When Katie Brunt went for dinner with friends last May, she had no idea a throwaway comment would result in her organising an internet-based fine-dining club for Manchester’s most adventurous foodies. Inside the M60 shares a pint and a chinwag with the founder of GastroClub.
Back at the start of the summer Katie Brunt, a 23-year-old social media and PR manager, went for a boozy night out with a bunch of friends. When the pub shut, they ended up going round the corner for a late-night meal – the alcohol they’d consumed made them brave enough to order the more adventurous dishes on the menu, such as pigeon and rabbit, and they enjoyed the food so much one of the group said they should start a club for foodies and do it again.
Next day Katie began investigating to see if a group for gastronomes already existed in Manchester. When she found none that matched her vision of what such a group should be like, she founded GastroClub – a passing mention on Twitter to see how many others might be interested saw her idea snowball. Within days, she had a mailing list of nearly 100 people and the challenge began to find a chef who could deliver.
Says Katie: “The response on Twitter was phenomenal and so exciting. We started to compile a mailing list and Ben, a friend who’d been at the original night out, offered to talk to Robert Owen Brown at the Mark Addy to set up the first event. He was really enthusiastic about the challenge – many chefs wouldn’t be so adventurous.”
The dinner at the Mark Addy on 10 August quickly passed into legend among Manchester foodies – the menu consisted of squirrel pie, a roast of 13 birds stuffed inside each other and a Manchester Tart trifle, complete with Vimto-flavoured jelly.
The 13-bird roast at the Mark Addy
A second outing in September to Chinese restaurant Sweet Mandarin, in the Northern Quarter, saw the GastroClubbers tackle chicken’s feet and crunchy jellyfish – standard grub back in China but highly unusual on a Chinese menu in the UK.
“It was a really challenging menu,” says Katie. “Members had to pay in advance as the jellyfish took 48 hours to prepare. It’s authentic. GastroClub is definitely not for shy or fussy eaters.
“We approach restaurants that we think have adventurous chefs. We always ask them to create a meal that’s not on the standard menu. No chef has yet refused the challenge. It’s an opportunity for them to really shine and show off their talents. We give them free reign to devise an exciting menu for us.”
Last month saw GastroClub descend on Thomas, also in the Northern Quarter. The restaurant rose magnificently to the occasion given they were asked at short notice when the planned venue fell through. Tonight, the fourth outing will see the group’s foodies enjoy a unique take on retro school dinners at The French at the Midland Hotel.
Katie comments: “It may be school dinners but we’ve been promised fine dining with a twist. I think people will be really surprised when they turn up tonight.”
Organising GastroClub has become almost a second job for Katie, who does everything herself from mailing members to dropping in on potential venues to invite the chefs to step up to the challenge.
What does Katie think of Manchester’s restaurant scene, which is generally acknowledged as good by Mancunians but tends to be ignored by outsiders?
Trio of chocolate at Thomas
“Some restaurants are definitely busy chasing a Michelin star, and actually it’s surprising Manchester doesn’t have one yet, rather than catering for genuine foodies. That’s why we choose places that are happy to go off-piste if we ask them to cater for us.
“An independent restaurant has an onus to make it special and with the current buzz about GastroClub, might like to remember that our members are serious about food – they tweet, they blog and their feedback could make or break a place.”
I ask Katie what she likes to cook at home.
“I’m the world’s worst cook”, she confesses sheepishly. “My fridge contains butter and half a broccoli and I live on ready meals. I’m planning to learn to cook – running GastroClub has both embarrassed me about my lack of culinary skills and inspired me to learn.”
So, if she can’t cook how did she get into eating well?
“When I was studying at university here, it was precisely because I can’t cook that I began eating out. I used to eat out five or six nights a week and I’ve eaten at a very wide range of restaurants, from cheap curry houses to posh fine-dining establishments.”
GastroClub has no official presence – there’s no blog or website, just the Twitter feed and a mailing list that now numbers 180 people.
Katie Brunt
“I like it like that. We’re a community, not a networking event. Restaurants today mostly focus on maximising covers so diners are often finished in two hours. We’ll take over a place for the whole evening so GastroClubbers can come along and linger over their food.
“It’s revived the art of conversation as many of the group don’t know each other beforehand and it’s a great way to make new friends. I’m currently very busy planning something really spectacular for December.”
Katie admits she’ll have to close the mailing list soon.
“At 180, it’s about at the limit of what is manageable. I keep a check on who actually books to come to an event – if someone’s missed three events in a row I’ll take them off the list so someone else can join.I want it to remain special and not get out of control. But I do sometimes wake up thinking ‘What the hell have I done?’ ”
GastroClub meets on the second Tuesday of the month. To join, contact Katie via the Twitter feed at @GastroClub_Mcr. You can track tonight’s event on Twitter by following the hashtag #GastroClub.
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Hi Sounds amazing
Please keep me informed I would love to make a trip up from london.
I run a foodie event myself and am a chef.
Good Luck
M
We don’t preview such events, unfortunately. We suggest you contact GastroClub through the links in the article.
[...] more information about Gastro Club, read this ace blog post by Inside the M60, or you can follow them on Twitter at [...]
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