Explore the Spice Route

(Photos Courtesy of Stefan Irvine)

Last Saturday we held our secret supper club on a balmy warm evening on the terrace of a HK resident overlooking Kennedy town harbor and Kowloon in the far distance. We had 16 lovely new guests join us on the 'Explore the Spice Route' evening. We were also joined by Jeff a.k.a the beer guru from Foreign Devil Beers who is an ex-beer critic for Chicago Times. Check out his awesome boutique beer recommendations at Foreign Devil Beers. We also had Stefan Irvine, a lovely and talented photographer who kindly took pics of us madly rushing around cooking and of the magical evening (check out his website here).

Special thanks to our friend April for volunteering to help us cook and serve for 12 hours!!

Sofia our other Once Upon A Table Chef has just recently popped out her first newborn baby and was missed.

'Explore the Spice Route' was a fabulous theme as we discovered magical and fascinating stories about the origins and mythology of exotic spices from the far corners of the globe. Did you know nutmeg originates from the 'Spice Islands' of Maluki and has long been believed to impart magical powers from sexual performance to protection against evil? Or that Sage originates from the Latin word 'to be saved' and linked to eternal life? Cumin on the other hand originates from the Nile Valley in Egypt and was commonly used for mummifications.

We finished the night with the most precious and expensive spice of them all: Saffron which is actually worth more than its weight in gold. Its golden color is associated with enlightenment, wisdom, anti-aging and aphrodisiacs and has been around since 50,000 BC!! Alexander the Great even used to bathe in saffron to treat his wounds.

We kick-started the night with Elisa's zingy, dry Martini's with fresh ginger, lime and coriander ice-cubes. Very refreshing and strong!!! ha ha

A Warm Welcome from the Once Upon A Table Team

(Photos Courtesy of Stefan Irvine)

Decorating the table with a myriad of spices and colors - cloves, black cardomon, cinnamon sticks, dried chilli, panchphoron, whole nutmegs, sumac, Za'atar, coriander seeds

(Photos Courtesy of Stefan Irvine)

Dressing the Baklava with rose petals and crushed pistachios

(Photos Courtesy of Stefan Irvine)

A magical night with a magical view of Hong Kong

(Photos Courtesy of Stefan Irvine)

Jeff the beer guru from Foreign Devil Beer was somewhat tipsy from his all day junk trip and was very very talkative and very very enthusiastic to imparts his incredible knowledge of boutique beers and their unique flavors to our guests. He talked for 15 mins non-stop..ha ha!

(Photos Courtesy of Stefan Irvine)

Two delicious beers recommended by Jeff. Numazu Lager from Baird Brewery from a fishing village in Japan perfectly complemented the Fresh, crunchy Turkish salad with pomegranate molasses, sumac and walnuts.

Whilst the Juniper Pale Ale from Rogue Ales, Newport, USA, a clean crisp pale ale with lots of floral and hops flavor went down a treat with the aromatic Prawn Bengali 5 Spice coconut curry.

(Photos Courtesy of Stefan Irvine)

Shreya working her magic, cracking open the oven baked coconut

(Photos Courtesy of Stefan Irvine)

Viola!! You had to be there to smell the incredible aromas of coconut and Panchphoron spice (which includes fenugreek, nigella seed, cumin, onion seeds, and fennel seeds)

(Photos Courtesy of Stefan Irvine)

Mmmm Sherya's prawn curry with Panchphoron spice was sooo delicious...luckily for me there was one coconut curry left for me to have as leftovers for the week!!

(Photos Courtesy of Stefan Irvine)

INTERMISSION: Spice tasting with Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Olive oils -

Za'atar, Lemon Zest, Pepperoncino

(Photos Courtesy of Stefan Irvine)

Elisa uncorks the wine uncorked and ready to serve with the Boeuf - wine and dish both from the same region Burgundy, France.

(Photos Courtesy of Stefan Irvine)

Deliciously rich and pungent Boeuf Bourguignon made with 2 bottles of wine and Indian 5 spice...yummo

(Photos Courtesy of Stefan Irvine)

Chatty and happy guests enjoy the meal and meeting new friends

(Photos Courtesy of Stefan Irvine)

A mini break with a sweet and refreshing watermelon granita with a crunchy sugar crystallized sage leaf

(Photos Courtesy of Stefan Irvine)

Lip tingling spicy cumin Xinjiang BBQ New Zealand Lamb (My dad's recipe) served with homemade

spring onion pancakes.

(Photos Courtesy of Stefan Irvine)

To finish a flaky syrupy Persian baklava with ground cardomon and saffron infused Rosewater and Orange Zest syrup (if you look closely you can see a few saffron threads and orange zest)

(Photos Courtesy of Stefan Irvine)

Thanks to our lovely guests for making it a lovely and memorable evening.

We are thinking of having a cook-in (informal, social cooking class) end of June before another full dinner in July. So pass our details to your friends if you think they might be interested.