For The Last Instance Dinner, Sat 19 Nov 2011

The recent turbulence in the financial markets probably means a new economic paradigm soon for Europe - everything has changed in the last 3 years or so and for many people, it has not really been a change for the better. Mostly, more of us are feeling more insecure, less certain of the future and wondering what insanely stupid games the Greek government now are playing against their Euro partners.

So what better time than now to go back to an earlier age, when things were more constant, defined and even perhaps more reliable. So for this month's dinner, we will go back a few centuries and dine from historic menus in Berlin's oldest known restaurant. This place was established 20 years after the Reformation, so it has been around 450 years before the EFSF, in a house built originally as a distillery supplying booze to a monastery full of working doctors, alchemists and astrologists! The menus are interesting in that they really seem to hark back to the Middle Ages so if you want to know what a hungry alchemist would be munching on in the 16th century, then you must come to this dinner!

The location for this month's dinner is therefore Zur Letzten Instanz in Waisenstr. 14-16 and I estimate a good night out would cost around 40-50 EUR (including drinks), for those of you who need to check on the status of the EFSF before committing. And we have not booked a big table, mainly because, well, we can't anyway. For those interested in the menus, the website is http://www.zurletzteninstanz.de/a_sprache_eng/index2.htm.

Oh, and apparently Napoleon himself ate here on a visit to Berlin a couple of centuries ago so if you want to sample (possibly) the same menu as the first Emperor of France, do let me know as soon as possible via email, latest by Fri 11 Nov. Those who make it on the list will be informed by 14 Nov latest.

See you soon!

Chris

How it went on the night...

There was a sort of infectious gleefulness on the night, as if we were intoxicated by the sheer size of the portions of food that the restaurant served. And despite the size of the meals, it was all very delicious, as befits a place that had served the first emperor of France 200-odd years ago and more recently, Mikhail Gorbachev sometime during late last century. Oh, and it seemed that Napoleon was rather enamoured of the waitresses here and I can agree that the service is efficient and at least as good as the food. This is definitely a place to bring your visitors to Berlin for the atmosphere and rather good traditional hearty German dishes.

Oh, by the way, the pictures reflect a scouting expedition the night before to a Thai restaurant, then some horrid dinghy dance club for a party, the Green Door (to recuperate) and then next morning a breakfast bar in Schoneberg, just in case you think running this dinner club is an easy job. And later after the dinner at Zur Letzten Instanz, I *still* had to check out a newish bar in Kurfuerstenstrasse. The drinks were good, but ridiculously expensive so I won't mention the place.