Supper clubs are cultivating a a fresh approach to dining
Travellers and locals are finding connection over shared tables, with a strong sense of place. We explore how a booming global supper club scene is transforming dining culture.
I recently attended a ticketed dinner at Timberyard in Edinburgh, held in collaboration with Manchester’s Higher Ground. Guests gathered around candlelit communal tables for a feast of light, bright seasonal dishes. One had just completed an ultramarathon in the Scottish Highlands; another, from LA, was honouring a trip originally planned with his late wife. Diners with deep pockets who were keen to experience the restaurant, but would not have booked a table for one.
The evening exemplifies a generational shift in experiential dining, as people increasingly seek connection through curated social gatherings. The appeal lies in their spontaneity, inclusivity and in-the-know allure, with great food and wine at a set price. The resurgence of supper clubs and communal dining globally reflects a broader change in nightlife culture, which is influencing how we travel and shaking up the star-rated hotel and restaurant status quo.
The evolution of the supper club
Traditionally, a supper club takes place at a venue other than a restaurant, such as someone’s home. The definition has broadened to encompass one-off and ticketed meals, which centre on group dining and a fixed menu.
Supper clubs provide an opportunity to experience a city through its shared tables and meet the communities and individuals that make a destination tick. For solo travellers in particular, they foster conviviality and connection. Search “supper club” on TikTok and you are served an infinite scroll of artfully curated, intimate table settings from across the globe, ranging from lo-fi dinner parties hosted by groups of friends to thriving businesses.
"You sit close to strangers, you eat the same food, you're in it together.”
In New York, supper club Studio Bumi aims to counter urban loneliness. “The kind where you live in one of the most populated cities on earth and still can’t find somewhere you belong,” says founder Bagus Ruswandi. Born in Jakarta before moving to New York, he traded a career in law to launch Studio Bumi, which hosts sociable weekly suppers, based on “belonging through communal dining.”
An Indonesian menu is served family-style, drawing on Ruswandi’s upbringing, and the majority of guests arrive on their own. Designed to feel more like a discerning friend’s dinner than a ticketed event, each supper is also co-hosted by a former guest, helping conversation flow naturally around the table. “You sit close to strangers, you eat the same food, you’re in it together.”
In Singapore – one of the great supper club capitals of the world – Fiji-born chef Kevin WY Lee hosts Poon’s Supper Club from a private address, serving a fusion of Fijian, Cantonese and Singaporean cooking that reflects his upbringing. Lee, who also presents Channel NewsAsia’s food series, In Search of Heat, is an animated host, always eager to share the stories behind his menu, which might include a Fijian goat curry – a rarity in Singapore – or a corned beef stew, served alongside his homemade sambal sauces. “It’s all about gut, emotions and an innate ability in one’s desire to pull it off,” says Lee. “There are no predetermined plans.”
Fellow Singaporean Renjie Wong runs a supper club called Salon. When he moved to San Francisco, hosting was a way of meeting new people. “The menu focused on the Southeast Asian flavours from home that I missed the most, interpreted through local produce.” Later, in Mumbai, Salon spotlighted rare Maharashtran monsoon and winter vegetables like phodshi and shevla in a Hakka thunder tea rice.
Back in Singapore, he is busy building 52cc, a cultural space run out of a modernist apartment in the Joo Chiat neighbourhood. It is set to open in July 2026, with a supper club as part of the programme. “I hope it will prompt travellers and locals alike to reconsider what it means to experience Singapore; beyond its glitzy skyline, what can a thoroughly, stubbornly local evening at a Singaporean home look like?”
“The music is loud, the lights are low and the vibe is a party. It would only work somewhere as chaotic as Bangkok."
In Bangkok, American-Thai chef Dylan Eitharong runs Haawm, a nightly supper club based out of his aunt’s former home on the edge of the city. A candlelit room with “a fever dream feel” sets the tone for an intimate, energetic evening around a communal table, though private tables can also be requested. Haawm, which means fragrant in Thai, started during Covid “as a secret place for people to meet,” says Eitharong. “We get a lot of solo diners looking to meet travellers and locals.”
A set menu, priced at 3,300 THB (101 USD), might include braised cassava leaves with clams and coconut cream, or fried green banana filled with spicy minced duck curry.
“We are Thai, but we don’t feel like a Thai restaurant,” says Eitharong. “The music is loud, the lights are low and the vibe is a party. It would only work somewhere as chaotic as Bangkok.
Supper clubs in the wild
There is also a growing trend for supper clubs set in the heart of nature. Fforest is an “outdoor hotel” on the west Wales coast, where glamping spots and cabins sit among sandy coves, woodland meadows and the Teifi Marshes. A particular draw is the ongoing series of guest chef dinners, served at a long table in the Cedar Barn, adorned with vases of wild flowers. Esteemed headliners have included Tomos Parry, founder of Michelin-starred Brat, Mountain and Brat x Climpson Arch in London.
“Music, open air, and a focus on space as much as food all contribute to making the evenings feel welcoming, lively and communal,” says Jackson Lynch-Tucker, head of food and beverage at fforest. Dishes are served buffet-style straight from the barbecue, “closer to a village feast than a formal restaurant. Our events encourage conversation and togetherness.”
In the Cairngorms in the Scottish Highlands, The Dell of Abernethy hosts The Gather Inn, an informal Friday feast running from May through September. Guests convene in a woodland tipi for horsebox pizzas, toasted marshmallows, and the occasional guest chef cooking over coals, followed by drinks round the fire pit as children run through the surrounding trees, strung with lights.
“Complete strangers connecting over good food is such a special feeling, every single time,” says Chloe Walsh, a British chef based in LA, who has hosted supper clubs across the UK, Europe and California and estimates that around a third of guests are solo diners.
Supper clubs and ticketed dining experiences are blurring the boundaries of food, nightlife and art, creating evenings that linger long after the cutlery is cleared. “There is a desire right now for delicious home-cooking, which is thoughtfully presented in a unique environment that differs from the traditional restaurant set-up,” says Walsh. “Supper clubs are a great example of that. They are an exhilarating experience.”
