My First Pop Up Restaurant – DONE!

My First Pop Up Restaurant – DONE!

40 guests, 8 courses, 1 chef – my first pop-up restaurant happened. At 8pm last week, the lights were dimmed, the candles were lit, the delicate scent of Greek islands meandered from the kitchen into the dining area and my first guests arrived. Armed with an appetite and a curious mind – my work was cut out for me… 🙂

Harpenden Popup Restaurant by Theo Michaels
Harpenden Popup Restaurant by Theo Michaels

Greeted with a glass of bubbly, 40 diners arrived to sample the brand new menu designed by myself over the past few months, the philosophy of the food is ‘elegant village food’. 

Inspired by the flavours of Cypriot villages (with a hint of the Middle East) my guests were delivered a delicate feast comprising of an 8 course Greek taster menu taking traditional Greek Cypriot flavours and combining them in new and exciting ways with one goal in mind – to deliver excellent food that would, if I was lucky, be different to what anyone had eaten before.

For sure I learnt a lot, this was a crash course in going from a private dining chef creating food for small gatherings to the first step in becoming a restaurateur. Staff, service, process, execution, ambience, delivery, managing suppliers – so much to learn and master and albeit I’ve only taken the first few steps along that path there was a lot we did right and alot we learnt and will improve upon at the next opening.

Enough philosophising, so what did we eat?!

We ate like Greek Gods!

I don’t want to spoil the surprise of the menu for new guests but a sneak preview consisted of:

Amuse Bouche

Whiskey Gorgonzola Cream

Pre-Starter

Trio of Meze

Starter

Greek Spheres

Main

Ocean Bowl

Palate Cleanser

Greek Glacier

Main

Earth Plate

Dessert

Tarte au Citron

Finale 

Cafe and Parfum

We had a gorgeous selection of wines that went beautifully with the menu. All in all, it went great but there is a ton left to learn (which there always will be!) but the food was honest, elegant and damn tasty! But don’t take my word for it – check out the reviews to see what others had to say. If you’d like the chance to get tickets to the next Theo Michaels Pop-Up Restaurant put your name down on our waiting list – but act quick – the first pop-up sold out in under an hour!

A few thanks are in order aswell as although there was only one chef (me!) doing all the cooking, the night wouldn’t have been possible or a success without a few awesome people being involved; two fantastic waitresses, my maître d’ Adam, kitchen hand Biagio, the Silver Palate for letting me convert their deli into a swanky restaurant for a few hours and last but by no means least – my darling wife (who made it clear that this popup is a non-profit in the sense that any profit is spent sending her to a spa weekend to recover from working in my kitchen for a night!)

But of course none of this would exist without everyone that attended – the buzz in the restaurant was incredible and this was all down to 40 incredible guests that were a pleasure to serve, thank you.

Theo

 

Theo's Pop-Up Restaurant Harpenden, Supper Club
Theo’s Pop-Up Restaurant Harpenden 40 guests having a great time!

 


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