Pop-ups sometimes appear and then disappear again. The locations are usually unexpected and have that certain kick. So why not sit in the wine warehouse and experience a slightly different evening of enjoyment from the preparation kitchen? Last year, the idea of offering a French menu in many small courses with matching wines from France and from the French (by birth even: Parisian) Saxon winemaker Frédéric Fourré premiered in the "Salon Silbermöwe" at Gräfe's Wein&fein. We liked it, and other guests obviously did too: despite two additional dates (in the larger bistro), the pop-up was fully booked long before the cooking star hours began. How good it was that we had booked in good time!
It's all about the right suppliers
"I'm also working through personal traumas today," confessed Gräfe, revealing that he was the loser of the boeuf bourguignon battle held at his bistro years ago. "Frédéric gave my performance zero points because I deconstructed it. And Monsieur Fourré gave me zero points!" So now, in the Salon Silbermöwe, as the pop-up in the Gräfes Wein & fein drinks store is also called because of the kitsch figure standing around (seagull with scarf, how cute), we had the master's boeuf bourguignon for the main course. A classic that warms the heart! And part of everyday French cuisine, just like the other dishes of the evening, because even if it sounds outlandish or complicated (lobster in a terrine! Foie gras between the brioche halves! Kouignette with Roscoff onion marmalade!), it doesn't have to be. Because of course you don't have to make everything yourself, you just have to know where to get it in high quality. The terrine, for example, is made by a company in Brittany - which is also where the oysters come from, if there are any... The duck foie gras from Gascony was sandwiched between two slices of a cute little brioche from Nancy. Of course, it doesn't always have to be France - the Wohlfahrt family from the Upper Palatinate have been suppliers of the best cheese and butter for years! Origin is important: it has to be good - and together, if you pimp it a little in the kitchen, it's simply so that people sum it up in one word: delicious.
