Simple bites to eat, and a hands-on approach to serving and sharing, will create a supper club ambience everyone will want to return to.
It’s hard to get the OG together. The pub is great, but nothing beats gathering around a table and sharing simple food and drink.
Dining out has become an extreme sport that only allows you a window of two hours to be together, so supper at home, a casual approach to dining, can be just the palate cleanser your guests need.
Formal dinner parties and the accompanying couples’ politics, and real-life politics, can make seating plans diplomatic nightmares.
Smart casual is a far better idea. Hold the fuss. In theory, tablescaping is a lovely idea, but on a damp October night, what you really want is an easy fix that feeds all and ensures everyone is home by midnight, Cinderella-style, on a weekday night.
The menu should include plenty of animation, guests swapping places to move their way around the table, and for dessert, a belly full of laughs.
Rule number 1: Of course, they’re invited
There’s always room for one more to gather people around the table.
Ikea’s Skogsta range in acacia wood is an accommodating dining collection. You fit more people in by simply squeezing a few more chairs around the table, or putting two tables end to end.
A table that seats six has a blonde wood top and black base with matching black ladderback chairs, costs €919.
The collection includes a Windsor-look chair, €79, each, that can live elsewhere in the house, when you don’t have people round.
Rule number 2: Dress up
A tablecloth sets the mood.
If your table isn’t up to scratch, then cover it.
This cotton-rich design from Marks & Spencer adds a soothing base to the overall mood.
It measures 120cm by 230 cm and costs €40.
An enamel mixing bowl can do double duty on this table as a salad bowl, €20. Dark Amberly plates; dinner, €38, and side, €33, both for a set of four, add fashion edge.
Rule number 3: Tumblers minimise spillages
A good get-together should see everyone a bit animated.
Lots of hand gestures and theatrical flourishes can accidentally knock over stem glasses, so serve drinks in tumblers instead.
These new Boya shapes from Ferm Living, come in clear, yellow, or smoked glass options and cost €35 per pair.
Rule number 4: Show guests in a flattering light
Portable LED lamps offer a safe and flattering way to bring light to the table.
Helen James's Considered range includes a 20cm high Dome in library green, €30, and a taller 30cm version, which comes in mulberry or bone white and costs €45.
All throw light onto the face. All have a battery life of six hours, long enough for a mid-week gathering.
Rule number 5: Keep cutlery to a minimum
Pass the dip, but use leaves to scoop it up rather than serving spoons.
It cuts down on washing-up.
These ceramic bowls by Poterie Barbotine are handmade in Aubagne and hand-thrown from earthenware.
Finished with a marbled slip pattern that varies from piece to piece, each costs €40, ex delivery from Toast.
Rule number 6: Sharing is caring
Swedish serveware brand Sagaform’s Ditte is the ideal sharing plate.
Needing no further explanation, the seven-section round serving platter costs €64, while the eight-section oval platter, 20 cm by 36cm, costs €85.
Both come in grey or beige splatter stoneware options, ex delivery charges, from Nordic Nest.
