french supper*club

we'd the privilege of trying a french supper*club over the weekend. being newcomers to the supper*club scene, our host kindly sent a link of how to best enjoy being at one of them. i'm in two minds about supper*clubs. i liked the intimacy of being entertained in someone's (beautiful) home. i liked how it was BYOB (haha) and how the quality of the courses served was largely very good. i liked that it was a fun, new thing to try with the mister. however, i didn't like meeting new people. 

there, i've gone and said it. while these events are admittedly self-selecting and most people there are united by their common love for food, meaning at worst you can always discuss what's on the table, social interaction is something i enjoy to a limited extent. before you think we met horrible people, or gasps, i'm a horrible person (the latter probably more true than the former), we were seated facing each other at the end of the table, next to an empty seat. and i'm sure our host has a degree in seating people because we were seated next to a pair from HK and had much to chat about as the evening progressed. they had met through a mutual friend and were each other's go-to for foodie (ugh i hate the connotation) events. the layout was such that 4-6 people shared the dish so it was communal dining. and, face it, you are sort of socially obliged to make small talk to avoid being standoff-ish. think of it like a wedding dinner where you don't know any other guests! in a perfect world, the mister and i could've been in our own little bubble and not had to be sociable. we managed this for the first hour or so when we were all upstairs having cocktails and canapes but once seated and reaching across to the shared plate, it'd have been rude not to have shown any interest in the next person at all. and they were interesting, fascinating even, with wonderful stories and experiences. clearly, the problem lies with me. 

i guess if i wanted a private date night, we could always have gone out just us. funnily enough, when i told a coursemate about the supper*club, he said being forced to make small talk with strangers is his idea of hell. and that's when i realised that maybe it was as much an occupational hazard as the mister's compulsion for us to explore london on weekends. for we talk so much during the week that weekends are meant for quiet decompression.

we're doing a japanese supper*club next month because i feel it would be unfair to knock something before trying it twice. this time, i've wised up and invited friends along so it might end up more like a double date. i suppose i went with my eyes open, knowing full well that it'd require some degree of socialising so i really have no reason to complain now. and if you must know, we've a cny hotpot date with the HK pair,  and might just be scalping her sigur ros tickets. so it's not like "talking to strangers" was such a bad thing :)