East London is the only place where you can book a seat on the Underground and choose the people with who you want to share the carriage.
You can even choose who you want to sit beside and opposite you. And nobody will ever stand in front of you. So, you can get on with your meal and your bottle of Argentinian Malbec in peace.
It is also the only place where you can enjoy a fine dining experience in a former sewage pumping station.
And some of the best South American cuisine in London.
Supper Club Tube is in Walthamstow Pump Station and offers Latin American cuisine on an old Victoria line underground train. The stationary red-fronted 1967 former DM (driving motor) tube is rented from the museum. Normal service has recently been resumed. The carriage was donated to the museum in December 2011 and is an example of the world’s first automatic train. The Grade 11 list building was built in 1885.
Head chef Beatriz Maldonado Carreño says: “Supperclub.tube is a different experience. It’s not a normal restaurant. I act as host, and I go out to greet people every night. I walk through the carriage and talk to them about the food, and we have conversations about the menu and ingredients. They really inspire me to dig deeper and showcase new ways with Latin food.
“We explore cuisines of the entire Latin American continent, from Mexico to Argentina. We mix countries within a single dish, so for instance currently we are serving the first course of dumplings – Envuelto y Esquites – corn dumplings (Envuelto) from the Andean region of Colombia and a corn salad (Esquites) from the region of Xochimilco, what nowadays is southern Mexico City. Other current dishes include Causa, one of Perú’s most traditional dishes which features a dough made from mashed potatoes, chili, and lime, served with seasonal British produce: asparagus and beetroot.
“For dessert, we’re serving Napoleon de lulo y amaretto – layers of amaretto cream and shortcrust pastry with lulo (tropical fruit) cream and lulo gel – a traditional French dessert served in a Colombian style.”
Columbia-born, Argentina-trained Beatriz, is a former engineering student who has worked as a pastry chef in London’s Sanderson Restaurant as well as at Soho’s Corazon and Barrio in Shoreditch. The carriage seats thirty-five. But that presents a few problems. “My Dad has ten siblings and there are thirty-two cousins in our family. I learned from my grandparents’ house every Sunday. “
No buskers will hassle you. But George Benson. Joe Jackson and Art Pepper are on the playlist.
Caracas-born Vitelio Reyes is executive chef at Amazonico in Mayfair’s Berkeley Square.
He has worked with Peruvian chef Virgilio Martínez Véliz at Lima Floral in Covent Garden. His menu celebrates the cultural diversity and gastronomic heritage of the Amazon region and includes raw, fresh fish paired with exotic fruits, Petiscos Amazónicos, bitesize street food with refined ingredients like Wagyu beef, guava-glazed pork chop, and Enguayabado – a decadent Guava cheesecake with citrus biscuit and a hibiscus ginger flower sorbet.
Adrian Sanchez now heads Lime Floral in Garrick. He offers duck tiradito, sea bream ceviche, tuna tartar with avocado mousse and mango tiger’s milk, chifa rice and banana, ollucos (if you know your Peruvian tubers), slow-cooked beef and cassava croquettes with huancaina sauce.
A caipirinha is obligatory in its basement Lost Alpaca Bar. Or you can have a Pisco Sour or a Palo Santo Vibe, made with Palo Santo smoked Pisco, tobacco liqueur, mint, chicha Morada syrup, and ginger beer.
Pork hornado and coconut fish stew are among the specialties of north London’s Ecuadorian El Inca Plebeyo where chef Jorge Pacheco also offers South American brunches and house favorites pearl barley risotto and lamb and a mixed meat platter, Parrila La Plebeyo.
At Coya at 118 Piccadilly, its iron pot stews (cazuelas), anticuchos (charcoal-fired marinaded skewers), and a chocolate fundido for postres.
The Argentinian Sucre London, on Great Marlborough Street, offers dishes such as Iberico matambre with pepper sauce and causa, smoked cauliflower and molo Rojo while the menu at Mayfair’s MNKY HSE comprises Mark Morras’s Wagyu tostados, Robata grills, grilled octopus anmtcuchos, and Hamachi Nigiri truffle and sweet potato ceviche.
But there has to be a Guevera in there. Jose is the heads chef at Paladar London where the menu entices with moreish nibbles like green plantain crisps, chipotle mayonnaise, seared coconut-chili prawns on blue corn tostada, mango salsa. Cochinita pibil tostadas, roasted pineapple and habanero chili jam, and some excellent inter-course. In the form of sorbet Quinotto (creamy wild mushroom quinoa) with good Brazilian wines like Casa Valduga, Uruguayan Bodega Garzon Pinot Noir Rosé, and Argentinian Hermanos Late Harvest Torrontes to help you through the £85 tasting menu.
