Cuba and Thai Dinner, Sat 20 February 2010

This is going to be a sort of a 2-part dinner, involving Cuba and Thailand, and also a short little U-Bahn (kurzstrecke, 1,20 Euro) ride!

Firstly, the dinner will start at a photo exhibition currently being done by one of our members, Edward Longmire, about Cuba. Entrance is free and so is the wine, so do come along and have a cultural look at Cuba through the eyes of his Nikon D300. The gallery is called The Wall on Brunnenstraße 39, 10115 Berlin. Nearest U-Bahn is Bernauer Strasse. You are welcome to come by anytime after 6pm onwards, and as mentioned, there is free wine provided so we won't be going for our usual pre-dinner cocktails this time. If you want to know more, the website of the gallery is http://www.thewallberlin.com/

The second part of the dinner involves a little U-Bahn ride from Bernauer Strasse U-Bahn to Pankstrasse U-Bahn (this is a kurzstrecke ride as it's only 3 stops, so the fare is just 1,20 Euro). From there, it is a very short stroll to one of my very favourite Thai restaurants in Berlin, Viengthai at Pankstrasse 50. The cook is a jovial, happy, slightly chubby lady called Su Wan and she is really very good, and it always surprises me that such a good restaurant is located in more or less the bowels of Wedding. As few restaurant critics come here, there are not many reviews of the place but you can see one on http://www.qype.co.uk/place/7406-Thailaendisches-Restaurant-Viengthai--Berlin

One more thing: as this is a 2-part dinner, if you wish, you can come just for the gallery and drinks and skip the actual dinner itself. Therefore if Thai food is not your favourite cuisine, do not worry - you are still very welcome to just come along to the gallery and view the pictures only. So if you are not coming for the Thai, drop me an email anyway so that we can know the numbers for the gallery and I will write back to confirm. There is no shortlist and no closing date for the photo gallery visit - everyone is welcome, and bring your friends/colleagues as well if you like. And if you fancy buying any pictures, Edward will be there and I am sure you can get a good price from him.

Anyway, if you want to come also for the Thai, then please note that we will be having the usual dinner club shortlist as it is not a big restaurant. And for a rather weird reason, it can also get very (very) busy and crowded once in a while - I'll explain more later. So please do let me know if you want to have the dinner at Viengthai as well as visiting the photo gallery. And as usual, only those who make the shortlist via the electronic hat will get a confirmation email with details of the dinner. Closing date for the dinner is Fri 12th Feb and all those who make the list will be notified by Mon 15th Feb latest.

Oh, and I have not been in Berlin much recently due to work issues in London but we did call to make sure that Su Wan will be cooking on the night, and she is! :o)

See you all soon!

Chris

How it went on the night...

Annoyingly, there were quite a few no-shows (around 8 people cancelled on the day), which meant that we had to bear the burden of changing the arrangements at the restaurant at the last minute. I have to do something about this.

The gallery was pretty neat and we all had a nice drop of wine or two while admiring the cool pictures from Cuba. It also developed into a discussion about cameras, so it was quite interesting. Finally, around a quarter to eight, we moseyed out in a convoy fashion to the cars and U-Bahn and made our way to ViengThai. I am glad we ordered the starters beforehand as it gave provided much needed sustenance after the cold and it made the wait for the dinner much easier. The food was, as usual, very good, especially the red duck curry and the rather unusual steamed fish in egg. It was so unusual and nice that it got passed around (as it was a huge portion) and everyone who tasted it liked it too. Service was really quite efficient and friendly so I think we all had a great evening. Like I said, this is one of my favourites Thai restaurants in Berlin, and they know me well enough ro bring out my usual bowl of chopped chillies

After the dinner, despite strident suggestions from someone (who shall be nameless), nobody strolled across the road to the Thai Fun (Massage) Bar, where often most of the clientele for the ViengThai would come from. At least, mercifully, they didn't make it this evening - perhaps they were too busy as I guess there must be a lot of ups and downs (and ins and out) in their kind of business.