Dinner and discussion with Britain’s most celebrated women

London’s Jamavar restaurant is launching a Women’s Club for the summer

It is 99 years since some British women got the vote, and as a precursor to next year’s celebrations the co-founder of Mount Street’s Jamavar restaurant, Samyukta Nair, has founded the Jamavar Women’s Club. The summer-long series will take place in the modern Indian restaurant’s subterranean bar and will seat just 38 female guests for dinner and discussion hosted by well-known women from the worlds of fashion, food, sports and the arts.

Jamavar restaurant in London’s Mount Street

“I’m launching the Women’s Club because London is a city full of astounding female strength and creativity, and I think it’s important that we are unashamedly proud of that,” says Nair. “By sharing stories of our failures, our successes and all the things that happen in between, women can build each other up and learn from each other.” 

Each evening (£45, from 6.30pm) will begin with a champagne-based cocktail and canapés such as stone bass tikka and shami kebab, or paneer and aloo tikka. The first speaker (July 31) will be chef and author Florence Knight, who worked under Raymond Blanc before becoming head chef at Polpetto, while on August 14 Kathryn Sargent, one of Savile Row’s rare female tailors, will take up the microphone. Former England cricketer Isa Guha, who helped her team to victory in the 2009 World Cup, will host on August 21, followed by longstanding Farrow & Ball colour consultant Joa Studholme on September 18, before English National Ballet artistic director Tamara Rojo closes the series on September 25. 

Jamavar executive chef Rohit Ghai has created a special three-course menu for the Women’s Club, beginning with the restaurant’s signature poppadom basket and housemade chutneys, followed by scallops bhel and handcaught seared scallop on puffed rice with tamarind date chutney. Rohit’s Old Delhi butter chicken, made with a corn-fed Suffolk bird that has been chargrilled and pulled, is served with fresh tomato and fenugreek, while for dessert there will be a rhubarb chuski falooda with basil seeds, rhubarb and saffron rabri kulfi.

“All the best conversations are had around the dinner table,” says Nair. Especially so with food and company like this.