UAE expats and chefs tell us why this multicultural dining experience is the best food trend post-pandemic
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Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/food/have-you-ever-eaten-at-a-secret-supper-club-in-dubai-1.1660035628580
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
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00:00Hello, I am Madame Vo, and I'm the creator of a Dubai-based supper club called House of Four.
00:08In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, I made a vow to myself that I was going to realize a
00:14secret lifelong dream of mine once the world would turn back to normalcy. And really during lockdown,
00:20I realized we as humans needed two things to thrive and to survive. One is naturally that of
00:26food, and that of human connection. So finally, six months ago, I opened doors to House of Four,
00:32where I have made it my mission to connect people over good food. The concept is very simple. It's
00:37to gather eight people around a communal table, and to connect and bond over their love of good
00:42food, over home-cooked food, and over some good banter if we're lucky. I was always inspired in
00:49Dubai in my first couple of years by people who lead community-based projects. And it's
00:56the human interaction, like how do we build communities? How do we make people closer
01:02to each other? I thought about all of these things, and somehow, because I was doing
01:09food at that time, brought these things together and sort of fused them, and that's how the
01:15Supper Club really was born. It's because cooking or food was a skill that I acquired and
01:22worked on over time anyway, but it can't be just food. Food is great,
01:28restaurants are great, and everything is great, but food is the one thing that brings all of us
01:34to the same humanity, I feel. That was the inspiration. Communities, open communication, open
01:39discussions, dialogue, that's not related to your work, that's not related to networking.
01:45If you ask somebody, how are you? It's not so you could have a leg up on them
01:52and be like, oh, I don't really care how you are, but then I just want to see
01:57so I can, I don't know, sell you insurance or something. Yeah, you genuinely
02:02ask people, because the rules, hence the rules, what do you do, where are you from, how long have
02:08you been in Dubai? I've had them from the very, very first dinner, and even people who were friends,
02:14even people who knew each other at the tables were not allowed to ask these questions, and the most
02:19interesting conversations would take place, I'm talking about like five years ago, and
02:24hence I've stuck to the model and truly believed in the, though yes, it seems a bit restrictive,
02:31but I think it opens up avenues of conversations that you would never usually speak about.
02:37For us, supper clubs are amazing experiences, because we end up meeting people we've never
02:43met before, and you end up having something in common, you all love food, all of you,
02:53everyone on that table loves to eat, and you have to find these supper clubs, so you're going to make
03:02a booking, and you might not get it necessarily, because it's a table for eight, or it's a table for
03:0810 or 12 max, at some, a chef cooks house, so it's a very personal experience, that chef will tell you
03:17their story, so it's a really personal experience, when you go to a restaurant, you're going with two
03:23or three or four people, you've booked a table, you won't meet anyone else in that restaurant,
03:28so this is a very intimate dining experience, but you're all going to talk about the food,
03:34and that's what makes supper clubs so special, it's a really, really great experience, if you love
03:40to eat. What makes his supper club and supper club so special is that who's at the table, right,
03:46it's not just about the food, it's about who you're interacting with, and the opportunity to meet
03:51different people, which Dubai can be such a transient place, so to be able to share a meal
03:56with somebody, and connect with somebody new, perhaps from a different background, or different
04:01lifestyle, is really a special moment, and Kouv, his supper clubs are about so much more than just
04:09the food, it's about the story he tells, and he has a really unique ability to intertwine the food
04:15with the history and culture of the region, of the food, and tell that story, give people unique
04:22experiences with food, chef has come up with this amazing menu, and it's a bit more out there than
04:27the kind of food that we're doing on the menu, so it's kind of trying to introduce Dubai to a
04:32different angle of how we cook, we want to prioritize an intimate experience, and that's
04:38kind of what we plan for in the kitchen, you know, there's new ingredients, there's new plates,
04:42there's a lot of logistics about it, I think it's just been growing in popularity, you know, we see
04:47a lot more people doing supper clubs, and I think it's a really cool way to try new foods,
04:51I think Dubai, sometimes, it gets lost in, you know, the high-end, large-scale operations, and
04:57supper clubs are such a lovely alternative to that, you know, because, you know, you can really get to
05:02know the people you're sitting with, meet new people, and you know, really understand your food,
05:07you know, chef over here will provide explanations for each dish, where it comes from, what ingredients
05:12are used, and that's kind of what we want to know, you know, I think we spend enough time in our
05:16houses and mosques, so I think it's now time to come out and meet some people, so, and Ruburu means
05:21face-to-face, so that's kind of where the concept comes from, come here, have a meal, meet some new
05:27people. The name of the supper club is a little tribute to my roots being Vietnamese German,
05:32so Haus is the way Haus is spelled in German, because the sixth place in my home, and Vo is my
05:38Vietnamese family name, I make one promise to all of my guests, is that here at Haus of Vo,
05:42there's no such thing as a lonely meal. Vietnamese is actually my favorite food, I love
05:48Chinese, Vietnamese, and Asian cuisine, I'm obsessed with it, I love cooking it, so as soon as I saw
05:56her supper club, I needed to go and try it, and so, yeah, I've also found it quite hard to find
06:04authentic, good Vietnamese food here, so as soon as I saw that there was supper club, I just
06:10thought, why not, I'll go, I'll meet new people, I'll enjoy the food, have good conversation,
06:16it's an amazing experience, and I highly recommend anyone, if you're into food,
06:21or a specific culture, it's almost like a deep dive into that country.
