A joint fundraising initiative with the wonderful Jenny Lau from Celestial Peach, Si Fang Cai is a new dining club in the heart of Hackney that features the cuisine from different up and coming chefs from diverse backgrounds and experiences.
Our new dining club will take place at the centre every few months, where we invite you to sample delicious home-style cooking, shared at circular tables in the tradition of Chinese family-style dining. The name Si Fang Cai (私房菜) literally means ‘private room dish’. It is the Chinese version of a speakeasy supper club and its origin dates back to the Ming Dynasty. Expect to see off-menu items and unexpected cross-cultural collaborations. We will be offering a range of different cuisines, not only from China, but from regions throughout South East Asia.
This will really reflect the goals of our fundraising initiative. As well as enjoying your delicious meal, you will also be helping support the Old Community Bath House project, a dilapidated bathhouse that we are currently renovating. We are looking to open our new and unique Hackney Southeast and East Asian multicultural centre with a community kitchen at its heart, launching 2021.
Jenny is a Chinese Londoner who heads up our Potluck club and volunteers at the centre. She is passionate about exploring cultural identity and community building through food. Having teamed up with Jenny several times with her famous potluck club, HCCS have been very impressed by the dedication to food that all of the potluckers have shown, and the new friendships that have been created in the community. We are so pleased to be partnering on this new initiative, and hope you will share our excitement, when we will announce the first guest Chefs next week on Instagram at instagram.com/celestialpeach_uk and instagram.com/hackneychinese next week.
For further information, please contact Jenny at sifangcai@celestialpeach.com.