a spiritual void.
My parents never really explained their rule to make Shabbat dinner compulsory for each of my sisters and I until we turned 18. My parents couldn’t articulate it - the value of weekly Friday night dinners was an intuition based on their experience. I would rage at not getting a logical explanation for missing parties with friends.
But while I sat there at the rabbi’s dinner table, contemplating with friends our physical and spiritual world, I better understood my parents’ rule. In a world that seems to weigh heavy on the shoulders of young people, where true connection beyond networking events, online dating and social media seems ever more elusive, there’s something to learn from the Jewish ritual.1
Sabbatum is a place where the joys of Shabbat dinner are teased out into a Saturday evening party atmosphere. There’s no prior goal of networking, learning or finding romance. It’s a space to step away from the pressures of our lives and the world. A reminder and celebration of life’s simple beauty: an intimate dinner with good people.
Unfortunately, I don’t have the power of god to coerce you into joining, but I’d encourage you to try it and see how it makes you feel.
Our next date is: Saturday, 25th February
Please reach out if you’d like to attend.
Here’s to life!
— Oli
1
It turns out my parents gave me something many long for. A 2010 study found that two thirds of UK children yearn for the tradition of family meals and as many as 10% of UK families report never eating meals together at all. (Montgomery, Happy City, 2013)
October 2022 - Dalston, London: The compliments I got for Sabbatum #2 were so gushing they made me blush. But I’m not letting it get to my head… I’m doing two more soon.
With #1 going well, all of a sudden I felt the pressure of a standard to live up to. I had thoughts popping up randomly in the weeks prior to #2 that something would go wrong. I reacted by making extra effort to ignore pressure and have fun putting #2 together.
So fun is what I had. It was helpful the menu, impressive on the eye, was relatively simple to prepare. I started prepping the food the day before and even with my day job taking up some time, I was able to relax with my girlfriend, Annabel, in the evening. Being rested for the next day was key and this was also a good time to brief my assistant on the work ahead.
From Saturday morning, having Annabel’s help gave us more wiggle room on prep time and kept me from getting too anxious. Her being around helped make the prep fun; we had a nice lunch, drank beer and played music. It reminded me of why I wanted to do a thing like Sabbatum in the first place. I love hosting people, but running around a kitchen with a smile is an adrenaline rush to relish.
And what were we preparing?
Starters
Challah and butter. I bought the challahs fresh from Daniel’s before closing for Shabbat on Friday and put them straight in the fridge until Saturday afternoon, keeping the silky doughy yummy yummy gorgeousness in place overnight. What else but divinity could explain the celestial pleasure of eating this bread?
Some deconstructed tzatziki: mini minty cucumbers served with garlic yogurt. It was good.
A lot of grilled artichokes with gremolata and a lemony za’atar dip. (A note for next time, before I forget: artichokes are a pain in the ass. They’re messy, need to be cooked a million ways (two), and go brown fast. Baby artichokes, which were the original plan, would work much better but are very expensive and quite hard to find in the right quantity.)
Mains
Asian risotto: spring onions instead of white onions, sushi rice instead of Arborio short-grain, and sake instead of white wine. Japanese and Italian cuisine combined? It’s a party in the mouth.
Miso aubergine. A middle-class dinner party staple that accommodates all our vegan friends.
Sweet seared teriyaki tuna with sesami seeds and spring onions. Sensational.
Sweet
Brownie cheesecake served with raspberries. This show-stopper is a cheesecake on a brownie base. I googled “crowd-pleasing desserts”. It pleased.
Berries with dairy-free cream.
And what were they saying?
Descriptions of the food served, overhead from the kitchen:
“Sublime”
“Oli outdid himself”
“Truly amazing”
“Tuna slapped hard”
“Incredible”
“Fuck me. Insane. Beyond insane actually.”
The People: everyone invited had to bring a plus one
I invited ten friends from a variety of contexts in my life who each had to bring someone else I didn’t know. The final group radiated an atmosphere perfect for a Saturday evening dinner. A mix of the intimate comfort of dinner with friends and the excitement of meeting new people in close quarters.
I heard from the kitchen that familiar chorus of conversation where words become non-decipherable, but laughs stand out.