06:27Supper clubs work in any big city, Dubai specifically, I think, has a bad rep, because,
06:37oh, these are the first few questions you would ask a person, because you meet people for
06:40networking purposes, you meet people for work purposes, but that's the same thing in LA,
06:44that's the same thing in London, that's the same thing everywhere. So many of my friends would,
06:49living here, lived here for nine years, ten years, at that time, like five years back, would say to me,
06:56like, I would love to meet new people, I'd love to meet people, like, I don't have the opportunity,
07:01like, it shocks me when my friends say that, oh, I feel lonely, I've been here for so many years,
07:05but I feel lonely, I have friends, but I don't think I have friends. I wanted to change that,
07:13I wanted to see if it's possible to bring about an experiment, because in many ways,
07:20this is a control experiment, you put people in a situation where they don't know quite a
07:26lot of things, they don't know their food, they don't know what they're about to eat,
07:30they don't know where they're about to go, they don't know who they're about to sit next to,
07:33and suddenly the feeling of adventure, the same feeling, I suppose, that you get before you
07:40take a hike, or before you sort of go on an excursion or foot excursion somewhere,
07:44because you're just excited, and I think that just unites people. Leave out these questions,
07:49and suddenly people feel more vulnerable to really share, and I reckon those are the reasons why
08:00couples have met each other. For me, it's the fact that you go in not knowing what you're going to
08:05eat, you can have an idea, you can read the menu, but you go there and it's unlike any restaurant
08:10experience you'll ever have, because you're sitting around the table, it's like the most
08:14professional home-cooked meal you've had. I think Dubai is also a wonderful space for anybody who
08:23wants to start something new, wants to do something new, and whatever that idea be.
08:30I reckon I would have faced a lot of troubles if I was anywhere else in the world,
08:34so people usually book a couple of weeks in advance, they are aware of the theme,
08:39they have an invite, so they know they're aware of the rules, they're aware of all the other things,
08:45little knickknacks, I believe in giving as much information as I can, because I will not share
08:50the menu, I will not share a few details, but at least I'd like to share anything else that entails
08:55dinner, what happens at the table and such. On the day, you're sent the location a day before,
09:04this has always been a thing, even back then, the location was always sent a day before,
09:0924 hours before, you then turn up, if there is a theme to follow, you would follow that
09:16theme in terms of clothing, like Ali has for instance, he's rocking his Madras Summer vibes,
09:22that's part of the menu, the menu is inspired by Tamil Nadu, so I've asked people to dress in
09:31Madras Summer essentially, which everybody's done in a beautiful way as well.
09:39People carry an object, so you would have to select an object that has a story attached to it,
09:44a memory attached to it, something you feel comfortable talking to people about, and then
09:50you just turn up, you turn up, you ring the doorbell, you come in, I usually sort of brief
09:56people about the rules again, but these days I really don't need to, everybody's so wonderful,
10:02so people sort of interact in this space for a little bit, and then once everybody's here,
10:09I invite everybody to the tables. People are all from different corners of Earth,
10:13but they eat the same food, they eat the exact same food, yet they all react differently,
10:20they taste different things, and I find that so fascinating, even after five years, when I ask
10:26people and people say, oh I taste strawberry, and I find it so beguiling that this is even possible,
10:34so I think that's what really keeps me excited as well, so it's definitely my favourite part,
10:38but it also really keeps me excited too. So what makes a good supper club? For me,
10:43there are three elements to it. Firstly, stories. I tell stories and accompany stories for every
10:50dish and every course that I prepare, because ultimately I think people leave, people when
10:55they leave, they do forget the taste or what they've eaten, but people always remember stories.
11:00The second element would be having tried something new. So I cook dishes from my home countries,
11:06and I always try to replicate something and be as authentic as I can to my family home-cooked
11:11recipes and bring something that my guests haven't perhaps tried before. I always encourage
11:17my guests to come alone, but if they do would like to bring a guest, that's fine, I would just
11:21separate them at the table. So friends and couples are usually separated, because in the true spirit
11:27of a supper club, beyond the food, it's also about making new connections, gaining new and fresh
11:32perspectives, so I would like to foster that at the table. So yes, if you ask me if a guest leaves,
11:38having heard a new story, learned something new, tried a new dish,
11:42and made a new friend, I consider that a good night.