Medieval Supper Club

Join historians, chefs, musicians and jesters for the most immersive, multi-sensory supper club London has ever seen and feast upon the rich wonders of Britain’s lost cuisine in a gorgeous, candlelit restaurant in the heart of Hackney.

• All food included in the ticket price; option for unlimited wine too
• See sample menu below; vegetarian options available

For much of the last century, Britain hasn’t had the greatest of reputations when it comes to cuisine. But much of this is to do with war rationing, a fetish for over-boiling, and the deterioration of the climate. During this immersive dining experience we will give you a taste of Britain’s original — startlingly original — cuisine.

In our hosts — chef-to-the-stars and acclaimed Times journalist Mr Jack Burke, founder of cult supper club Quaff and private chef to VIPs all over Europe, we have someone with the gastronomic prowess and eloquent charm to cook and communicate the wonders of medieval food — indeed the lost cuisine of Britain — and bestselling author and acclaimed historian, the charismatic Dr Matthew Green who will paint a vivid and evocative portrait of medieval life (and death!) to root the banquet in its fascinating social context. See below for full biographies.

The feast will take place in the chic-historic, beautifully atmospheric, award-winning pub and restaurant The Prince Arthur in Hackney, glittering to the light of bee’s-wax candles, a stone’s throw from the ancient pig-swinging site of London Fields.

What to expect

We will present you with a kaleidoscope of medieval dishes, as varied as the dusty light pouring through the rose window of a medieval cathedral.

From rat-sized meatballs in jelly to green medieval ketchup, boar’s head pies being paraded in to great fanfare to freshly-baked eunuch chickens, alongside mashed parsnips with saffron — creamy and golden — and buttery worts, and much more, these servings will be painstakingly recreated from medieval manuscripts and genuinely delicious. There will be sumptuous puddings, too, from apple and quince tartlets to nutmeg custard pies.

As each dish is borne to your table on the wings of our servants and cupbearers, our head chef Mr Burke will talk you through what you’re about to eat and the alchemy behind it. Between each course, Dr Green will evoke illuminating facets of medieval city life in startling detail, from fashion to cuisine to the way people who lived in the timber-framed houses around us saw their world, suffused it with colour, and imbued it with meaning, including some vivid evocations of banqueting culture.

But this is no dry lecture. Gloriously eschewing the etiquette that governs most modern restaurants, you will not just eat what they ate but how they ate, seizing the meat if you wish with ‘God’s cutlery’ (your hands), glazing your plates in spittle, slapping your neighbour on the back and yelling ‘Frolic’! to express your approval, and joining in the chants and toasts as the food arrives.

Truly it will be the most Saturnalian, yet historically faithful, bacchanal in London.

There will be wine of course. A cup of mead to welcome you and then, placed on the long communal tables, twinkling tureens of delicious medieval wine, dyed different every colour of the rainbow: each banqueter will be issued with a coconut shell to scoop out the elixir and pour it down your throat, as was the custom. We will finish with the desert drink Hippocras, a spiced red wine with sugar, cardamom, and ginger.

There will be dishes of medieval aphorisms (their equivalent of jokes) to ponder & discuss, menus-on-scrolls and a tricksy, silver-tongued jester to keep you on your toes. You can sit with whoever you like to begin with, but will be shuffled up later on, giving you the chance to meet fantastic strangers.

What will you get out of the experience

A unique concert of talent will bring you the most immersive, multi-sensory supper club in London, spanning food, drink, music, history, and theatre in a beguiling restaurant in one of the most enchanting parts of Old London. You’ll meet poets, songstresses, furious priests and anchorites.

You will slide into a mirror universe where English cuisine was lauded — long before its reputation was sullied in the 20th century— for its richness, variety and flavour. Placing familiar ingredients in a totally alien arrangement will bring home just how bland and boring our own contemporary cuisine — and dining rituals — can be. For one night only, you will experience the gastronomic delights of England’s original, vanished cuisine.

Most of all, it will be enormous fun. And absolutely delicious.

MORE ON THE VENUE

THE PRINCE ARTHUR

95 Forest Rd, London E8 3BH

With dark panelled walls and bare stripped floors, plumes of light pouring through the stained glass windows casting shadows of light, the Prince Arthur, on one of the dreamy, creamy-stucco streets that lead to London Fields, is a winter pub, all mahogany tables and steamed-up windows, lanterns blazing through the misty air outside, a perfect place to be shut in for a riotous medieval feast. A stone’s throw from the medieval meadows where cows were driven to their doom and pigs were swung for the entertainment of Hackney denizens, it is today celebrated for the best food of any gastropub in the borough: ‘proper, grand, warm, loud’ in the words of Giles Coren. With blood-red curtains, mildewed photos and historical memorabilia festooning the walls, and a collection of delicious wine to suit any budget, it will transport you to another place. Named after Queen Victoria’s favourite son, Arthur, it opened in 1861 when railways were transforming Hackney from the aristocratic medieval hunting ground — the King’s land — to a busy, inner-city suburb. It was born at a threshold between worlds when London was excavating its future beneath the streets while still dining by candlelight above them, as ever it had during the sumptuous medieval bacchanals we seek to resurrect.

MORE ON THE HOSTS

MR JACK BURKE

Jack Burke is a writer, presenter and private chef whose work blends sharp observation, subcultural curiosity and a deep love of food. He’s a former QI Elf and film researcher; he wrote a cookbook for Leon. Jack studied Classics at UCL before working in television. He began cooking professionally during university summers, mostly in France and Italy, and continues to take on private chef work alongside his writing. After a cancer diagnosis in his twenties — and years of recalibration — Jack began writing a memoir and developing a television series about hidden Britain: its eccentrics, subcultures and off grid culinary traditions. He now runs Quaff Club, a popular London supper club, and his feature writing can be read in the Times, YOU Magazine and Dispatch.

DR MATTHEW GREEN

Writer, historian & broadcaster Dr Matthew Green is the author of Shadowlands: A Journey through Lost Britain (Faber), a Times top 10 bestseller, Waterstones Book of the Year 2023, and shortlisted for the Wainwright Literary Prize. He has a doctorate in history from Oxford University and has appeared in many television documentaries and radio programmes, and writes for the Telegraph, Guardian and FT. His first book, London: A Travel Guide through Time (Penguin) was described by the Sunday Times as ‘all-sensory and immersive’ and by the Londonist as ‘easily the best social history of London for a decade’. His writing has been praised by Claire Tomalin, Ian Mortimer, Cerys Matthews, and by historian and podcaster Tom Holland as ‘brilliant’. He lives in Leytonstone and loves red wine and cold-water swimming (not in that order).

TERMS

• Refunds cannot be considered more than three weeks before the event; you are always welcome to transfer to a later date though.
• Venue subject to change 
• Please tell us of any dietary requirements and allergies well in advance.