CANDID CLUB AT STOCKWELL STUDIO

The Candid Club team had been preparing for our first restaurant residency for months. After a long search, we had found the perfect home at Stubby’s Café & Wine Bar in Parsons Green. The space was ready, reservations were in and Kit and the chef team had developed our best menu yet. Then, an hour before opening night, a major electrical fault hit the kitchen. Thursday was cancelled, followed by Friday and Saturday. With a kitchen full of food and months of work at risk, it looked like the entire residency was over.

But at the eleventh hour, we found Stockwell Studio. It was beautiful, but definitely not a restaurant. With less than 24 hours, we rented a van and began building one from scratch. The response from the hospitality community was incredible. Edible Food Design lent us antique chairs, tables, glassware and tablecloths, while Jo and the team at Coolhurst Vineyards donated five cases of Provence Rosé after our last-minute move meant we couldn’t secure an alcohol licence.

After three nights of very little sleep, we opened the doors at midday on Sunday, not knowing whether anyone would actually come. They did. Over the course of the day, 62 guests came through the doors. The food was brilliant, the room was full and somehow an event that had seemed impossible 48 hours earlier became one of our favourite Candid Club events yet.

Did it leave us in the red? Absolutely. But it also reminded us that with a little improvisation, a lot of generosity and very little sleep, you can make something pretty special out of a complete disaster.