Cardiff

Lee Skeet announces new Milkwood popup ’40 Days 40 Nights’

On October 4, 2021 by The Plate Licked Clean

Very quickly last year, Lee Skeet made his Bones Supper Club the most impressive new place to eat in Cardiff.

He did it the hard way, too. No paid PR. No invitation evenings. He just cooked and let his food do the talking.

Remarkable regional produce, a chef of Lee’s experience and skill, cooking for just one reservation- yours- per evening. In his front room, no less, and served in an understated, humble manner. There was nothing else like it: it was an irresistible combination. I couldn’t wait to tell people, so I wrote this. And I was so impressed by subsequent visits I took the unusual step of writing about it again.

No wonder I fell for this food. Hard. This was something people who loved great cooking needed to know about, and I was just one of many who loved what they found and told their friends. They came back. They came back again. And again. Some in double figures. It was a potent recent example of that old fashioned but immensely powerful thing: word of mouth.

Reactions were extraordinary. ‘The best chef in this city’ was common. ‘Faultless’ and ‘The best meal I’ve eaten in Cardiff this year’ weren’t rare. Then, suddenly- after months of sold-out bookings- an announcement that it would soon close.

And now, almost a year to the day since my first review of Bones, we discussed new beginnings.

The Plate Licked Clean So, Lee…what’s next?

Lee Skeet: I’ll be doing a popup called 40 Days, 40 Nights, taking over the small dining room above Milkwood in Pontcanna. It will start on October 25th and finish on December 23rd. And during that time I’ll be cooking on 40 of those days.

I’ll be cooking for 12 guests now- so double the maximum amount of the Bones Supper Club- but tables will all be bookable separately.

TPLC So still an intimate experience, then? An evolution of what you did at Bones?

LS The plan is for the popup to be the next step up from cooking in my living room.  

I’ll be cooking a set tasting menu (but trying to keep getting better!) and make the food better, as well as making the transition from living room to restaurant, but trying to keep the good points. So I’ll still be serving guests myself, as well as doing all the cooking, and it’ll still be informal and chatty, with music etc. I’ll always be in the kitchen cooking solo, though.

TPLC What will be the key dishes? Any returning favourites from the supper clubs? I still hanker after so many, like that savoury beef custard with the chicken fat croutons, or the Cornish crab with marinated tomatoes and tomato consommé… or that St Ives Bay lobster with roast chicken sauce… or the lamb with goats curd. And that suckling pig…

LS: I’m not a hundred percent sure on dishes yet. I’m taking the three weeks off to hopefully think of some new stuff! I might put that savoury custard on the menu, as I’ve worked on it since Hedone and it’s one that guests seem to like and find very different.

There’s also a duck, seaweed and berries dish that might go on. And I’ll still be offering extras like the otoro tuna, oyster and lobster courses, and of course wine pairings. 

TPLC: I have to ask- at Bones you took an uncompromising approach to the menu. You wanted to showcase the best of Cornish fish and seafood- as well as Welsh meat- but of course that meant you couldn’t accommodate vegetarians and vegans. Will that be changing?

LS: I still won’t be catering to vegan/veggie dietary choices, as I want to cook the best food I can- and that’s not either of those things. 

Also it would be a distraction if I’m preparing and cooking for 11 guests with no dietary choices: it would be unfair and disruptive to them to put my time into preparing a different menu for one veggie guest.

TPLC Longer term then, beyond the 40 days and nights?  

LS Well, let’s see! I’d love to open a permanent place, so this is the next step towards that. Obviously I’m really hoping the popup goes really well, as if it does it’ll be key to finding permanent premises- so any help promoting it is always appreciated! 

TPLC It’s an evocative name, 40 Days, 40 Nights. If I remember my schoolday RE lessons it’s the length of time the earth was deluged before Noah’s Flood, and the length of time Jesus fasted in the desert (and more topically in 2021 it’s the origin of our word quarantine)- but it’s always significant. There must be a story behind it. So what’s your inspiration here? I know the cooking at Bones was a revelation (sorry…) but…  

LS: The 40 days, 40 nights concept is based on the story of Jay Electronica, one of my favorite rappers. 

Over a decade ago he put out his debut mixtapes. He was incredible and he got signed for millions by Jay Z. He’s one of these really interesting figures who pretty much does what he wants and is very talented- but for ten years after he signed he didn’t put out a single record because he just didn’t feel like it and was scared of failing in public, afraid to release something that didn’t live up to his expectations. 

Then last year, after ten years of nothing, he and Jay Z sat in a studio for 40 days and 40 nights and wrote and recorded his whole album. It’s called ‘A Written Testimony’ and it’s a masterpiece. 

In a completely different sphere I’ve been hesitant and holding back- nearly getting a restaurant, but not doing it and turning down loads and loads of great offers because they weren’t ‘perfect’. 

But now? Now I feel I’ve got a really good opportunity, with everything riding on this popup- so I wanted to give myself that ’40 days and nights’ for it all to come to a head. To succeed- or fail!

TPLC Absolutely no pressure, then…

Lee: When I decided to stop the supper club I genuinely had no plans to do anything, so this has all happened quite nicely and quickly!

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Postscript

40 days, 40 nights, tryna live up to the hype goes Electronica’s The Blinding. But this isn’t unmerited hype, but real enthusiasm. It has been earned. If you’re already familiar with Lee’s food, you’ll want to reacquaint yourself with his food very quickly.

And if not, you shouldn’t wait to find out for yourself just what a gift to the city Lee Skeet’s cooking is. 

Booking are £70 a head from https://bones-entertainment.com/products/40-days-40-nights

And lastly- huge thanks to Jordan Thorne (@ThornerInUrSide) for the use of his pictures.