berlin dinner club | past events

 

Dinner Club Night at Pata Negra, 17 April 2002

Ironjaw was just about to pull the trigger as James Bond, Secret Agent 007 (Licensed to Kill), suddenly flicked the steering wheel on his Aston Martin to do a wicked slide into Seestrasse, rear tyres smoking under the powerful acceleration. Ironjaw grimaced menacingly, still gripping the AK-47 as his driver swerved desperately to follow Bond, only for both of them to be massively disappointed to see a rocket-propelled grenade loose from the back of Bond's car straight into their windscreen. Bond smirked at the great ball of fiery destruction fading behind him as he parked the Aston in Kameruner Strasse, where he got out and strolled nonchalantly into the Pata Negra where he ordered one of their famous sangrias, a drink he fancied since he had given up dry martinis on Dr Ball's advice. 

Which is pretty neat because Pata Negra, Kameruner Str 2, 13351 Berlin (near Seestrasse U-Bahn) is where next month's dinner is going to be held on the 17th April. It is a Spanish tapas restaurant and has been highly recommended by a famous lady molecular biologist who has never disappointed me. Yet. Two dinner club traditions are going to be broken for this evening's bash. Firstly, we will be going on a Wednesday night as several people have engagements (secret service work, shhhh!) towards the end of this and the following week. Secondly, there are no suitable bars nearby so we will have to congregate and meet directly at the restaurant itself. This is not a great problem, especially as the place does a seriously good sangria (what's good enough for James Bond is good enough for us plebs, I think). But please don't be late as the earlier arrivals will have their faces in their food, after "waiting" so long. (This means you, Derek.) Final details on time and a location map will be sent out nearer the date to all those on the dinner list. Oh, and for those who fancy it, there is a bowling alley nearby and if anyone feels capable of 10-pin bowling after dinner, we can also try to book a few lanes. Let me know, OK? 

So that's the deal for April. Pata Negra is run by a family and is a smallish, cosy sort of place (don't bother to wear sunglasses either), so places on this month's list are going to be limited to about 12 or so. As usual, to get your place on the list, send an email to chris@bankingmatters.com as soon as possible, else you'll just have to pay a bribe to knock someone else off the list. Which I won't do anyway, but I won't tell you this until after I've taken the bribe, so you have been warned... 

Chris 

PS. Voting for May thus far... 

Pasternak (Russian) 3 
Amrit (Indian) 1 
Kulinoor (Indian) 3 
Wooloomooloo (Australian) 4 
Good Time (Indonesian & Thai) 1 
Mittmann's (German) 0 
Storch (Alsatian) 0 

The voting turnout is somewhat slow at the moment, to say the least, but remember, it's YOUR tastebuds and YOUR stomach! :o) To be honest, I probably won't bother with asking for votes after this. Democracy isn't all that suited to dinner events, in my humble opinion. After this vote, we'll just burn some incense, sacrifice a few chickens, chant a little and stick a pin into the restaurant pages in Zitty.