Why You Won't Find Your New Favourite Restaurant on Urbanspoon

We found a space in the forest, cabin style. The guests were met by the white rabbit and they had to chase him through the forest to find the location. And then there was food hanging from the ceiling.

This is how Chef Robin describes her latest adventure in pop-up dining. Robin is a chef, a sommelier, and the owner of Swallow Tail, a unique catering company in Vancouver that offers "fine dining in unlikely places."

Swallow Tail - The Downstairs Dining Room

The event was an Alice in Wonderland–themed "secret supper," and it was just one of the many "pop-up" dining events that Swallow Tail has put on in recent years.

Robin started Swallow Tail with the vision of bringing a new type of dining experience to Vancouver.

Swallow Tail is all about collaboration — looking to bring together creative people in the culinary industry and then working on making a creative event that hasn't been seen before,

she says.

Swallow Tail - Soup Cream of Cauliflower and Squash

And Robin isn't the only chef who's looking to shake up the Vancouver food scene these days. All over the city, different types of pop-up restaurants are, well, popping up — often in the most unexpected locations.

Over the last few years, pop-ups have been appearing around Vancouver in places like art galleries, seaside mansions, and farmers' fields. And they've all seemed to disappear as quickly as they've appeared.

Aside from Swallow Tail, there are at least seven other Vancouver "secret supper clubs" — and those are just the ones that have taken the trouble to establish an online presence. Many of these supper clubs are so-called "underground restaurants" that prefer to remain just that — underground — so only a select few diners will be able to discover them.

Swallow Tail - Chef Brooke is preparing the dessert

A Taste of the Vancouver Underground

The secret supper club trend actually comes on the tail of the underground dining trend, which has been around in Vancouver for the past 15 years or so. The main difference between an underground restaurant and a pop-up is that an underground restaurant is operated by a chef out of their own home, while a pop-up usually takes place in a secret or unusual location (although the line between these two concepts can often get pretty blurry).

Swallow Tail Dessert

Beyond that, there are a few other major differences to be aware of. The first is that underground restaurants will usually stick around for a few months or a few years in the same location, while a pop-up usually takes over a location for one day and is gone the next. The second is that pop-ups are also typically licensed affairs, while underground restaurants are not.

This may explain why some underground restaurants prefer to stay out of sight. Although there haven't been reports yet of underground restaurants running into licensing issues in Vancouver, chefs in cities like New York have had their underground restaurants shut down after the authorities found out about them.

Swallow Tail - Roast Pork, The Main Course

While some diners may feel uneasy about eating at an unlicensed venue, Kort is quick to point out that these underground restaurants are all operated by trained chefs who know a thing or two about food safety.

You probably run more of a risk going to your friend's barbecue,

she says.

Beyond licensing issues, however, the secrecy is also part of the fun of pop-up restaurants and underground dining. Sometimes even the underground chefs themselves don't know about the other pop-ups in the city.

Swallow Tail - The Happy Diners

I know a lot of chefs that are doing [pop-ups] in the city, says Kort, but there are some where I'm like, What's that? It's been happening for two years?

Pop-Ups and Underground Dining Around the World

Vancouver, of course, isn't the first city to experience a love affair with underground dining. In other parts of the world, underground restaurants have been a part of the cultural fabric for centuries, and they continue to play a major role in the international culinary scene today.

Dan Perlman is considered an authority on the worldwide underground dining scene. He is the owner of saltshaker.net, a website that provides a list of underground dining venues in every major city in the world. He is also the owner of Casa Salt Shaker, a restaurant that he operates out of his home in Buenos Aires, Argentina. For Perlman, pop-ups and underground restaurants are definitely not a new phenomenon.

Swallow Tail Salad

In Latin America they're everywhere and they have been forever. They're just part of the culture, he says.

From Perlman's view, pop-ups and underground restaurants are actually more of a return to what restaurants used to look like than a new phenomenon.

Really, what they're doing is they're coming back, because they used to be everywhere,

he says.

Swallow Tail - The Staff

Are Pop-Ups for Everyone?

So if pop-ups around the world are making a comeback, who exactly is going to these restaurants? Are they something the common diner can be a part of, or is the pop-up scene reserved only for the foodie elite who can afford to pay the price of admission?

In general, the answer varies from restaurant to restaurant. There is as much diversity in the underground dining scene as there is in any regular restaurant scene, Perlman explains.

Swallow Tail - The Dining Room

Underground restaurants set their own pricing just like regular restaurants do, Perlman says, which means that some pop-ups will be more expensive than normal restaurants, while some will be less expensive.

While most of us have higher costs for ingredients, we generally have far lower overhead and personnel costs,

he says.

This same concept applies to the quality of the chefs at underground restaurants, says Perlman.

Some of us are professional chefs, some are home cooks, and everything in between, he says. But even saying that, there are professional chefs who are amazing and others who are poor, and the same can be said about home cooks.

Save On Meats operated as a pop-up restaurant. It's currently a fully licensed diner, a butcher shop and retail store.

So there's plenty of diversity within the scene, but does that mean that pop-up restaurants are something everyone will enjoy? For Perlman, the answer is a definite no.

Sometimes people come and they just don't like the people they're sitting at the table with... There's just not much you can do about that,

he explains.

No Fixed Address - Green Curry Lamb Shangs With Crispy Sushi Rice

There's also no say in the menu, so if you get here and you just don't like the menu, what are you going to do?... We don't have options.

Foodie Fun in No-Fun City

But as much as the mystery of the pop-up can be a drawback for some people, it's also what makes this type of dining experience so exciting in the first place. In fact, forcing people into new (and sometimes awkward) situations is one of the things that gets Kort the most excited about the pop-up movement as a whole.

The fact that many pop-ups in Vancouver have adopted the communal table concept, for example, is something that Kort sees as a big step forward for "no-fun city."

No Fixed Address - Crab cakes with white gazpacho

It's something that Vancouver really needs as a city that's known as being somewhat antisocial,

she says.

Sometimes sharing a unique experience, even a fairly odd one, with complete strangers is the best way to create social bonds.

And if you don't like the menu, sometimes that can be a good thing too. Pop-ups are great for expanding your food horizons, Kort says.

You'll have people come to an underground supper club and they'll get there and it's a seafood menu and they're like, '@#$%, I hate seafood.' But then you hear them and they're like, 'This is really good and I never thought about trying this.

Which brings us back to the most important factor, at least for the chefs behind these restaurants: the food.

[A pop-up] is not just an event for me," says Kort, "it's a food event. It's always a food event.

No Fixed Address Menu

For these chefs, it's easy to see what makes pop-ups so special. More than just elaborate dinner parties, pop-up restaurants give chefs the ability to free themselves from the confines of the commercial kitchen and create something truly unique and, hopefully, truly delicious.

Pop-Up Restaurants in Vancouver

For more information on the Vancouver underground dining scene, you can also watch Secret Suppers of Vancouver, a documentary that first aired on CBC in the summer of 2014 as part of the Absolutely Vancouver series. If you're hesitating, this trailer will definitely convince you:

No Fixed Address - Dessert

No Fixed Address turns your home to a gourmet restaurant

No Fixed Address - Plating The Main Course 

Meet The Photographer: Kevin Eng

Kevin Eng

Kevin's passion for photography has encouraged others to see the splendor and beauty of nature right at their doorstep, as he captures the sights of the day, and colors and mystery of world while it sleeps. Many of the subjects of his work are based locally in his hometown in Vancouver, B.C., where he first discovered his fascination with night photography. Kevin is currently working as a music teacher, music director for his church, and landscape photographer.

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