11. December 2011: Pret A Diner by Adam Byatt

Definitely an experience of its own – and one worth having in your food portfolio! The evening started with some “nut butter and smoked butter with bread”. The bread was freshly baked and respectively tasteful. The two butters which were brought to the table were a dream. The nut butter tasted a bit like shortpastry, nutty but sweet. The smoked butter was luscious – you just could not stop eating it, it was that tasty.

Before the actual menu started, two amuse bouches from the kitchen were brought. It all started with “Yellow Radish with Japanese Mustard”. Although it looked pretty boring, the yellow radish with the japanese mustard was great. It tasted like regular radish but the hint of mustard made it somehow sweet and sour at the same time. Great taste experience.

The second amuse bouche was “oyster and clam shell with green spaghetti”. I am usually not a big oyster lover but frankly speaking in combination with the clam shell and the lemon juice, it was all quite tasty.

The “real” menu then began with “She can’t tell yellow from red – the aubergine just needs a bed” (red and yellow beetroot on eggplant mousse with cottage cheese) which was very delicious. The beetroots were cooked so tenderly that you were also able to eat the green. The underlying eggplant mousse was amazingly soft and fit pretty well with the cottage cheese cream and the beetroots.

The pre-main course was “Hurtful love and loving hate – bold mussels destine the seabass’s faith” (sea bass on a grilled leek with clementine mousse, seaweed and clam shells). While the grilled leek looked a bit repulsive at first, I must admit it was great. What made the whole dish luscious though was the clementine mousse as it gave the whole dish this hint of sweetness which is very unique. The seaweed completed the dish decoration-wise as it actually did not taste like much as it was grilled that crunchy it had no more own taste. The clam shells were rich and tasteful. The sea bass was nicely grilled and very tender.

To me, the truly outstanding course was “And all of a sudden they become mates – the ducks and the dates” (duck breast on au gratin potatoes with duck joint on date purree with a steamed date). The duck breast was prepared very crispy and was just delicious. The au gratin potatoes were a dream and in the middle of the potatoes there was a piece of duck joint which completed the potatoes perfectly. The duck breast and the au gratin potatoes were based on a date purree which was sweet and great in taste. The combination of the spicy, crispy duck breast with the sweet, creamy date purree was awesome, amazing, overwhelming!

The menu – up to this point cost all together EUR 68.00 which is quite a price for three courses and they are not even really big portions. But given the fact they were delicious, I have to admit that the price is okay. Still, especially for Germany, I consider EUR 68 for three courses quite a price.

One was able to choose the desert on top of the menu (accounting with EUR 9.00). The desert was “It’s bitter sweet, the end – the orange on forbidden land” (bitter chocolate mousse on orange mousse with fennel salt). The bitter chocolate mousse was great in taste but it was very intensely chocolatey – a bit too much for my personal gusto. The underlying orange mousse was very good and gave it the sweet note one would usually expect from a desert. All over the chocolate mousse they put salted fennel seeds which made the whole dish very interesting due to the combination of the sweet chocolate and the salty fennel seeds. But they did not only create a mixture of different tastes but much more also provided it with this feeling of crunchiness.

Overall, the dishes which were served in the Pret A Diner (menu by Adam Byatt, Chef of Restaurant Trinity in London) were absolutely fantastic and tasteful. Definitely worth trying to eat there. They are still in Munich until the 19th of December 2011 and will then be again in Berlin in January and February 2012, somewhen in June or July in London, but for the detailed schedule, check out the website for more detailed information about their program.

The interior of the Pret A Diner event in the Filmcasino in Munich is great – it is a lively mixture of different things, somehow classic, somehow modern, just a great mixture of very different elements – all being in a very powerful and loaded atmosphere! Already the room alone is an experience and as the bar is open to the audience without reservation, it is recommendable to go there to just have a drink in the evening as long as it resides still in Munich.

The waiter, Jean-Pierre, or JP as he wished to be called, was very friendly, helpful, providing good service (taking and bringing dishes from the correct side) and still – although he was obviously stressed – had the time to chat a bit. Overall, there is nothing to complain about the service but in the end it took them quite a bit until they brought and took the plates.

Ordering the bill ends up in getting a real book on the table – and somehwere in the book you can find your bill. Also quite a funny thing but definitely fitting the atmosphere and the whole experience.

To sum it up, the Pret A Dinner is an event you should attend if you have the chance – amazing food, great location, very good service, and all that for a price which is high but definitely worth paying. So, if you have the chance to get a reservation, get one!

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Contact Details:

Pret a Diner @Filmcasino

Odeonsplatz 8-10

80539 Munich (DE)

Tel.: +49 17 03 89 88 00 (after 4pm)

E-Mail: eat@preatadiner.com

Homepage: http://www.pretadiner.com

About the Author: Sven

I started the blog in October 2009, while living in Milan which I definitely consider to be one of the food capitals of the world. I was in touch with food since my early childhood (as my father is a former chef). Whenever I can, I travel the world to discover new places, to meet people but mostly to try local dishes and to find hidden gems! If you know a place worth going, please drop a line to: info@thediningexperience.org. Currently, I am a member of the following food-related associations: Chevalier @Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Zurich-Ville; Membre Gourmet Dégustateur @Ordre Mondial des Gourmets Dégustateurs [OMGD]; Gesellschafter @Goldener Fisch and Member @Slowfood Convivium Zurich City.