Having lived in London for a grand total of four and a half years, I have reached ‘pushing the elderly and very young out of my way’ in my journey - still some way off the discovering hot yoga, kombucha and cheap(er) rents in the south stage. And while I might not have come to my burnt out conclusion just yet, I have learnt one thing - ‘immersive’ is this city’s catnip. A supper club with proper food is nothing if it doesn’t have a tenuous link to a film and some ‘70s dishes on the menu. We’ve got one group to thank for this obsession with pretending we’re elsewhere; Gingerline started creating parallel universes back in 2010, and I went along to get lost in their latest iteration, Gingerline’s Chambers_ .
Only the brave need apply to Gingerline's Chambers_.
Founded back in August 2010, Gingerline’s nine years of experience has gone from intimate supper clubs in antique shops through to full-blown, stratospheric, clambering and crawling pieces of theatre - with food incorporated along the way. The most fun part of my trip to Gingerline’s Chambers_? I’m sworn to secrecy on what went on in their multidimensional world but here’s what I can tell you…
Set in a secret East London location, the space is a loose continuation of their previous Chambers - three events based on Sir Lionel Stirling Grey and his machine. Not just any machine, but one with the capability to ping users through the culinary continuum with some inter-dimensional exploration along the way. We’re greeted by a necessary rocket fuel - a cocktail, before heading to the bar where workers intermingle with other slightly perplexed guests. Taking place over two hours, the show crosses into five different zones, each one with their own unique dish. Gingerline are the first to admit this isn’t a Michelin-starred affair, but nonetheless, the food is crowd pleasing and takes second place to the mad action anyway.
The immersive aspect is also applied to the five dishes included in the ticket price.
The DesignMyNight Digest
While you might not have learnt much more about Gingerline’s Chambers_ from the above review, I can tell you it is well worth £60 of your hard-earned cash. Still as pioneering as the day they started, the group continue to go bigger and weirder - crossing time, space and worlds for each room. Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, there’s another door, another concept, and another dish to plunge you deeper into their Gingerline planet.
