Vino e Libri (Wine & Books) Dinner, Sat 10 December 2011

Sometimes I do feel a little sorry for some of our European politicians. Not only are they supposed to be able to manage the population, they are now also supposed to be economists and bankers and I for one know that you can never trust economists or bankers - all the economists I know have managed to accurately predict at least 11 out of the last 2 recessions and bankers are people who don't really know what they are doing but they make you feel as if it's somehow your fault you can't get a loan. Oh well.

Anyway, I guess a drop of wine or two wouldn't hurt anyone studying books like the "Alchemists of Loss - How Modern Finance and Government Intervention Crashed the Financial System". And as some Euro countries seem to be heading towards a default of some kind, then they should also be reading papers like "Efficient Bayesian inference for Gaussian copula regression" to understand the calibration of modern financial pricing models.

Still, how this relates to us is that I have to confess that the pointless jargon above is all really a prelude to introducing Vino e Libri, Torstrasse 99, 10119 Berlin, where we will be dining on Sat, 10 Dec. The name translates to Wine & Books, it is a place recommended by a good cook who I met the last time I was in Berlin and the reviews seem to bear him out. It is also Italian, or rather Sardinian, which is sort of appropriately interesting during the current Italian bond crisis. The website is on http://vinoelibri.de/ and some reviews can also be seen on http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g187323-d781862-Reviews-Vino_e_Libri-Berlin.html

I know it is a tricky time of the year so I won't be booking a large table and to make it worse, it is very short notice as well. But if you would like to come along, do drop me an email by Mon 5 Dec and all those who get on the list will be notified by Tue 6 Dec. Simple as that, unlike the problem with Italian government bond yields.

See you soon!

Chris

How it went on the night...

The place is really very cool and stylish and the staff were friendly and efficient and made their best to ensure that we had a good evening. Saying that, I had personally expected a better dining experience here as the place was quite highly recommended by a professional cook. The starters were great generally but the mains were disappointing in several respects - the risotto was bland and tasteless, the grill fish was dry, the lamb chops were so-so and my own linguini fattini was cooked very interestingly over a parmesan melted with burning sambucca but the truffles were wet and soggy rather than freshly shaved at the table. The desserts were also nothing special, I have to report but we still had a very good evening and afterwards, some of us strolled over to Tarantino's for a little nightcap! :o)

Oh, just in case you are wondering, the pictures below are from several places before and after the dinner - that's because I feel like adding in a few extra shots because I can! :o) You can see Helmut Kohl's office, for example, which was also Erich Honecker's old office (and allegedly full of hidden doors behind the panels). And on the Sunday after the Vino e Libri dinner, I was at a goose-cooking class where I am now cured of wanting to eat goose again anytime soon. And before that, well, I was mooching around Berlin and took some simple shots with my cheap little pocket camera. Any complaints, let me know, ok? I will refer your complaints to someone who cares.