Express & Star

I am going back to my roots with supper club

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Pop-up restaurants have become one of the most exciting new developments in food, writes Marcus Bean. Chefs have started to find new and unusual places to host dinners, so that they can create a feast for their guests in unusual surrounds.

A few weeks ago, Jenny and I decided that we'd launch our own pop-up restaurant – right here at Brompton Cookery School.

It's an amazing location and we thought there could be nowhere better to cook for diners.

We've given the pop-up a different name: we're calling it the Secret Supper Club. We're planning to host regular events and give people the opportunity to enjoy our food in beautiful surrounds.

Brompton Cookery School is an amazing venue and we're looking forward to using it for dinners. It's on the National Trust's Attingham Estate, near Shrewsbury.

We're located in the middle of idyllic countryside and the cookery school itself is built in converted barns. There are delightful gardens and we've got chickens roaming the place, giving us a supply of delicious eggs.

There's plenty of space. You can't hear a road because there isn't one nearby. Brompton is a tranquil place and we're hoping to share it with people who want to book in for our Secret Supper Club.

It's been a while since I made the move from our former pub, The New Inn, at Baschurch, to the cookery school.

And I suppose the Secret Supper Club is evocative of the work that I used to do at the pub. Back then, I was doing what most chefs do – working between 70 and 100 hours a week in the kitchen. Though it was tiring, I had the chance to showcase my passion for the best local food. I could create new dishes, think of new ways to cook particular ingredients and give people a true taste of the region.

In many ways, I'm going back to my roots.

The Secret Supper Club will operate as a full-service restaurant. We'll host events in the dining room at Brompton. The room is usually used by the guests on our cookery courses. They have lunches in there, in between learning about food, and it's a great room. It was converted less than five years ago from a former barn and there's plenty of oak beams and windows with views of the countryside. It's a cool place.

I'll be in the kitchen, creating dishes, and guests will be waited on. Then I'll get the chance to meet them at the end of the evening.

The supper club will be relaxed and informal. We'll give people the chance to enjoy really good food in a comfortable setting before meeting the chef. I'm really looking forward to it.

Variety is the spice of life, as they say, and I'm enjoying lots of that since moving to the cookery school. For years and years, my job was similar each day. I'd go into the kitchen at the New Inn and cook for our guests. I loved every moment, in truth, but after a while I hankered for another challenge.

My work on TV gave me that and I soon found myself travelling to London regularly to appear on a number of different programmes. Now I've got the opportunity to be more creative and do lots of different things.

In addition to the cookery school classes, I also work as a freelance chef – cooking for people in their own homes on special occasions – and now we've got the Secret Supper Club. We've fallen in love with Brompton – and now it's time to share it with people like you.

* Marcus Bean is a regular on ITV This Morning. He owns the Brompton Cookery School, at Atcham, near Shrewsbury, on a National Trust Estate.

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