In January, we hosted our second Soul Supper Club and we are still reeling from the night. Once again, months of planning, meetings, menu testing, and décor designing had all come together for a wonderful evening of food, music and company.

This time round, we drew inspiration from our founder’s Jamaican heritage and collaborated with local Caribbean chef, Amelia Mills, who grew up in and around South London. She’s been in the culinary industry since she was 17 and has been cooking for nearly 20 years.

Here’s an essence of how the night unfolded and a conversation with Amelia touching on her life and love for food.

On the night

Jamaican flags hung from the walls loud and proud, and guests were welcomed with our signature drink for the night featuring INTUNE CBD pomegranate and ginger.

Our tables were stockpiled with pili nuts from Raw&Wild, plantain chips and cocodrops (fresh from Jamaica thanks to Rebekah’s mum!) for guests to nibble on whilst they chatted and got to know each other before the meal. Once everyone had settled in and the drinks flowing, Amelia presented her first dish of the night, sweet corn fritters with a side of pickled cucumbers and her very own vegan range sauces: Vee Tings.

After that, it was banger after banger (check out the full menu down below) until everyone’s plates were empty and stomachs full. The goodies didn’t end just there, guests were treated to gift envelopes from London Nootropics, tropical cocktails and sorrel tea from Mindful Roots.

Knowing your chef for the night and trusting them to take you on a culinary journey makes the experience all the more memorable, compared to a meal out where you pore over the menu and anxiously pick a few things, hoping for the best. Sharing food around the table with people that you have never met before, adds to the uniqueness of a Supper Club experience.

They say the best way to understand a culture is through its food. And because I’ve never had Jamaican food before, Soul Supperclub: Jamaica was an eye-opener. Chef Amelia was so kind to share to us the food that reminded her of home. If you’re craving novel experiences, meeting new people, and food that will excite the palate, I cannot recommend more the Soul Supperclub series
~Benson

The images below capture some of the beautiful moments of the Jamaica Supper Club. Thank you to Efosa for being the person behind the lens. Click here to see our post-event video and scroll down to see the full menu of the night.

In conversation with Chef Amelia Mills

Before our Supper Club, we did a tasting menu with Amelia and shared a lovely conversation about cooking (top tips on how to prepare breadfruit!), Jamaican food, and just life in general. Here are a few excerpts from our conversation which we hope provides some insight into Jamaican food and culture.

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Amelia grew up around a lot of Caribbean, African and Indian food and those flavours have inspired her cooking even now. Her mum, Ruth, and her aunty used to do catering and Amelia has always had a passion food.

‘I used to do food tech at school and that was always my favourite lesson. My absolute FAVORITE lesson. When I used to do food tech, everyone used to come to my class after to try the food’.

What is your cooking style?

I enjoy cooking new dishes and also family favorites like Fish fritters, Mac n Cheese and pies. But anything flavoursome and nourishing. Spice Queen.

What is your favourite meal from your childhood?

Rice and peas and brown stew chicken- that’s a Sunday staple for any Caribbean family.

What are some ingredients that are essential to Jamaican cooking?

Ginger, papaya, lime and chocolate – it’s just rich and unique. All the tropical flavors. Staple ingredients like yams, rice, plantain, scotch bonnet, pimento.

How do you think people perceive Jamaican food and are they correct in their assumptions?

Jamaica doesn’t only have jerk chicken and curry goat. There are a lot of hidden dishes and hidden depths of flavour - oxtail and butter beans, ackee and saltfish, cornmeal porridge, hardo bread, escabeche fish, sweet potato pudding.

Tell me a bit about Ital food

It’s honest, clean food really. Natural products – the real knobbly vegetables, like how real carrots should look. Traditional methods don’t use salt and it’s all about clean ingredients. Salt is derived from natural sources such as seaweed. You’re not adding anything that doesn’t need to be there and it’s all vegan.

Apart from your food of course, where else can we get good Carribean food in London?

True Flavours in Brixton, The Dutchie in Camberwell, and Cottons (branches in Soho, Vauxhall and Shoreditch).

How do you think food brings people together?

Everyone loves food innit? If youre having a family gathering, then everyone wants aunty Jackie’s curry or aunty Rosie’s something. Its just universal.