Feast at the Krug Room

2 July 2010: We were treated to a spectacular feast at the Krug Room at the Mandarin Oriental by Matilda on the occasion of Sander’s birthday. Well, it turned out to be a double celebration for Sander that evening, as the Netherlands defeated Brazil at the Quarter Finals. The Krug Room was an extraordinary experience. Each course was creatively and meticulously conceived and prepared. We worked our way through the menu depicted as a crossword puzzle on the wall. The sequence read like this: Spiral, Caviar, Fruit, Asparagus, Oyster, Tea, Lobster, Clay Pigeon, Tin, Spring Garden, Butterfly, and the finale act Candy Shop. With the arrival of each piece of culinary art, the suspense built in anticipation of the next creation. I was most impressed by Tea, a delicate tomato consommé with decorative confetti of flavoured herbs and flower petals - the consommé was poured out of a teapot, after having been infused with additional flavours from a special teabag! The Caviar was also a favourite of mine: these luxurious golden pearls popped in your mouth and released intense flavours of apple and champagne! The Lobster was a sensational masterpiece: the pouring of lobster broth into the dry ice created a lingering shroud of lobster scented "mist" that filled the room, and then we tucked into the lobster cooked to perfection in the centre stage of this masterpiece.

The Clay Pigeon was perhaps the least interesting and the clay and couscous-filled rifle pellets had a rather unappealing chewy texture. The Asparagus was a very interesting twist on tiramisu but the portion was just a little too large. The best part about the Candy Shop was deciding which items we could take home for the children and in doing so, we all relived our childhood dreams momentarily!

We had Krug for the non-meat courses and then Sander and Matilda very generously assigned Richard and me the task of choosing a red wine. We chose the 2006 Tenuta delle Terre Nere Calderara Sottana. The style was so different from what you would expect from Sicilian wines. The grapes of Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio were grown on a single vineyard. Medium bodied, with a perfumed nose of red cherries, raspberries, roses, tea leaves and liquorice. A serious but approachable wine, well balanced with lively acidity, the elegant and poised style was almost Burgundian like. Lingering finish. It went equally well with the pigeon as with the beef in the tin!

After 12 courses and much Krug and Sicilian Etna Rosso, we adjourned to the Chinnery Bar for the remainder of the football match between the Netherlands and Brazil, and more celebration for our Dutch host!

Thank you very much, Matilda and Sander! Great party and happy birthday!