Wine Berries Gourmet Dinner, Saturday, 23 September 2006

A few, actually quite a few people, have been suggesting that we go back to the roots of the Dinner Club and aim for the higher gourmet standards of dining and stop messing around with fancy BBQs and things like that. Well, I am game for that, and can appreciate the sentiment, even though lots of people also like the convivial nature of our simpler events (which we will continue to hold). But just to prove that we can have higher aspirations for our dinner nights, we will hold the September event at a very cool gourmet restaurant called the Berlin-Sankt Moritz at Regensberger Strasse 7, 10777 Berlin.

It is a classic European/German gourmet dinner, done by a Michelin-star chef from Dusseldorf with a choice of 7 or 9 courses, each course fitted with its own wine. As usual for the Dinner Club, it is a special price menu, and the 7-course menu costs 49 Euro and the 9-courses go for 59 Euro. I don't know the menu for the 7-course dinner but the suggested 9-course dinner is as follows (in German):

- Karamelisiertes Maissüppchen mit Mastleberschaum
- Marinierter schottischer Wildlachs und Seeteufel mit Tomatenmousse und Kaviar
- Jacobsmuscheln auf Erbsenpüree und schwarzem Trüffel
- Rouget Barbet auf Avocado Perlgraupen und geschmortem Römersalat
- Mangosüppchen
- Brandenburger Rehrücken auf Kartoffel-Birnenmousseline
- Geschmorte Ochsenbäckchen mit Pfirsichen und Topinamburschips und Polenta
- St. Maure im Ofen geschmolzen mit altem Balsamico
- Guanaja Canache mit Milchschaum und gebranntem Orangengrieß
 
That will be the option I will be going for, and personally, I am very much looking forward to sampling the cooking of Patrick Bolte, who, as mentioned, hails from Dusseldorf with a Michelin star at the Restaurant Victorian there. The sommelier is Anton Stefanov, a gentleman who claims to know his stuff when it comes to wines, and I am sure we would like to check him out! :o) For those interested in more details, the website is http://www.restaurant-sankt-moritz.de

As it is a special menu (which is undoubtedly exceptional value for money), places are extremely limited (around 8 places at the moment) so if you want to come along to a special night's dining, please email me as soon as possible at chris@berlindinnerclub.com. Those lucky enough to get on the event list will get a confirmation email later about where and when we will meet up for the dinner, as usual. I am not at all sure we can fit more people in, so please do hurry if you want to come along, ok?

See you all soon!

Chris
 

How it went on the night...

Firstly, I would like to thank Hr Stefanov and the cook, Hr Patrick Bolte, for conjuring up such a fantastic evening for everyone. It is one of the best DC nights we have ever had. I don't think we need to say much more than this, but I will. The presentation of the food was quite novel, with dual courses being served with dual wines at the same time. What a great idea, as it allows one to switch around the wines with the courses without the constraint of only a single wine selection per course as they do in other restaurants!

The starters were an interesting sweetcorn soup and a beautiful tuna steak, just lightly seared at the bottom but retaining a lovely soft "fresh taste of the sea" texture on top. I was a little concerned at first that the soup might be a trifle too sweet but the dry Spanish Verdelho provided a fine contrast with its hint of salt and bitterness. I loved it.

Next was the fish courses, scallop grilled to perfection along with a fantastic pan-fried dorade. Both were outstanding courses. Again, the wine selections were perfect, with the Australian Mancini standing out from the 2 wines.

In between the fish and the meat was a simply brilliant pear soup, a uncomplicated fresh uplifting puree with a hint of mint. Another innovative idea which worked brilliantly! Who would have ever thought of a sweet fruit soup in the middle of dinner? A genius, that's who.

The meat courses following was just as good as the fish, if not better. I loved the pork medallion and, although I am not usually a big fan of over-cooked meat, I have to say that I really really liked the geschmorte calf which came with a lovely wine sauce which hinted so much of plum and sweet berries. (Later the cook denied using any fruit, so it must have been done with some excellent wines.)

The cheese was simple and nice and the sweet was a mascarpone and peach concoction which tasted divine and actually not too sweet (which is how I like sweet desserts myself).

Everyone enjoyed themselves and vowed to go back again (and again) and you can look at the pictures to prove it. It was just such a great Dinner Club night out... :o)