An Irish inspired feast landed at Chorlton’s first “pop up restaurant” at North Star Deli yesterday evening. In the name of St.Patrick’s Day, Deanna Thomas, host of the pop up and owner of North Star Deli created a menu showcasing some of Ireland best loved dishes and finest produce.
This was my first experience of going to a pop up (often called a supper club) event which seems odd as I have been hosting my own one for the last 6 months and so I was extremely excited to be on the receiving end and attending as a guest!
Before the meal began, we were shown to our seats and had some time to mingle and converse with other guests who mainly seemed to consist of like-minded, Northern foodies. This is one of the amazing things that I love about supper clubs and pop ups-the element of social dining. 
Ordinarily if you go to a restaurant with perhaps a friend or partner you don’t have the opportunity to strike up conversation with the patrons at the neighbouring table. But at supper clubs, there is a huge communal aspect which marries food and conversation and that’s why I’m a fan.
Once everyone was seated and greeted, we were offered a choice of wines from the Deli’s store. I was intrigued by the variety of Organic wine on offer so I went for Running Duck Organic Chenin Sauvignon. Not long after, each table made some space for the home-made Irish wheaten bread and Irish butter to abode.
The bread was crusty on the outside and soft and delicious on the inside and I was left excited to see what Deanna had in store for us for the rest of the meal, especially as I had never really sampled true Irish cuisine before. The starter consisted of little gem lettuce (for the Irish green) with roasted beetroot, bacon and a Cashel Blue cheese dressing. I opted for the vegetarian menu and so in my starter, the bacon was replaced with toasted, candied walnuts with smoked paprika. This was an exciting starter and I really enjoyed the combination of flavours put together. The slight sweetness of
the candied walnuts worked well with the roasted beetroot and the creaminess of the Cashel blue dressing really pulled everything together.
The main course was a slow cooked beef & Guinness stew with a potato pastry crust and colcannon. The veggy alternative I was served was caramelised onion and potato tart with a thyme beurre blanc and a Chantenay carrot ‘wigwam’. The presentation of the food was lovely and everyone tucked into some Celtic inspired goodness. 
I drizzled the thyme beurre blanc over the tart and took my first bite into the pastry which was perfectly cooked. The Chatenay carrots were very cutely presented, everything tasted delicious, I had no option but to chow down.
The dessert was what I had been really looking forward to all evening and I was not disappointed. Braeburn apple and almond tart with Irish Cream and a Guinness caramel sauce was beautifully presented and served to us. 
This in my opinion was the highlight of the meal, especially the Irish cream-in fact I really need to nab the recipe of that from Deanna!
I had a great time at my first ever pop up experience and really enjoyed some good food and conversation. I asked Deanna how she though the evening went and she said, “Obviously the atmosphere is just as important as the food and I thought it was lovely for a lot of these food Tweeters and bloggers to get the chance to meet in person and chat. It’s very difficult to actually enjoy your own event on the night as you’re concentrating on making sure your guests are happy, but everything seemed to go smoothly and the food got an enthusiastic response. I’m looking forward to creating and also attending many more North West based food events“.
For more information on Deanna Thomas, see her blog: http://foodographic.co.uk/
For more information on supper clubs and pop ups, see: http://supperclubfangroup.ning.com/