NO REPEATS: Ramsgate's secret feast club - The Foreign Embassy
One-off pop-up-feast specialists deliver surprises to savour
“There’s that old-school raving in a field kind of thing to it. Where you get to a phone box and you get a postcode and that’s about it.”
Ramsgate’s secret-ish pop-up dining club The Foreign Embassy (@the_foreign_embassy) might not attract the close attentions of the fuzz in quite the same way as the illegal raves of the 90s, but its dedication to finding fun in unexpected places is on-point.
Set up by the trio of chef Dave Fretton, whose career has included stints at the Michelin-starred Mirabelle and The Princess of Shoreditch; Lorenzo Di Francesco (Lori), who has created conceptual food events for the likes of The House of Peroni and Harvey Nichols; and creative director and writer Jo Forel, The Foreign Embassy is much more than just a pop-up.
“It’s a very simple concept,” says Lori. “We’re cooking a proper feast. When you come, you’ll know that you’re gonna eat a lot. But it is a completely secret location and a secret menu. We only give very mysterious hints.”
Having left London to embark on a round-the-world eating tour with their children, Lori and Jo eventually landed back in the UK and relocated to Ramsgate to escape the city. Having moved into a house that was a former foreign embassy, the pair were mulling over their next move, knowing that it would involve food and drink in some capacity.
The triumvirate was completed by serendipity when a giant seven-kilo salmon that needed eating became the centrepiece of a feast in Lori and Jo’s garden (because it didn’t fit in the oven). New neighbours and friends were invited to share, which is when they met Dave.
“Dave offered to join in with the cooking and we were like ‘Well, this is nice. Maybe we should make this an actual thing’,” says Jo. “And that led to the first trial feast a few weeks later.”
Coinciding with the season, the group constructed an eight-course dinner themed on asparagus, which they invited their friends to try out. And while the table might have been part of an IKEA wardrobe and their tarpaulin was under threat of blowing away, the idea was set and The Foreign Embassy pop-up dining club was born.
“... that sense of mystery and secrecy and not quite knowing what you’re gonna get…”
“It felt exciting and didn’t feel like it already existed here,” says Jo. “It was basically an outlet for all of our food, creative instincts and ideas.”
A year on and each feast is attended by 45 hungry guests, but here’s the deal - it’s in a secret location that’s only revealed 24 hours before the event. There is a secret menu that will have a theme, which could be based on a single ingredient, the venue or something else entirely.
‘But what if I don’t like the food?’ I hear you cry. Well, while the food itself isn’t revealed until you’re in the room, there are plenty of clues issued through social media and the emailer in the run-up to the ticket launch, so guests can grasp whether it’s right for them.
Carefully curated, each event is totally bespoke, unrepeatable even. However, there are two factors that remain consistent every time - one is that the location has to be unique and, secondly, that it is a proper, proper feast.
“It’s a social, sharing event,” says Jo. “If you want to go to dinner with your date and not talk to anyone else, then it’s probably not your thing.”
There tends to be one large table that guests sit around, sometimes with table displays incorporating dishes, prompting both dining interaction and conversation.
“We are very blunt in our description - this is what it is,” says Lori. “It is a very particular concept. You’d be surprised just how many friendships and relationships that have happened around that table.”
It would seem those looking for a social dining experience are not outliers, with the last two events selling out in 11 minutes and six minutes respectively after the launch. Indeed, the demand for a spot at the feast crashed the ticket-selling platform on one occasion.
There have been six events so far, with themes ranging from Heat, which took place in Ramsgate’s Old Fire Station, to the vegetarian feast known as The Glass Onion at the Italianate Glasshouse & Tea Garden.
“We take that inspiration from the space,” says Dave. “From the building and the history of it. We realised early on that there’s a wealth of incredible historic and heritage buildings around this corner of east Kent, and across the county.”
As well as a four-week residency at Archive Ramsgate in late 2023, The Foreign Embassy has also popped up at Dickens’s Bleak House in Broadstairs and at Ramsgate harbour’s Smack Boys’ Home.
“So many people have come up to us saying ‘How on Earth did you get into that building?’. We literally just called them all and said ‘Hello’,” says Jo.
Dave adds: “We’ve never had anyone turn their noses up. These custodians, these owners of incredible buildings, will say ‘Well, that sounds amazing. Can we come?’. “It has been really enjoyable to see the owners get involved. For example, at the Smack Boys’, these navy sailors wanted to share with us little tidbits and anecdotes about the building’s history.”
As always, the devil is in the detail and the finer touches of each event forge lasting memories.
“Each of our place settings has something unique to the location - for example, at Smack Boys’ we had little sailors’ knots for people,” says Dave. “It’s really fulfilling for us to see how these people have got involved - there’s a real sense of community.”
The team expect to have another four feasts this year but stress they won’t put on events just for the sake of it. The location, the time of year and the food all have to align.
“We’d rather they were memorable,” says Jo. “Sometimes we have a space but it isn’t the right space for the season, so we need to wait to use the space in the moment where we can really use it.”
Dave adds: “It’s also about what produce is available to us as well. You know, time of the season is hugely important for us in terms of sourcing. We’ve talked about relationships with the custodians of these incredible buildings, but the relationships with our suppliers have been something that’s just grown from strength to strength, too.”
“We try to keep everything as local as possible,” says Lori. “We know where our meat comes from, we know where our fish comes from. It’s a celebration of a lot of things that could be from a product to a place.”
Thoughts are already percolating for the first feast of the year and there are some plans to expand The Foreign Embassy out of Ramsgate and broaden the options for both guests and venues to take part. But, as always, the team are staying hushed about when and where it’s going to happen.
“One of the attractions is that sense of mystery and secrecy and not quite knowing what you’re gonna get or exactly who’s going,” says Jo. “People know they’re coming to a one-off and don’t want to miss it.
“They want to have been there on the night because it’s not happening that way ever again.”
