REKKI: Your supper club’s called Stooges. Tell me about the name, because it sounds like you’re either a bunch of lackeys or a bunch of clowns. Which is it? [CACKLING.] Shep: It’s good, see! It works on so many levels. Jamie: It’s both isn’t it – that’s the thing! Shep, you brought the name up really didn’t you Shep: It was actually our friend, Louie Jenkins. I hadn't seen him for a while but he’s just one of those people; I knew when I bumped into him that I could ask for a name and he’d give me one. I said ‘well, there’s three of us…’ and he just said ‘what about Stooges?!’ – just like that. We’d been messing about with names for a while but that was it. Our chat before about names on Whatsapp was just…

REKKI: Tragic? Jamie: Definitely a few tragic ones.  Dan: Took about two weeks to get the name, and ten minutes to get the menu. 

REKKI: I take it you didn’t have any squabbling over the menu then? Jamie: Nah, it literally took ten minutes. It’s a six course menu so we just took two dishes each. Shep: There’s a drinks course too! Dan: Yeah, when I was living in Holland I used to do a lot of collaborations with friends from other restaurants. We once did this cocktail-based menu where one of my close friends, a cocktail-artist, came and did matching cocktails for each course. There was like eight cocktails, everyone left SO drunk. [Laughter.] He wanted to visit, so I said ‘make it this weekend, come do a drink.’ So he’s gonna do a cocktail for us just before dessert. A little boozy palette cleanser kind of thing.

REKKI: How are each of your cooking styles going to come through on the menu? Shep: We don’t know yet. [Laughter].  Jamie: No idea.  Shep: We’re not going to get together until the day before. So we’ve got two days, and we’ll come with our food and just start.  Dan: There’ll be tweaks along the way just to make sure everything melds together. We’ve got a nice flow from the menu I think, but our styles will definitely come through. Jamie’s got the Peruvian thing on there that comes from his cooking background, and I’ve kind of leant more and more into St. John-ish style cooking. Kind of classic, refined English style. And then Ling Ling’s has obviously influenced Shep quite a lot, cos they’ve been cooking together for two years.

REKKI: Where are you guys eating when you’re not cooking?  Shep: The three of us haven’t actually been out for dinner yet. But next Sunday I’m going to Singburi. That’s definitely one of me and Jenny (of Ling Ling’s)’s favourite spots. I went to Cornerstone the other day as well, that was amazing.  Jamie: KFC, bit of Dominos…Haha no, where have I been recently? Manteca – they’ve only been open a few months. It’s just mental in there – really good. It’s near Oklava. One of my friends used to work at Oklava so I go there quite often too. I haven’t really been anywhere else recently, I’ve either been cooking at home or in here. Dan loves going to St. John! [Laughter.] Dan: I’ve been to St. John a couple of times but I’m not like popping down there for lunch or anything – I don’t know how much you think I get paid! I think the place I eat the most is this little greasy spoon in Bethnal Green where I live. It’s called Hulya’s Cafe. I have my order, they walk in and they’re just like ‘yup.’ I don’t even need to speak! Bacon and sausage sandwich, hash brown on the side, coke, and a cup of tea. I go about four times a week.  Shep: Have you been to Bom Pecado in Seven Sisters? It’s a little Portuguese place, it’s amazing. Always get the specials. On the menu, it’ll just say ‘chicken’ and it comes served with chips or rice, but it’ll be amazing. Or they do octopus dishes that are great. And it’s always like £8. Their pastries and doughnuts are great too. 

REKKI: You should try Botellon Latino on the High Road in Seven Sisters, the empanadas are unreal. So when you do eventually go eat together, where are you gonna go?  Shep: We just won’t – on our days off we just wanna cook MORE! [Laughter.]

REKKI: I’m gonna ask a couple of quickfire questions while you’re prepping. Who’s got the best tekkers? Jamie: What tekkers have we got? Dan: What tekkers have we got? Shep: Well we do have them. Uhh...Dan’s known for his calmness.  Jamie: Yeah, us two freak out but Dan doesn’t stress at all.  Dan: It’ll be about 15 minutes before service and Jamie’s running around like a headless chicken like – ‘what’s this, where’s this!’ And I’ll be standing there like, ‘It’s fine. It’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it. Relax. I’ve done too many hard shifts – I’m not worried about this one.’ It always gets done in the end. 

REKKI: What’s the worst bit about working in a kitchen? Dan: The people. [Laughter]

And the best bit? Shep: The people! [Laughter.]

REKKI: Any last words on the supper club? Dan: We just wanna have fun and have a great night – that’s basically our whole thing. 

Tickets for Stooges’ debut supper club on the 26th are available here. You’ll also find Dan and Jamie at the Bedford Tavern on April 19th for an evening of Izakaya-style dining – grab tickets here.