I was recently invited to try the “Supper Club” over at The Larder in Claremont – a concept created by founder & owner, Sonja Edridge, which takes place every Monday, Thursday & Friday evening.
Now Sonja is someone who you can tell has been passionate about food her whole life. After spending some time abroad (doing all kinds of fancy stuff like cooking for Italian nobility, working on two Channel 4 TV shows, filling the role of food editor for supermarket magazines like Marks & Spencer, as well as food styling & recipe development for various publications and TV), Sonja moved back to SA in 2011 after furniture designers, Block & Chisel, asked her to create a dedicated in-store cafe at their Diep River store. This is how the first The Larder was born and since then they’ve expanded to a 2nd Claremont-based store.
The Larder’s style is all about a home away from home. Sonja wants you to feel completely relaxed, kinda like you’re visiting an old friends place and you’re just hanging out.
This definitely comes through in the decor they’ve used for their Claremont store. I loved the quirkiness and overall easy feel of the place… But of course, it’s easier to convey with some pictures, so let me show you around:
So as mentioned above, over and above their cafe day trade, the Claremont store does Supper Club every Monday, Thursday & Friday:
- On Mondays: Roast Chicken Dinner – R600 for a table of 4. This includes a whole Elgin free range bird, 3 sides & a bottle of house wine. You can book for 5pm, 6pm or 7pm.
- On Tuesdays: Curry & craft beer – Curry from a different corner of the world each week.
- On Thursdays: Burgers & pizza night – 3 pizza choices, always one meaty & 2 vegetarian.
On all evenings: Starters & desserts are also available. Also if you’re a banter or veggie, they can cater for that – just let them know before hand.
I chose to do the Curry night, because I freakin’ love curry. This is what was on the menu on my evening:
My dining partner in crime, D, and I decided to push ahead with full steam and opted to try some starters & a dessert to share on top of the curry main. For starters we tried both the smoked salmon trout and the tomato chilli soup:
Then we had the super interesting Japanese Katsu chicken curry:
And we finished things off with the “Sugar Train” – which to be honest was waaaaaaaay too much sugar for me… *queue crazy sugar eyes* 😉
We really enjoyed both starter dishes as well as the curry main. The dessert just wasn’t for us. Looking back at that menu now, we probably should’ve gone for the banana loaf with butter & vanilla cream cheese or the dark chocolate buttermilk cake…
I’m going to give Supper Club at The Larder a score of 
on my Miss K Kiss-o-Meter scale. We really enjoyed our evening, it was just a bit quiet. Would have been great with a larger group of friends I think… But hey, that’s where you guys come in! Show this awesome little spot some love by joining them for their next supper club. Get all your friends together, skip cooking dinner that evening and enjoy a beautiful meal prepared by someone who loves making others happy with food. Doesn’t that sound awesome?
Of course it does…
To make your booking you can contact them on 021 671 1958 or info@thelardercafe.co.za. And then take note of these other need-to-knows:
Address: Grove Building, 8 Grove Avenue, Claremont
Opening Hours:
Mon – Fri: 7am to 6pm
Supper Club: 6pm until 9.30pm
Saturday: 8.30am to 1.30pm
xxx