Lydia Maguire 
Editor’s note: The Montclair Girl team is always up for an adventure, and an invitation to a super secret supper club was something we couldn’t pass up. MG writer Lydia was game for it and shares her experience with us below.
We showed up at a residential address on a Saturday night with zero expectations, other than one key detail: dinner would be vegan. That was it. We didn’t know the chef (whose home we’d be walking into), and we didn’t know the other guests (whose table we’d be sharing). We just knew we were headed to a secret supper club in Northern New Jersey.
And honestly? There are worse ways to spend a winter night than eating food worthy of any foodie worth their salt, with a roomful of strangers who, by the end of the evening, don’t feel like strangers at all. Read on for our experience at a new hidden supper club, where a beautiful meal and a surprising sense of community are very much part of the point.
A Dining Room Full of Strangers (Until it Wasn’t)
The concept grabs you immediately. It’s someone’s house, which makes it intimate from the start. But then you step inside, and there are unfamiliar faces scattered around the living room, coats draped over chairs, glasses in hand, everyone doing that polite first-meeting dance.
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Most guests came solo. One couple came as a birthday surprise for the husband. Two women realized they lived in the same neighborhood because they’d clocked each other on dog walks around town. There was a gemologist, a woman finishing her PHD, a new mother, and even a harried, freelance writer (hi. Me again.) Other than that, we didn’t know anyone.
By the end of the night, we were swapping Instagram handles, laughing like we’d known each other longer than a few hours, and, if you asked me, I could tell you about their kids and/or dogs, what they’d ordered the last time they ate out, where their favorite restaurants were around town, and where they’re going on holiday next. That’s the magic of a table when the food is good, and the vibe is right.
Meet Chef Nandini (And Come Hungry)
Let’s get one thing out of the way: I wish I’d had two stomachs.
Chef Nandini is a master of the kitchen, and watching her in action was part of the experience. At one point, I caught her tasting a sauce, checking the oven, and pulling out boards to plate the next course, all while keeping an eye on the pacing of the room. She was chef, host, server, and maître d’ in one. Her husband floated in wherever she needed him, quietly washing dishes from the previous course, chasing after their toddler, and taking coats at the door like this was the most natural thing in the world.
And the home itself? Beautiful. The kind of beautiful where you could write an entire separate piece just on the wallpaper, the color, and the way the whole space felt like an Architectural Digest spread, but warmer. Her Indian heritage was woven into the decor in a way that felt personal, not performative.
Still, it was the welcome that really set the tone: her smile at the door, her young daughter zipping around in pajamas, and guests already chatting on the living room sofa. Within minutes, the whole thing felt less like “a stranger’s house” and more like being invited into someone’s world.
A Five-Course Winter Menu “Rooted” in South Indian Flavors
Chef Nandini themed the evening “Rooted,” a celebration of all things grown under the ground, designed to warm us up on a cold winter night. Each dish was anchored in her South Indian heritage, blending childhood flavors and family influences with earthy, seasonal produce.
We started in the living room with mulled wine and snacks: Kadalai Sundal (spicy boiled peanuts) and ghee-and-turmeric cashew puffed rice with curry leaves. I tried not to fill up because we were in for five courses, but the peanuts were genuinely irresistible.
Then came a simple, brilliant touch: icebreaker cards. We went around the room answering questions, most of them about our relationships with food. One question, however, was notably spicier than the rest and cracked the room open immediately. Nothing bonds a group faster than collective laughter and an instant inside joke when you’re still learning everyone’s name.
Once we were escorted to the dining room, Chef Nandini introduced each course, sharing a bit of context and story along the way. The plating throughout was beautiful without feeling precious. Every plate felt prepared with intention and served with care, and you could feel it in the room: Chef Nandini wasn’t just feeding people. She was offering something. Her heart, her home, her family story, and her food, all in one evening.
Course One: Roasted beet-and-garlic rasam with a crispy arisi upma fritter and tomato chutney. I’ve had rasam before, but this was next-level: bright, deep, comforting, and somehow both bold and can’t-stop-eating-it good. I wanted seconds immediately. I’m glad I resisted…mostly because the next plates kept coming.
Course Two: Crispy bhajji-sojji with mint coconut chutney and roasted semolina kesari. Crispy, fragrant, and the kind of dish that makes you realize vegan food isn’t “a substitute” when it’s done like this.
Course Three: Probably my favorite of the night, even though each dish somehow managed to outshine the last. I’m a mushroom person, and this Chettinad pepper mushroom with Japanese milk bread and podi cream cheese was dangerously good and exactly my love language. It came with a fresh avocado and watermelon radish salad that brought just the right snap and brightness alongside the warmth of the spice.
Course Four: The pièce de résistance: arachivitta sambhar saadam with carrot usili and crispy fried potatoes and taro, accompanied by tomato thokku, green mango pickle, papad, and okra pachadi. The birthday guest was practically glowing because, as he said, it tasted like home. And that was one of the most moving moments of the night: watching people who recognized these dishes light up with that particular kind of joy, the kind that only happens when a flavor brings you back to somewhere you love. Chef Nandini’s smile when someone told her it was even better than they remembered said everything.
Course Five: Roasted carrot payasam with ghee-fried cashews and golden raisins, the sweet ending we all needed. Comforting, not cloying. The kind of dessert that feels like a final touch on a piece of art.
The Real Secret Ingredient
This was Chef Nandini’s first supper club, and she was humble in a way that made you root for her instantly. She shared the menu with genuine gratitude and hinted at future dinners with different themes and flavors from around the world.
But beyond the rasam, we genuinely regret not getting seconds of the thing we’ll remember most, which is what she built around the food.
We came as strangers. We left as friends.
And in a world that could use a little more unity (and always more good food), there’s something quietly powerful about a table where people from different backgrounds and worlds sit down, eat well, laugh together, and walk out feeling a little more connected than when they arrived.
If that’s not worth knowing about, I don’t know what is. To find out more about Chef Nandini and the next Rooted experience, visit her website.
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