IF YOU ever wondered what restaurant chefs do in the lull period after the lunch service and before they start preparing for dinner, chances are that once a month, they are doing the exact same thing as their customers - wining and dining in a top restaurant in Singapore.

They are members of a quirkily named food club called Coin de la Rhubarb, just one of many informal gatherings of people who meet regularly to do what they love best - eat and drink.

Wine distributor Michel Bouverat of Prodis Wine says that he formed Coin de la Rhubarb two or three years ago for chefs who did not have time to attend luncheons that he organised simply because they had to work. 'So we thought, why not have a meal that starts at 2.30 pm?' he says. 'It's not just for chefs but for anybody who wants to come - it's held once a month, usually in the middle of the week, and we go to a different restaurant each time. You pay $50 nett per person for a good menu and I bring some wines which would be valued at $60 a person, but I charge $30 and everybody can drink as much as they want.'

Chefs need to dine too: Coin de la Rhubarb was formed two or three years ago for chefs who did not have time to attend luncheons that wine distributor Michel Bouverat of Prodis Wine organised simply because they had to work.

On any given day of the week, if you are a well-connected foodie or if you happen to know one, there is likely to be a lunch or dinner event where 'members' numbering just three or four to as many as 30 get together to explore the world of food and wine. Unlike official membership set-ups like, say, the Slow Food Convivium Society or the International Wine and Food Society of Singapore, these informal gatherings tend to be made up of loose groups of friends or friends of friends who want to share good food and learn about different wines in a setting that would be hard to replicate if they were to do it on their own.

Explains Mr Bouverat: 'More people want to learn - they want to enjoy good food and discover new wines at affordable prices and in the meantime they learn about wines from the experts.'

A recent Coin de la Rhubarb event at Papi featured roasted lamb (above) and seafood bouillaibasse.

Another advantage is the good deal that members get on food and wine. Adds Mr Bouverat: 'The last time, we went to Valentino's, which can be very expensive because it's ala carte and they charge a high $60 for corkage. But for us, they waived corkage and we could bring as many bottles as we wanted, plus we got a very good menu for $50. For the restaurants, it's a form of publicity. It's a good opportunity for people (Coin de la Rhubarb sees 20 to 30 people each time) to discover the menu and (if it's good) create publicity through word-of-mouth.'

The strong wine element in these informal clubs perhaps explains why many of them are started by wine distributors and their customers who enter into a happy marriage where every meal is one of discovery and sharing.

Don Tay, who owns the wine distributorship Bacchus, inadvertently started a Monday lunch club years ago with a long-time customer. 'Both of us liked to go to a restaurant and bring a bottle of wine to enjoy,' he says. This arrangement grew to include other like-minded people and now, the Monday lunch is a much-anticipated weekly treat enjoyed by a small core group of seven or eight, which gets bigger if some of them bring guests.

Says Mr Tay: 'It's mainly a group of people who enjoy a good laugh over lunch especially on Monday - you know, people tend to find Mondays boring. It's the start of a new week, so we try to make people happy. It used to be mostly retirees but now there are quite a few doctors. We used to go to different restaurants but now for convenience we usually go to Crystal Jade or Imperial Treasure.'

The premise is also similar - 'If someone goes on holiday they bring back a nice wine to try, and sometimes people have good wines at home so they bring a bottle to share. Even if they don't all bring wine, depending on the number of people, I'll bring a few bottles and we split the cost of the wine in addition to the meal.'

He adds: 'It's very enjoyable and we always look forward to it. I suspect the doctors in our group even arrange their schedules such that they don't have too many appointments on that day! And we don't have a formal arrangement - everybody knows that if they don't hear from me, lunch is on.'

At the same time, the restaurants they go to also get impromptu lessons on how to serve food with wine. Mr Tay says that his group is so particular that they will insist - nicely of course - that the restaurants serve the food in the correct order that best matches the wines they have brought with them.

Meal of the Month members meet at Harbour Grill, Hilton Singapore, on a Friday night. They follow a theme and everyone brings a bottle to go with dishes like wagyu beef with gnocchi (top) and amuse bouche (above).

