berlin dinner club | past events

 

Shark snack food dinner, 18th July 2003

Well, I must think that everyone who was there would agree that June's dinner was a gastronomic success, at least in quantity terms, and the Rote Kreuz had to use only 4 stomach pumps in the end, and only one of us could even look at a doner kebab imbiss afterwards. And now we also all know what a complete whole (cooked) zander looks like. Never seen one before. And it was delicious. So, with all your kind permissions, I thought we'll pursue the maritime (fish) theme a little more for July.

Well, you must all be aware that while the whole world's human population is growing, the population of maritime creatures is decreasing, due to over-fishing and pollution. Except for squid. There's now more squid in the seas than you can wave a stick at, and probably even more than that (and they are now also the main staple food for big fish such as sharks in many areas). Interesting fact and I bet a lot of you didn't know this. Neither did I, until I did some research about the Year of the Turtle. In fact, you can now go on squid fishing trips off Hong Kong, where they'll also cook on-board the squid you've just caught so you can eat it straightaway. I must say that really sounds yummy!

Which brings us around to July's dinner. No, we're not eating squid, at least, not a lot of it, at least, not as much as big fish like sharks. But we're going to try some of the other food that sharks snack on, and that is, raw fish. But raw fish done very tastefully, with rice and seaweed and other condiments. Yep, you got it. We're going to a cool little Japanese sushi bar where you'll all be perched on stools in front of one of the prettiest (and longest) (and smallest) seawater aquariums in Berlin right in front of your table. That's so you can remind yourself of what you're eating. And the sushi comes along in little boats that float in a little stream around the table in front of the circular aquarium, so you only have to stab one person (the one sitting on your right) to grab the food off the next boat.

I know a lot of people are probably thinking, raw fish! yeech! yuk! and all that. But it's an experience if you've never tried it before, and if you have, well, you're probabaly now an expert at stabbing people with chopsticks and nabbing the sushi. All I can say is that it was really easy for me to like sushi from the very first time, as easy as falling off a bicycle. Anyway, I won't force you, if you're not too keen on trying shark snack food, BUT I have arranged for each and every person's sushi food bill to get a whopping 40% discount, compared to the regular prices. So you can eat as much sushi as you want, with the knowledge that everyone else in the restaurant not in our group is paying almost twice as much for THEIR regular sushi. Now that's a nice warm feeling, isn't it? :o)

The dinner is at I-Ke-Su Sushi Bar on Uhlandstrasse 157, and the date is the evening of Friday 18th July. As usual, all the people that make the dinner list will get a follow-up email telling you where and when to meet for drinks before dinner. I'm not planning for a lot of people as the place isn't that big anyway, so around 8-10 persons would be fine. Not much more, anyway. So if you want to know the secret why sharks love raw tuna and raw salmon, send me an email asap to chris@berlindinnerclub.com or live forever with the knowledge that you'll never know what it's like to be a big fish.

Chris