Saturday 3 February 2024

Snowed overnight which was a bit of a surprise as it was clear blue sky yesterday. Tonight is the Chaine des Rotisseurs Helsinki Chapitre Gala Dinner, to be held at the Scandic Grand Central Hotel.

Lady P scrubs up well in her colourful dress and asks “Is my hair ok?” she does this often as the beanie flattens the rooster spikes and the soft water has a similar effect. Flashy can’t tell the difference so says, “lovely, dear.”

An Uber arrives on time and we take our good shoes in a bag, don the runners with spikes and head off to the National Theatre for the Intronisation Ceremony. This is where the new members are inducted with the ancient ceremony (no goats here!) of the sword tap on the shoulder by the king. Our ‘king’ the International President, is coming from Paris for the event and due to the strike on Friday, is delayed by 30 minutes.

As he arrives, all the Baillis (that’s me - regional and local presidents) form  a line and march onto the stage heralding the arrival of our esteemed commander, to the accompaniment of a trumpeter.

All the men are in tuxedos. Flashy’s red coat obviously stands out! Champagne is served after the ceremony, then we all walk the short distance to the hotel, this time in dress shoes, so it’s hold on tight and walk slowly.

There are 220 guests for the dinner and it is a wonderful sight to see all men fully compliant to dress standards in dinner suits. No hipsters without socks, smart arses in lounge suits or bogans in open neck coloured shirts. Flashy is the only coloured jacket in the room. Easy to see who the foreigner is. But nonetheless, his dress attire is complimented by many.

Then there is the Grand Ballroom with 25 round tables, draped in white with seven glasses per setting and all silverware, perfectly set. The staff are mostly hospitality students, with their trainers and all are perfectly attired in their black and whites and there’s a lot of them.

More Champaign on arrival. As predicted, we are on the head table with the International President and his delightful daughter, the Finland National Bailli Delegue (National President), my counterpart the Bailli of Helsinki along with the National Charge de Presse and her engaging wife.

It was a great table, with much conversation in English. The Finns are a reserved lot when you first meet them. But not so the Chaine. The common bond of the International confiere of food and wine gourmet degustateurs makes for a lively and truly friendly welcome.

The dinner was certainly to Chaine standards. Excellently prepared, presented and served over six courses, starting with the anuse, which came out on a bent silver spoon.

I bet chef will get curry from the boss when he sees how many spoons he had to heat up and bend! The artichoke mousse amuse was served with Champagne Bonvalet Eponee Brut en Magnum, which was an excellent choice.

The second course was smoked burbot. A ugly, slimy looking, slow growing Arctic fish, which is highly regarded and very seasonal. Amazing flavour of light smoke accompanied by a pickled lettuce salad and served with blush Champagne Bonvalet Marpesia Brut. All very French in the execution.

That’s the opening batting and so far, we are travelling pretty well. Chefs should take note. The portion size was perfect. More is not better. As we move on to the next course, Flashy looks at the menu to see the wine selection for the remainder of the meal.

Our Echanson (wine master) is from the Helsinki Bailliage and she is also a Master of Wine (MW), which given the study involved, is pretty impressive.

The third course was wild mushroom soup comprising chanterelle field mushrooms in filo, along with mushroom broth and very Finnish in the ingredient selection and beautifully balanced. Flashy was over the moon to be offered the la Gitana Manzanilla Pasada Pastrana DO Manzanilla Sherry with the soup. No so much my dining companions, though. They don’t appreciate Sherry like Flashy.

A great (and as my fellow wine masters will attest), a brave move with the Sherry.

Then comes the main course. Remember, it’s -1c outside and the kitchen is out the back BBQ’ing the fillet of beef – perfectly cooked and presented with French beans and bordelaise sauce and a leaf of onion with a spoon of hot chestnut puree. Again, a very French interpretation. This was served with a magnificent Rioja  red – Remelluri Reserva 2015 DOCA Rioja.

The cheese course was an Ossay-Iraty Grande Reserve with a cherry compote and more of the Rioja wine.

The dessert was served in a stemless wine glass so all aspects were visible. A white chocolate bavarois, and a local buckthorn berry curd and apple marinated in lemon verbena was pretty stunning and the accompanying sticky a Telmo Rodriquez MR 2019 DO Malaga was perfect. Coffee and petit fours finished the night.

Grand Ballroom

Chef bent this spoon!

Burbot fish etc

Mushroom soup

Beef fillet

Flashy and Lady P

The amazing dessert

Lady P didn't finish her wines

Flashy did

The menu

Sunday 4 February 2024

Caught a bus to the airport and a ATR 72 twin turbo 80 seater to Stockhlom. Then a bus and taxi to the old town to our BnB digs on the 6^th floor. Crazy place with basic to no facilities but a comfortable bed and cheap for four nights.

Monday 5 February

Having slept well, we walk to the bottom of the old city wall and join 11 others on a free walking tour of the Old Town, conducted by a young university student. We spend a pleasant hour and a half picking out the historical sights, “donate” 200 kroner on his suggestion and adjourn to the nearest café for a wine and gloogi. It’s -2c but my goodness, it feels like -15c. Must be the wind off the icy river.

Our BnB has shit internet. My phone is connected – much good that does as I do nothing by phone except text and oh yes ..make a PHONE call  sometimes.  Lady P sends the owner a stern email.

Re-rugged and re-layered, we then head off to do the Vasa museum, which houses the Swedish warship “Vasa” of 1600 something, which sank 10 minutes after launching in the harbour to much laughter, amusement and the sad loss of 30 lives. A bit top heavy they think. Luckily the King, harbormaster and designer were in Poland at the time, so the subsequent inquiry delivered no findings.

In an amazing engineering feat, some guy found the wreck and they raised it in tact. Treated and preserved it and displayed it in an excellent museum for all of us to enjoy. Flashy was particularly taken by the canons. Good 4 inchers they were, with some wicked shot still preserved.

Back home via a cocktail bar, to a gin and tonic only to discover we could get wifi in the apartment and didn’t have to hack into the burger joint next door, which we were ready to do, with their password taken from a sign on their table. Less said the better!

Some more phots for your amusement and some interesting Swedish facts to follow tomorrow.

Scandi lunch

St George slaying the dragon. It's a Swedish legend and you thought it was English.