Kosher supper club launches in Golders Green on the day of the stabbings

Like the classic scene in Goodfellas when Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) takes Karen on a date to the Copacabana nightclub, the diners came down the side of the building and entered through the kitchens, walking past chefs sweating over stoves, waitstaff carrying plates and the sommelier swilling his decanters.

This was the day of the Golders Green stabbings. It was also the launch of Tavlin, London’s First Kosher Supper Club and the venue was neatly located within the police cordon. No-one was allowed in or out through the front door. But this did not deter organisers Joanna Nissim and Louisa Walters, who had sold 100 tickets to the event and were determined to go ahead.

Moroccan chef Khalid Dahbi and his team were unfazed by the events going on in Golders Green Road, ensconced as they were in creating a five-course menu featuring smoked aubergine zaalouk, chicken pastilla, chermoula-marinated sea bass, six-hour cooked beef shin with prunes and cinnamon, and almond and caramelised orange cake.

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Front of house was a little more stressful though. Last-minute ingredients needed to be sourced from Kosher Kingdom, which was closed, and travelling anywhere by car meant difficulty returning as the cordon was widening. Sommelier Jacob Betito of Vinavon, kosher wine-tasting specialists, was anxious that the the delivery driver would not be able to get his crates of wine to the venue and at 3pm the police announced that it was “highly unlikely” the event would be able to go ahead.

And yet it did. Guests were contacted with notification of the back entrance, staff were positioned at the entrance to the service road behind the venue to direct them, and all 100 guests turned up. Nothing comes between Jews and their food.

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Being the only place open that evening, the police popped in regularly to use the facilities, and in true Jewish style were sent out with food parcels.

Chef and food writer Joanna Nissim, who has run five sold-out kosher popups at Arros QD in central London over the past year, said “We are so proud that 100 defiant Jews put on their glad rags and came out for dinner in spite of the circumstances – and that we took the decision to go ahead.”

In an interview with the BBC the next day, she said: “As Jews we have to be vigilant but we are standing proud and standing strong”.

Lord David Wolfson, who was at the event, was asked on Times Radio the next morning whether he felt safe enough to go to Golders Green to eat at the moment? “That’s an easy question,” he said. “I went to a restaurant in Golders Green last night. I’d already booked and I was determined to maintain my booking because the lesson in Jewish history – and we have a long history – is this: we keep carrying on. We will not be intimidated. We will not change the way we live and we will continue as proud British Jews. We are proud to be British and we are proud to be Jewish but what we do ask is that we get the support not only of the government and of the authorities but also of civil society.”

Tavlin’s next kosher supper club is on 17 June. To book visit tavlin.co.uk