I learned that not everyone was able to meet because half of the long dinner table sat up against the wall, making it hard to speak to others further down the table or move around mid-meal. I served a Moscow Mule to everyone on arrival for some mingling early on, but this reception of sorts wasn’t enough. I’m thinking next time, we’ll rack a round of shots prior to the meal to loosen everyone up, elongate the pre-meal time and get more people clinking glasses.
One friend said they met more people helping to clean up afterwards than during the meal itself. Initially, I didn’t like people helping. I wanted to look after them as my guests. But it created a really cool atmosphere - a production line at the dishwasher and guests carrying plates bumping into the strangers who had sat out of reach. We all did a shot like restaurant staff after a successful service.
So it made me wonder: can we deliberately integrate guests cleaning up into each Sabbatum supper? Like a rite of passage for attending. Maybe newcomers have to help out while regulars relax? It’s homely, surprisingly fun and… saves me a load of time.
The music
“The two things you can’t fake are good food and good music.”
— Etta James
1/ Aperitif
2/ Wine
3/ Digestif
“Ahhh to be young!” - My Dad
I now know that the more fun I can have, the better my guests’ experiences will be. I was so happy to see them all genuinely enjoying the food and vibe. I wouldn’t have been able to do it as well without Annabel. It seems these nights are impossible to pull off alone, which is maybe why I blush so hard at all the praise thrown my way. Please keep it coming.
As we finished cleaning up around midnight - there were four of us left - and it was time to go party and celebrate a successful evening celebrating life. I got home at 4am. Tired.
Here’s to life,
— Oli
The setting
22 January 2022 – London: We threw the first supper in a lovely small space on Dalston Lane. The aim was to gather good friends in an intimate environment, enjoy delicious food and each other's company, and start learning some things about hosting.
The people
Around the table were sixteen people. School friends and other familiar faces from my childhood mixed in with newer friends from university, and my newest friend - Austin - who I met flyering outside the Royal Albert Hall in October.
Sabbatum #1 was further proof to me that dinner is the best way to spend an evening. Just like a club, pub or bar, at dinner people are drinking and having fun. But only at dinner do people sit stationary, face-to-face. While we eat - our most essential and primal activity! - our shared humanity is palpable, and there is nowhere really to hide from friendly conversation.
The food
Starters
Ceviche is a tasty, refreshing and easy-to-make dish. I did it with sea bass.
A beetroot, walnut and goats cheese salad with rocket and lambs lettuce, a honey dressing and a generous drizzle of white truffle oil was a happy accompaniment.
Mains
Bavette steak was served on wooden boards sliced with a sprinkle of salt. Pinker than a Caribbean sunset, it dripped all over the place as it was carried to the table.
The veggie option was baba ghanoush stuffed in the roasted skin of the aubergine it was made from. It was colourfully topped with za’arter roasted cauliflower, sweet potato and zucchini, and sprinkled with deep red pomegranate seeds and smokey green pistachios.
The crumbled-up new potatoes roasted with olive oil and salt were a slapping-hot crowd pleaser. Served on greek yogurt, splattered with pesto of coriander and mint, and topped with cured red onions.
Sweet
Bailey’s ice cream with Kahlua caramel sauce and salted dark chocolate nibs sound good? (Kahlua is a Mexican coffee liquor.) I folded whipped egg whites into whipped double cream, sugar, egg yolk and Baileys, froze it overnight and boom: smoooooth ice cream with no churning! It really was that easy.
The Kahlua sauce came out way too sweet. A reminder to always radically reduce the amount of sugar in any recipe written by a white woman in Middle America. A rule of thumb: reduce by the same proportion that the population of the US is morbidly obese.
Digestif
The table shared a shot of half espresso, half Drambuie.
The music
As food feeds the body, music feeds the soul. Music is a vital part of a good life, and since Sabbatum is about celebrating life, the playlist for Sabbatum #1 has house, hip-hop, funk and soul where relaxation, euphoria and celebration are the feelings that tie all the songs together.
The first in the books
As a few people began to filter out into the crisp January night in humming East London, a few stayed behind to help finish cleaning up. Out the door at 1am-ish with Tom, Sam and Maria - the last ones standing - the night ended calmly.
Here’s to life on Saturdays and every day,
Oli
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