One Star House Party is an unprecedented pop-up dining event, travelling to 20 different countries, in 20 months to build 20 very different restaurants out of what has been discovered along the way.
Now it’s coming home.
Led by Scottish couple Trisha and Kevin McCrae, who met in Glasgow, their team has trained in some of the world’s best restaurants, including Denmark’s ‘NOMA’, and London’s Tom Aiken’s.
In each country, after immersing themselves in the community for a month, they create a new menu inspired by the ingredients that they find, and the experiences that find them.
From the streets of Mumbai to night trains through Vietnam, and even Base Camp of Mount Everest, their unique and life-changing travels have taken them to the farthest flung corners of the globe.
This December, for one week only, the team are bringing their restaurant to Glasgow, serving a seven course tasting menu made up of their favourite dishes from each of the countries they have built a restaurant in over the past year.
Trisha spoke to us about One Star House Party, where they have been so far and why they're coming home to Glasgow.
Picture: Trisha and Kevin carrying chairs to base camp at Mount Everest, supplied
“Over a year ago we set out on a journey, that has so far taken us half way around the world.
"It is a culinary adventure that has brought us face to face with ingredients and techniques from across
the world.
"Living completely from our restaurant we build it wherever we find ourselves, serving a
new menu each month out of everything we discover.
"Now we are finally coming home, and are excited to share with Glasgow what we have experienced so far on our journey.”
Picture: One Star House Party's floating restaurant in Kenya, supplied
"So far we have travelled through Asia, Africa and the Middle East. We've been to China (Beijing), Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh), Thailand (Bangkok), Nepal - where we hiked for nine days with 15 guests to build our restaurant for one day only on Mount Everest Base Camp - India (Mumbai), Oman (Muscat), Kenya (Nairobi) and South Africa (Cape Town)."
Picture: Trisha and James in the kitchen in Kenya, supplied
"We have spent the last year and a half travelling the world, and have always wanted to do a sort of ‘homecoming’ restaurant, where we can bring back all that we have experienced and share it with Glasgow.
"Kevin and I both met when we were working in a restaurant/bar together in Glasgow, and of all the places we have travelled to we are probably most excited about bringing our restaurant home."
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bae-Pc6BsIa/?hl=en&taken-by=onestarhouseparty
"I’m from the southside of Glasgow and picked Shawlands specifically because I love the area and wanted to support it.
"We choose the site of the former Ketchup burger restaurant as it has recently been taken over by new leaseholders; the guys behind Redmonds in Dennistoun.
"They were Scotland's first accredited Real Living Wage employers, who are opening a new bar in the space early next year and very kindly agreed to let us use the space before they start work on it.
"We wanted to promote something positive, new and exciting that was happening in the space and in Shawlands."
Picture: Korea, Haenyeo serving sea urchin, supplied
"It is a very raw and honest experience of our travels.
"We have no waiters at One Star House Party, the chefs themselves explain each course to every table, but they don't just explain the ingredients on the plate in front of you, instead we tell you the story of how this dish was created and the inspiration behind it.
"Imagine when you come home from holiday and you show all of your family and friends your photo album of all the things you saw and experienced, we do that, but instead of photos we use food to share our stories."
Picture: The dinner at Mount Everest, supplied
We don’t like to give too much away on our menu as we believe it adds to the dining experience but what I can say is it's a seven course menu and each course is made up from a different country that we have built a restaurant in.
Not necessarily in the order in which we travelled (as you might end up with a dessert mid-way through your meal that way!)
Picture: Vietnam pop up in the sleeper train cabin, supplied
Our next stop will be in January where we are setting off to travel around South America for four months.
We are finalising the dates at the moment but we are going to do Peru, Uruguay, Chile and Argentina - spending a month in each country travelling and exploring.
We want to immerse ourselves in the local cuisine and culture and, from that, build a week-long restaurant at the end of each month with what we have discovered in that time.
Picture: the San Francisco restaurant, supplied
"The name is a little tongue in cheek...
"The first pop-up we ever did was in Hong Kong in our apartment that we transformed into a restaurant.
"This was supposed to be for a few days, but word of mouth soon spread and the three day pop-up we had planned turned into a three week sold out event!
"Whilst we were doing the pop-up we thought people would think it was strange that we were all living there, so we tried to hide it as much as we could.
"But as the weeks went on we started slipping up people would notice things like a tube of toothpaste in the bathroom, so they started asking us if we were living here.
"When we sheepishly said yes and it completely transformed the atmosphere in the restaurant.
"All barriers broke down and the preconceived ideas people had of how you should behave in a restaurant, and what the correct protocols and rules where for dining were all broken, and people visibly started to relax and just enjoy themselves with good food and good friends to talk to.
"We felt the atmosphere resembled a 'house party' in the way you would go round to your friends house for dinner with a bottle of wine and have food, drinks and a bit of laugh together.
"The 'One Star' part was added in as a nod to the Michelin training the chefs have all come from, and was a little tongue and cheek as obviously there is no such thing as having a star at a house party."
For more information on One Star House Party and to make a reservation, please visit their website.
