From Supper Club to Storytelling: How One Chef Turned His Life Into an Unforgettable Menu

Last night, my client hosted his second Supper Club concept at a private dining room and kitchen in Little Italy.

You could almost miss the space, walking by the hordes of tourists gathered at tables on Mulberry Street. It’s marked only by a street level, elevator entrance that you ‘hit up’ and ride 5 floors up.

A little background on how Chef Nitin Kamath became a client:

In 2024, I had hired him to support my Mastermind retreat with breakfast and lunch. I hire alot of personnel for my events, but I noted he, in particular, was rapt with attention with the content I was teaching. Intrigued by my socials. I “read the room.”

One day, I said, “How can I support you?”

My clients were all women, so he wasn’t sure I worked with male clients.

“I’ve been sitting on a supper club concept for several years. But my clients are asking me to do better storytelling around my food.”

So we began an 8 week sprint to practice better storytelling around his food. Chef Nitin’s biggest challenge was that he would wander into tangents versus stay focused on the item of the moment.

My job was to rein that in. FOCUS.

A “Time Log” exercise was fodder for stories, revealing seminal moments in his life in 3 year increments.

I learned about his grade school years, teaching himself to cook while his parents worked. His ‘come to jesus’ moment in discovering “idli” and “dosa” again at college at a coastal town with friends. Meeting his wife and discovering the flavors of Singapore.

With his Supper Club concept, each course is a nod to a moment of real life discovery.

Chef Nitin’s Supper Club 2024

His first Supper Club was this time last year. We folded it into celebrating Matt’s birthday.

This year, was a mix of former clients, current clients, and friends hugging the table for the “Ballads of the Konkan Coast,” an homage to seafood from the Southwestern coast of India.

My favorites in the 5 courses featured:

Clams. Spicy! They were prepared to pack some heat.

Fish, wrapped in a banana leaf to congeal the flavors.

Crabs. Nitin recalled putting a jute bag over his hand when fishing them out of the hole after the rains. The crab would bite the jute, making it easy to retrieve them for a meal.

Lobster. It was a scavenger hunt, as lobster always is, to get the meat off the shell. But the flavoring on top was the star.

My favorite is the last course.

My mom packed my lunch as a kid, and I always ate the Twinkie or the Ho-ho first. Given a lack of supervision—I did it.

Because I could.

I hold the same kid-like fascination for dessert. There is always room for it in my belly.

The last course was 2 golden spheres of ambrosia, dipped in “payasam,” and dotted with slices of jackfruit, which I had never had before.

As you craft your own stories, remember:

• Reflect deeply on your journey: identify those seminal moments, the turning points that have defined your growth.

• Infuse authenticity into your storytelling; your audience craves genuine connections.

• Don’t be afraid to showcase vulnerability; it's in those honest, human moments that your audience truly connects with you.

And like my eternal childlike delight for dessert, always reserve space in your storytelling for surprise and wonder.

Photos from the night

My quick tip to ensure you can get any room to listen to you is to tell stories. Personal stories are your lived experience so easier to tell. Our brains are hard wired to absorb information by way of story. Think about it, for thousands of years, information was passed down, sitting around a campfire, telling stories. I created this free download to help you.

https://joyadass.lpages.co/storyteller/