A Lot of (Michelin) Stars Kitchen Party Dinner, Saturday, 24th January 2004

As this is the first event of 2004, I thought we would start with a bit of a flourish and then work our way upwards from there. So here's our plan for January's dinner...

As the focus of our little club is on good food, and eating good food, well, the idea hit me that wouldn't it be great to be able to watch our dinner being cooked for us by Michelin-star cooks. In fact, how about being able to watch 5 of the best cooks in Germany and Europe conjure up a eat-and-drink-all-you-want dinner? Wow, I hear you say. Wow, I agree. So, the January event is rather a special one. It's called The (Michelin) Star Kitchen Party and you wander in and out of a large hotel's kitchens watching the cooks and their little helpers make their gourmet courses and then you get to taste and eat as much of the food as you want. On top of that, several top vintners are bringing their wines for you to drink, as part of the dinner accompaniment. You pay only one fee and that covers as much gourmet food as you can eat and as much fine wine as you can drink. I happened to be at a similiar event last year and I'm ashamed (a little) to admit that I had more than 10 courses of their superb food that night. So you get the idea. Absolutely yummy food, cooked to perfection in front of your eyes, and you can get as many repeats as you want of the courses you like the best. Simple as that. Oh, I should also mention that, apart from the vast kitchens, the event rooms in the Schlosshotel are also really wonderful and contribute to a fantastic atmosphere for the whole night. The people who come to these sort of events tend to be very nice, and food addicts, although some might appear a little old and formal. But then, so do I!

Places for this event are very limited and formal evening wear is also required, so coming in jeans and T-shirts for this event is definitely not a good idea, so just fish out that suit from the cupboard. The location is the Schlosshotel Vier Jahreszeiten Berlin, Brahmsstrasse 10, 14193 Berlin. It's near the Grunewald. Website is http://www.schlosshotelberlin.com/

The date, again, is Saturday, 24th January 2004, and the price per person is 125 EUR. I know it sounds a lot, but it is for true gourmet food, and lots of it, done by 5 top chefs, and includes all the fine wine you can drink as well. Considering that a normal menu at a top restaurant is the same price for 4 courses but without any wine, then it's not a bad price at all! Anyway, we can only get very few places for the club and in fact, I MUST have all the replies by the end of this week (9th Jan), latest to be able to confirm our places. So if you want a fun classical gourmet night out with a twist, then email me asap on chris@berlindinnerclub.com. If I don't know you, then I may have to ask for your payment to be uberweisung-ed to me in advance. And... if I don't hear from you by 9th Jan, then don't blame me for missing out one of the more special nights in the Berlin dining calendar.

Chris

 

How Things Went on The Night...

To sum it up succinctly, it was a spectacularly successful evening and a splendid time was had by all. But you don't have to believe me. Have a look at the photos below. The live jazz music was cool, the food was nothing less than superlative, the company was chatty, flirty and funny. My favourite dish of the night was done by the Viking (Danish) cook, Allan Schultz, who conjured up a fantastic duck course, accompanied by a delightful ravioli swimming in a clear, light, and very tasty, consomme. (I can also guarantee that I ate more than one or two courses of the duck.) Close behind would be the wolfbarsch from the singing cook, Hr Kleeberg from Vau, but all the other dishes were also simply extraordinary, like the pan-fried scallops, the rabbit loins, the foie gras, the exquisite dessert, even the wonderful mountain cheese. My only minor comment was that the red wines could have been slightly better but the champagne they were pouring all night was darn excellent. I do not think that I need to add much more, apart from saying that everyone ate more, much more, than they should have and my diet has probably been ruined for a month or two or three. Most of us departed a little after midnight, sated, slightly inebriated, but mightily happy, though a few stayed on, so I don't know what happened afterwards. Maybe they'll tell us. Maybe not.

		Sylvia
	Singing cook				Viking cook
		Face stuffing...	Kristi
	Matthias...				Verena and...
		Ray in action	Oh dear...	Andreas and...
Him again	Who, him?	What..?	Hmm...	Allyn