'Most restaurants when you order fish and suckling pig, they serve the suckling pig first,' says Mr Tay. 'But we make it a point to tell them no, we want this dish first and this one second, the red wine to go with the meat dishes, and over time the restaurant manager understands the way a meal should be paired with wine.'

Besides his Monday lunch groups, other informal clubs abound. There's Meal of the Month, or M.O.M, where a group of not more than 10 serious foodies meet at their favourite restaurants - the current favourite seems to be the Harbour Grill at the Hilton Singapore - on a Friday night. The group follows a theme (last night's was wine from the New World) and everyone brings a bottle to share.

Then there is the Monday Table, which is not to be confused with Mr Tay's Monday lunch, a Thirsty Thursday Table or 'Triple T', and there are Tuesday and Friday Tables as well, all run by different groups, although some overlap each other.

Says one regular bon vivant who attends a few of these club gatherings: 'There's always the need to gather around and enjoy good food and wine with people you are comfortable with and also to meet new people who come along as guests. It follows the same tradition as in the old days when Teochew and Hokkien millionaires would have their own clubs with regular luncheons and dining groups.'

And as with these millionaire clubs, such informal dining clubs are not open to just anybody - 'membership' is pretty much by invitation only. And for those who are in the loop, it's a great learning experience. Says one regular: 'We get really good service at the restaurants we go to. Now when I go to a restaurant I understand more about consistency of food quality and wine - it's all very educational.'

While some clubs are started by people in the wine trade, there are those which are set up by serious wine lovers. One of them is FTC or First Tuesday Club (main picture), which has been around for four years and is the brainchild of Stephanie Yeo, an account director with an advertising agency.

The focus is on wine but Ms Yeo is also very selective about the food, so when she arranges an event, she limits the number to 12 and works with the restaurant to create a menu that is to her satisfaction.

'We have a set menu between $75+++ and $85 +++ and every couple brings a bottle and we pair the food with the wines.' Each dinner has a theme, so everybody has to bring a wine that matches it. 'The wines have to be of a retail value of at least $70 - that's the unspoken rule,' says Ms Yeo. The wine is also tasted blind, and members review each wine, scoring each individual one. 'The one who brought the wine that gets the highest score gets to pick the theme for the next dinner,' adds Ms Yeo.

Members of FTC are in their 30s and 40s and all high flying professionals mostly from the financial industry. Originally, the FTC's 'forefathers were a bunch of wine geeks from the wine industry and passionate about their wines and food,' says Ms Yeo, one of the remaining founder members. 'Some have taken overseas postings and others could not commit the time to attend the dinners that were organised.' Now, new members have to be screened by existing members.

In addition to being able to taste and review different wines, the benefit of such clubs, says Ms Yeo, is that 'if you go on your own to these restaurants you'd probably be paying corkage and you won't get so much value for the amount of money you're paying. For example, we always have foie gras on the menu, and for the mains it's beef or lamb. It's a specially created meal that's not on the menu. Plus you're dining in a bigger group, so you get better service and food quality because it's prepared specially for you.'

Ultimately, the best reason to have an informal foodie club as opposed to a formal set-up is simple, says Melina Yong, an acclaimed chef who - with her husband, well-known wine consultant and columnist NK Yong - has presided over the Draycott Wine Club for 25 years. 'It's about eating and drinking with people you like.'

She adds: 'It's like being at a wedding dinner. You sit around and you don't enjoy yourself even if it's the best food.'

The Yongs' wine club meets about once a month unless they are travelling, and Mrs Yong cooks for a manageable group of 16 to 32 people at a time, and costs of the meal are split evenly among the members, ranging from around $120 to $180 inclusive of wines, which makes it a steal given the quality.

'We are all people with the same passion for food and wine,' says Mrs Yong. 'Very often in Singapore, people like to have wine and food and are not that fussy about matching it - we are more fussy and we find that it brings a greater joy if we can match wine with the food.'

Whoever their members are, informal food clubs are here to stay and set to grow in numbers as the interest in food and wine increases exponentially. The thing he likes about these clubs, says Mr Bouverat, is that there is no pressure to attend events, and there is no one upsmanship or any kind of politics. 'Nobody cares whether you go or not,' he says. 'You feel like going, you go. Finish.'