Happy New Year!

After a year of wonderful and less wonderful meals, it is time to lean back and share some thoughts after, well, after a short night full of delicious food, delicious wines and nice company. We ended the event by having some delicious “Berliner” which are jam-filled doughnuts traditionally eaten at NYE and around Karneval (Mardi Gras) – taking this simple shot took me so long that I cannot publish on Jan 1, grrr…

Berliner for NYE

This will not be a meal of the year post – here Steve from OA has done a tremendous job in writing to chefs, restaurants, food writers and bloggers around the globe and asking them for meal of the year and most potential. I am honoured being part of the poll and named Christian Bau at Schloss Berg as my meal of the year and Filip Claeys from De Jonkman in Brugge of showing the most potential. Bau was named three times which is remarkable for a German restaurant! Congrats! The full results can be seen here and here. I just have to add that my very recent meal at Amador with Steve was on par with Schloss Berg.

2008 as a foodie

This was a fantastic year for me personally – I finally started High-End Food after some months of thinking about the right concept and, after a couple of months of blogging, have received quite some traffic. It’s good to know that someone is actually interested in what I write and try to bring across. So, there I am in the Web2.0 and have to say that long-tail works, it even brings people together from around the globe who are crazy about food and invest their time in fine dining blogs. It was a pleasure of meeting both Julot and Steve this year in person and being in email contact with many others.

“Normal” people often ask me why I am writing a blog like this besides being part of a community sharing the same interest (I am somehow at home at last).

• It is a continuous learning process about chefs’ philosophies and approaches and, the best thing is, the quest never ends. Even after every three star place has been experienced you can start over:-) For me, I find that intellectually stimulating…
• Together with the other fine-dining bloggers we are a small lobby for fine dining which is so important for society. If we can get more and younger people interested in fine dining, especially by bringing across that there is nothing elitist and fine dining can also be enjoyed in relaxed casual settings, then we have contributed a bit…
• Personally, I like to talk and discuss with chefs and am honoured when my five cents have some weight…
• Very seldom I have experienced the savvy diner phenomenon

So, what did I encounter on my quest in 2008? What were my “trends” in high-end dining in 2008?

• The Bistronomia approach is fascinating and in Barcelona concepts like Gresca or Embat are an already “established” way of presenting high-end cuisine at very reasonable prices in a relaxed bistro atmosphere.
• Molecular techniques are getting more and more integrated into cooking – there are only a few pure “molecular” restaurants around the globe besides el Bulli. Personally I like the term techno-emotional cuisine (coined by Pau Arenós) because it captures the essence of evoking emotions by using all available techniques. Some also make dining a feast for all senses… Imaginary landscapes of Quique Dacosto are a next frontier but does not seem to be have broad-scale influence (clear because as you invent your own landscape, whatever it ist, it will be regarded as a copy of Dacosta’s style). It will be interesting to see where the development goes…
• The crisis, well the crisis. In a yesterday’s new years poll in Germany 70% of the people said they would spend less on dining out the next year. Since October the lunch reservations and also corporate events have gone down quite significantly across the board (there are a few exemptions, yes). December was not a good indicator as the Christmas/New Year’s business is overcompensating. Looking ahead I could think this could be a big chance of re-thinking the positioning of the restaurants and coming up with innovative ideas to keep customers (CRM!!) and/or to gain new customers. The outcome will leave the culinary landscape improved. That’s Schumpeter’s idea of creative destruction and innovation;-)
• Local products are finding their way on the menu cards more and more – I just didn’t come across a real Blue Hill at Stone Barns here in Germany. Given the crisis this could be very well one means to differentiate…
• Germany is getting more and more attention, foodies are beginning to plan trips to Germany:-) Julot was one of the first to experience Winkler in Aschau, Grainer, Amador and Bau and agrees that the level of cooking is consistently very high. Trine had been to Facil and Margaux in Berlin and Aiste visited a couple of places in Berlin. Andy Hayler toured Germany for a couple of days and also praises the very high standard in fine dining here. Last but not least I had the pleasure of dining at Bau and Amador with Steve and he did quite like Amador!

Wishes (no, not an itinerary) for 2009

• noma, finally…  I will try to do other restaurants as well – like Paustian (Bo Bech), MR, Geranium. I hope to meat Trine for dinner during my stay… (the only planned and booked trip so far).
• Revisit Sven Elverfeld at Aqua and bring you a recent report on the lastest three star chef in Germany
• Experience Nils Henkel at Schlosshotel Lerbach who took over from the formidable Dieter Müller in February 2008
• Fat Duck
• Paris – I need to do Gagnaire, Astrance and some others
• Tokyo – oh my God
• New York

Happy Eating, Dear Fello-Foodies! Lots of Fantastic Meals!