Sunday, April 20, 2008

The 100 Euro Dinner

One afternoon in the office one consultant came and asked whether I am free next evening for dinner. Of course I am – nothing else to do especially on a weekday in the evening other than warm up my bed watching TV. He sent out an email giving the name of the restaurant where we were to go for the dinner and that 1 of his team member and another small CST would join us for the dinner. Total of 6 people including one more non consulting staff were scheduled for a dinner at one of most prestigious restaurants in Helsinki – The Chez Dominique http://www.chezdominique.fi/ the consultant also happens to be a vegetarian and he had ordered 2 vege dinner for us. Luckily for me, this restaurant is next door of my apartment complex.

So on Thursday, at 7.00pm I headed next door for the restaurant and after a lot of thought went inside the restaurant as I could not locate any of them outside. There was a table booked for the six of us and one of the waiters showed me the table. I settled into the chair and had some water to drink.

To start with the description of this restaurant… it is peak formal environment with people ready to get your jacket and help you with everything. Most of the people in the restaurant were dressed in suits and blazers – other than me. The environment oozed luxury as well. Within 5 minutes 3 of them reached and we were chatting about a lot of things – nothing official of course. The other 2 joined us as well and finally, the dinner started at around 7.20pm.

To start with they served us potato icecream – yes POTATO ice cream!!! It was totally different. This followed by another item I don’t remember neither the name nor its taste. Then came the next vegetable ice cream this time it was beetroot with beet sauce to accompany. Now all these were served to make you understand the capabilities of the chef and these are not part of the actual menu – Howzaat!! I have to say all these were served in different china and quantity – just a teaspoon full.

In between, we were served with different kinds of breads to keep us occupied before the next item arrived. Well it just takes at least 15-20 minutes for the next item to come. Then came the dishes that are part of the menu… well to be honest I do not remember any of their names now… at the same time the quantity is still the same teaspoon full. But the most important thing that I observed is the presentation of each of them. Every dish was more like an art with different colored sauces and pastes, even the vegetables are cut, sliced, rolled, or packed in a very artistic way.

Also, the service was impeccable, 3 waiters would bring in the plates in a coordinated way… they would go together to serve it on the table such that no one feels like they get a preferential treatment. Even removing the plates was properly coordinated – they would come and stand and with a nod of everyone they would remove the plates and clean the linen.

The dinner was a 4 course menu and for every course including those for sampling was served in a new china and cutlery. They would remove every piece of utensil used to eat that course and would bring in a new one. This was particular efficient, as you don’t have the dilemma to figure which spoon or fork to use for which dish. They give the cutlery that is required for the dish that is to be served and they would be replaced for the next one. We had also ordered for a bottle of red and white wine and even the wine glasses are changed.

The main course was a preparation with rice and mushrooms and again the quantity this was a more… yes one tablespoon full. So in total we had around 7 servings before the dessert. Even the dessert was served in a totally different set of cutlery and china. The dessert again was of the same quantity but just that we had around 3 different items… so it makes 3 teaspoons full. One of them was particularly delicious again am sorry no idea of the name. Finally, when we finished with all these 8 items, paid for and left… we had spent some – can you guess… we spent actually 4 hours!!! Yes we finally finished the dinner at 11.15pm.

No doubt that I would remember this dinner for a long time to come… or at least until the next one 

p.s. I really regret not taking the camera and i enquired about the cost of the dinner next day... 100 euros excluding wines thats HUGE!!!

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