berlin dinner club

Well, normally around this time of the year, we would be announcing a gala night like the Gourmet Kitchen Party at the Schlosshotel or something spectacular like that. But that is not to be this year, as the Schlosshotel is not doing a Kitchen Party this year. Am I a little miffed by this? Yes. Am I despondent about it? No. I'm looking on the bright side. The Kitchen Party last year was 155 Euros per person for basically an all-you-can-eat bash. Well, this year, we are going to do an all-you-can-eat Vietnamese buffet for less than 10% of the cost of the Kitchen Party. Yep, for 15 Euros, you can help yourself to as much top-class Vietnamese food as you want all night! So, I am not too disappointed at missing the Schlosshotel this year - it's their loss.

And on top of it all, there's going to be live music as well after the dinner, so people can tap away those calories. To be honest, I have no idea what sort of music is on offer, but, heck, with a few beers or cocktails under the belt, I can handle most music! :o)

The place has been kindly recommended by Ana Mira, that lovely Spanish new member and we hope that she's coming along with yet another snazzy dress! The restaurant is called LANG NUONG, Pfalzburgerstrasse 20, 10179 Berlin and it is so popular that they initially even refused to accept our booking. Really. But in the end, we made them an offer they could not refuse, and we now have a very limited number of places, around 12 or so reserved for the Dinner Club. And we will be seated at a special part of the restaurant with "low seating" whatever that means. I guess we will be semi-squatting around a Vietnamese table or something. Oh, and this time, we will be starting the dinner early at 19:00, instead of our usual 20:00 time. This is because the buffet starts at 18:00 and the management informs us that the food disappears really quickly, so we have to be there early enough to intercept some of the best dishes before they are all gone!

Anyway, you know the rest of the story by now. As I mentioned, places are very limited and allocated on the usual first-come, first-served basis so get your emails to me asap if you would like to come along for this interesting event to kick off 2006. The email address, as usual, is chris@berlindinnerclub.com. Don't be late, please, and don't say that I didn't tell you so!

See you all soon!

Chris

How it went on the night...

Well, we were told that the special area we had booked would cater for 18-20 people, but we found it a very tight fit, to be honest, and there was an element of synchronised eating in shifts. But it was sort of fun and unusual, at least, for those people who were able to actually land a place on the table. The food was pretty good, simple but quality Asian-style cuisine. At the buffet, there was a tasty Thai green chicken curry, a creamy oriental chicken coconut soup and crispy pad thai noodles. And then there was a nice fresh minty salad, rice, prawn crackers and some huge fried wontons, which some of us nibbled on while queuing for more food. At the next serving area, there was a sizzling teppanyaki bar with vegetables, chicken, baby squid, prawns, beef and some interesting rolled mint leaves with mince stuffed inside. Certainly, it must be said that the food is often a lot worse in other places, so it was great value for money. And the really good news is that there was a LOT of food, and the buffet opened at 19:00 and did not close until well after 22:00. Nobody went away hungry, that's for sure!

At 21:00, The Swingin' Bohemians started their sets and that was really great fun as well - good ol' jazz served up with humour and enthusiam, lots of foot-tapping music and a few singalongs as well (mainly by Kirstin). A great night out, and a good start for the 2006 dinner programme!