StudioKitchen

We found Shola to be welcoming, friendly and super informative. Delightful! frankly! Each dish was plated in front if us and it was like watching an artist perfect his beautiful masterpieces right in front of us.
The food was fresh and pretty and every single bite was amazing! He has a knack for letting food express it’s food soul.
This was a special event for me. My dear friend treated is to such a wonderful night…
This is fit for a foodie for sure!!!
I cherish the pictures I took on my phone
I only wish I could be shoala’s apprentice

I love the idea behind Shola’s Studio Kitchen dinners: unknown menu, communal dining, small and intimate setting.
But I’ve been disappointed twice and definitely won’t be shelling out the money for anymore Studio Kitchen dinners. The food is definitely inconsistent. My first dinner was full of inventive ingredient combinations and left me feeling stuffed. My second dinner had nothing to do with the night’s theme (perhaps this has to do with Shola’s admission that he makes up the menu the same afternoon as the dinner itself) and left me feeling quite hungry.
However, even with the inconsistent food, I wouldn’t necessarily write off future dinners.
It’s Shola’s ego that I can’t stand.
1) «We-​this» and «We-​that». Dude, you’re not the Royal We. Actually, you’re just one person. And if you were a WE, maybe you’d be better at communicating via email and answering the phone — both of which you dole out freely as if you’ll actually use it. There’s no point in trying to book a private dinner – he will ignore your emails even though he told you to email him.
2) What’s the point of having a small dinner if the chef continually belittles every question that comes his way? Several times, I witnessed dinner guests asking him really simple questions like where he got his ingredients or his favorite restaurants. It was like pulling teeth to get him to answer in a straightforward manner. For the price and the concept, I expected Shola to actually engage more with guests. Instead, he seemed exasperated anytime someone asked a question about the meal.
3) Maybe his ego IS understandable. Guests at these dinners tend to be return, loyal patrons who lavish compliments like «I never go out to eat anymore because I know Shola can do it better» «This is the best _​_​_​_​I’ve ever had because Shola made it» «i never would have thought to put _​_​_​and _​_​_​together; Shola this is genius.» I don’t get it. His dishes aren’t really that inventive. Sous vide, nitrous, Asian fusion… kinda standard these days. Maybe it’s because patrons don’t know his menu beforehand?
4) I became really turned off when the dinner table began to talk about another diner who frequented a previous Studio Kitchen dinner. Shola chimed in with the rest of the group, bashing this guest. From what I could tell, this person seems to frequent these dinners quite often. Why talk negatively of a customer to others?
Now that I’ve been back twice, I definitely won’t be back. Shola has found a decent gig, however, and I’m sure he’ll be able to sustain himself with his usual crowd of loyal diners. As for me, I’d much rather spend the money at a diversity of restaurants without having to suffer from being a captive audience member of a pretentious chef and his cult following.

I have learned to check his website everyday in order not to miss any events. Since I started doing this, I have made it to his setup three times in a span of perhaps 2 months.
Can’t tell you the details of what I had. But I enjoyed every bite because each was full of flavors. In the very beginning, the menu listing the ingredients scared me somewhat since there were things I normally would not touch, such as fish. But, very soon, at that first dinner, I realized I will never have to deal with a lot of something I find hard to swallow since he serves portions in «small dish» style. I love the idea of trying 10 courses for a single meal.
Shola uses the best of ingredients and studies various ways he can turn them into tasty bites. He is so intensely passionate about what he does that self-​proclaimed foodies such as myself can only «chase his dust».
Ah, how lucky we are that he is here in Philadelphia.
P. S. — After eating the fishes he prepared, I now like fish and am learning how to cook fish. Pretty amazing I’d say.

StudioKitchen, the pop-​up dinner venture of Chef Shola Olunloyo, is one of the most unique, if not the most unique, dining experiences in Philadelphia.
These unpredictably scheduled pop-​ups (it took me a year to cajole Shola into adding me to his tiny mailing list so I can hear about them them before they sell out) are something not to be missed. There is no one in Philly that is cooking anything remotely like what Shola is doing. Not cheap, but at ~$ 120/​person, it is a bargain for a 4-​hour sojourn past the culinary Karman line.
Each dinner has a unique theme, which has recently included «7 Fishes», «Umami», and «Spring».
Dinner is held in Shola’s secret lair, a condo in the Loft District, north of Chinatown, that has been converted into a molecular gastronomy open kitchen full of centrifuges and rotary evaporators, with a 10−12-person dining table. BYOB, although good luck trying to predict what wines to pair (I suggest going with generally food friendly wines like Riesling and Pinot). Street parking isn’t hard, although maybe a bit sketchy.
I’ve been 3 times to date (and planning to attend his sous-​vide class/​dinner next week), including the memorable «B2D2» (Breakfast for Dinner #2). This meal had some of the most unusual food combinations I’ve ever experienced. Not to mention it was a stormy night, and the view of downtown Philly from high up (this was his old condo-​kitchen in the NoLibs), backlit by lightning, was spectacular.
Here’s the menu:
Pu-​erh Dashi. Grilled Baby Octopus. Sansho
Sea Urchin Pain Perdu. Almond Praline. Celery
Meadow Run Farm Egg. Nori Potato. Roasted Salmon Tare
Maitake Oatmeal. Pressure Cooked Soy Nuts. Parmesan
Oxtail Bacon. Quince Confit. Chick Pea Purée. Black Bread
Foie Gras Bacon. Brown Butter Pancake. Rosemaple Syrup. Kinome
Coffee Cured Lamb Belly. Celery Root. Olive Sugar
Pistachio Affogato. Coffee Foam. Lime Streusel
I hate the trend of listing only ingredients on menus these days, as it really doesn’t tell you much about the dishes. That is particularly true here, as Shola is taking inspiration from classic breakfast dishes for dinner. Sufficed to say, each dish was a unique mix of unusual ingredient combinations and modernist cuisine techniques that resulted in dishes that were both mind-​stretching and delicious.
I went with a very light 2009 G.D. Vajra Moscato d’Asti with dessert, and then a luscious 2001 Philippe Delesvaux Coteaux du Layon Sélection de Grains Nobles by itself at the end of the meal. With the rest of the meal we had a range of wines from Champagne, riesling, pinots, Rioja (for a change I decided to relax and not take detailed notes). The company was pleasant, and Shola was very entertaining (we heard the whole Speck & Philly Magazine stories in detail).
Other dinners, such as «Spring» have been less adventuresome, but each dish would not look out of place at the finest restaurants here or in NYC (at «Spring», Shola’s lamb agnolotti served with celeriac, green apple, spice jus and olive tapenade is one of the best Italian-​inspired dishes I’ve ever had). I also attended the Ideas in Food collaborative dinner with author/​blogger H. Alexander Talbot.
The crowd is always interesting. I’ve met TV’s Top Chef season 6 winner Kevin Sbraga and his lovely wife, CIA students, super models, and trend-​weary New Yorkers down to find out what all the fuss is about.
If you need any added convincing, just take a peak at Shola’s food porn (he always has a camera set up to record the dishes he serves):
Sláinte!
[6/​10/​12 update: Shola has updated his website so you can sign up for his mailing list:
But he only does a handful of dinners a year, so you have to be patient.]