FoodNet

The gourmet's guide to Europe

1903

Page 121

Presented as published in 1903. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
much gilt about it. The lounge is also too gorgeous for Anglo-Saxon taste. The marble there is veined purple, and green trellis, and white marble statues, and gilt vases are in too violent contrast with each other. The banqueting hall, from one wall of which a portrait of the Kaiser looks down on the guests, is a fine room with a little stage at one end. As wedding feasts often last as long as five hours, little comedies played on this stage form a welcome relief on those occasions to too much eating and too many speeches. Any habitue of the Ritz or Carlton finds himself at home at once at the Esplanade, for some of the maitres d' hotel at this restaurant have been at the other hotels of the same company, and recognise familiar faces very quickly. It pleased me to find that my liking for a table at the side in a quiet part of the room, and partiality for a short, light dinner, as well as my name, seemed to be familiar to everybody in the Esplanade restaurant as soon as I set foot inside it. Most of the meals at the Esplanade are a la carte , and the carte du jour is in German on one side and French on the other. The German clientele of the restaurant insist on a table d'hote dinner, which is priced at 6 marks, and of which this is a fair specimen. I give it in German, but it is on the menu in both that language and French : — Portugische Kraftbriihe mit Reis. Esperancesuppe. Forelle Meuniere. Rehmignonette F orestiere. Selleriepuree. Neue Kartoffeln risoles. Poularde gebraten. Salat. Stangenspargel, Hollandische Sauce Erdbeeren-Halbgefrorenes. Feines Backwerk. Kase. Berlin 221 The Esplanade has a pleasant little grill-room, and no doubt somewhere in its great corridors there is an American bar. The restaurant of the Adlon Hotel, the windows of which look out on to the Pariserplatz, is mightily gorgeous with marble and gilding. The Hotel Adlon hotel is owned by the well-known wine Unter den merchants, from whom it takes its Linden name. The great hall of the hotel looks like the museum of a millionaire, so many beautiful things have been collected there. There are some beautiful works of art from Japan, a wonderful clock, a wonder- ful staircase, cream marble pillars with bronze capitals, magnificent carpets, Venetian mosaics, fine furniture, a large bust of the Kaiser in coloured marbles, a magnificent fountain, but if there were fewer beauti- ful things and less magnificence it would be in better taste. The view of the little garden seen through the back entrance is, however, charming. It is the latest expression of the Teutonic desire to possess the most gorgeous hotels on the Continent, and it is just a little overdone. French grey is the colour of the liveries of the outdoor servants. The waiters in the restaurant press on Americans and Britons the carte du jour, but there are very good and cheap table d'hote meals. Dejeuners , 3 marks ; dinners, 6 marks ; and suppers, 5 marks. The restaurant is all old gold and pink and white and green marble. The Kaiser took much interest in the building of this hotel, and in 1907 paid M. Bodart, the chef, the compliment of visiting his kitchen. The Adlon has a grill-room in the Raffael-Saal, and its orchestra plays during and after dinner.