Posted : December 3, 2018
Our blog is chock full of great ideas for fun things to see and do in York Durham and Headwaters. We are always adding new content and updating old posts, but sometimes you might stumble upon something from our vault. If this article has inspired you to hit the road, be sure to double-check that the featured stops in this post are still welcoming visitors.
Today more than ever, people are looking for one-of-a-kind experiences. We don’t just want to eat the apple, we want to pick it fresh from the tree. It’s no longer enough to simply go to the movies, we want the VIP treatment complete with reclining seats and tableside service. And our dining experiences have to be so much more than just the food on the plate.
“Anyone can have dinner anywhere,” says restaurant owner Jennifer McLachlan of Cachet Supper Club in Newmarket. “These days you can order a meal online for delivery, you can order a boxed dinner with all the ingredients to make something yourself, and you can even have your groceries brought right to your door. So why bother going anywhere? Having an experience along with your meal makes all the difference in the world.”
Admittedly, it’s a fair statement for many restaurant owners to make. After all, each one gives an inordinate amount of their time, energy and heart to creating a memorable dining experience for their patrons. But Jennifer and her staff have something which truly sets their establishment apart from the competition.
Cachet Supper Club has… igloos.
You read that right—igloos. Imagine a dining experience like no other, with a 360-degree winter wonderland panorama right on the restaurant’s patio. This unique experience is made even more inspiring at Christmastime, when the interiors of these transparent, heated structures are decked out with holiday decorations and lights. If there is anything more romantic than dinner beneath the stars on a December night, or lunch beneath a midwinter sun, we can’t think of it.
Case in point: Cachet’s igloos have already played host to their first marriage proposal. (She said yes!)
But where, you might wonder, does one get the idea to build an igloo to accommodate outdoor dining in the winter? According to Jennifer, the inspiration came directly from the ‘River Domes’ of Chicago’s iconic recreational destination Riverwalk, where she recently spent time. “I decided then and there that I had to bring them to Newmarket to share the experience with everybody,” she explains. “I mean, if they can stand up to Chicago weather, they can stand up to Newmarket.”
Cachet’s two igloos, which were built over the course of a week, can seat up to twenty people and are fully heated—perhaps not tropically so, but patrons should be comfortable in their indoor winter wardrobes, and the restaurant provides branded blankets for added comfort if required. You can enjoy a casual dinner for two, or you can book an entire igloo for a private function if you wish.
Since the launch, this unique experience has proven to be immensely popular. Bookings and inquiries have been constant and often the igloos are filled to max capacity. So, a word of caution: while patrons without igloo-specific reservations are always welcome, it is likely there will not be any availability. Therefore, Jennifer recommends that if you’re serious about enjoying your meal beneath the winter sky, you consider booking in advance.
It’s difficult to capture in writing the passion with which Jennifer McLachlan speaks of her establishment. For her, it’s more than just a place to eat a meal, and her igloos are only the most recent example of how she has aimed to break down boundaries and be creative. She has spent considerable effort turning the eatery into what she describes as a community venue where experience is top-of-mind—this includes a full rebrand from Cachet Restaurant + Bar to Cachet Supper Club—and one can’t help but feel the genuine enthusiasm she has for her business as she speaks about it.
“If you Google ‘cachet’ and you Google ‘supper club,’ you’ll find the two go hand in hand,” she insists. “And that’s exactly what we are.” Since the word cachet means ‘the state of being respected or admired’ and a supper club is defined as a restaurant serving suppers and providing entertainment… we’d say she’s spot on.
Today, Cachet Supper Club can best be described as an upscale dining and wine bar with the feel of a social club, in which music and experience is the premier focus. Whether it’s lounging on the waterside patio in the summer with live music, enjoying the exhilaration of eating outdoors in the winter, or even attending Newmarket’s first ever drag show—Cachet is so much more than just a restaurant.
As Jennifer says, “People today are driven by experience. They want something unique, something you can’t just get anywhere. And as we’re hunkering down for the next four months of winter weather, our igloos give you another way to enjoy it.”
Visit Jennifer and her staff at Cachet Supper Club at 500 Water St. in Newmarket, or online at www.cachetrestaurant.com. For information and reservations, call (905) 836-5007.
