Supper Club 22 “Un peu de soirée française” at The Plough – Shepreth, Cambridgeshire (UK)

The Plough in Shepreth, a lovely village in South Cambridgeshire that lies halfway between Cambridge and Royston, is one of those places that has something for everyone. Good food and drink, great people, fun events, live music, art exhibitions… the list goes on! It’s only a 5-minute walk from Shepreth railway station and easily accessible from Cambridge, so there’s no excuse not to visit!

Photo courtesy of The Plough

I’ve blogged about The Plough’s events and food, most recently about their Sunday Lunch, a partnership with catering company Boxed Events. For the past few months there’s been another collaboration between The Plough’s Nick Davis and Boxed Events’ owner/chef James Knight: Supper Club 22, a monthly dinner with 22 people gathered around two tables to share a themed menu and listen to live jazz. And at the price of £22 per person, it’s extremely good value!

Supper Club 22 is held in the Mandolin bar where there is a stage for local jazz musicians. The space is large enough to accommodate the 22 guests but small enough to encourage the communal experience of a supper club. The cosy and chilled out ambience is enhanced by the warm glow of sparkly gin bottles and the mellow sounds of live jazz piano and guitar.

I attended their inaugural supper club in March (a delicious Asian-inspired menu) and another called “Kilners, Verrines and Terrines” in May, serving terrines and other dishes in glasses and jars. I missed their “Starsky & Hutch” 70s retro dinner!

July’s Supper Club 22, titled “Un peu de soirée française”, featured a classic French menu. Before my francophone friends and family point out the dodgy français, rest assured I did mention to Nick that the correct French is “une petite soirée française”. We both had a giggle over it and I came to the conclusion that his version has charm… a bit of Del Boy French. C’est la crème de la menthe, n’est-ce pas? Ooh la la!

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Café Rouge – Cambridge (UK)

UPDATE: This restaurant is now closed.

I’m born and bred in Quebec, the French part of Canada, so I grew up enjoying many of the French classics. When the crisp autumn air set in, I found myself craving comfort foods the French do so well, such as rich soups and stews. I was delighted to discover that Café Rouge have added some new warming dishes to their Autumn Edition menu to help make our farewell to summer a bit less painful.

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I’ve been to Café Rouge before (it’s one of my favourite chains) but never visited the location on Bridge Street in Cambridge. It’s housed in a lovely building with a cosy and charming ambience.

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Paulo and I were greeted warmly and shown to a table by the window. The extensive wine list offered a variety of tipples so we decided to pair our meal with some Prosecco. We were drawn to all of the new items on the menu, which included some of our favourite French dishes.

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