Krug’s Institute of Happiness

Posted by winesleuth in Champagne | 0 comments

Anything with Krug makes me happy so imagine my delight when I was invited to the Krug Institute of Happiness early last December.

Arriving at the (literally) glass house where we were to dine, I was ushered past the front door and upstairs to the open plan kitchen where Chef Nuno Mendes and his chefs were preparing our appetizers. Nuno has teamed up with Krug to create dishes that he feels take inspiration from Krug champagne.

The concept of the evening, to immerse in all things pleasurable – from dining point of view. Kicking off with the Krug Grande Cuvee flowing and a selection of music chosen by us the guests, the glass house was a fun place to drink in not only the Krug but the action in the kitchen as well. Nuno invited us to participate in the prep but we all demurred in favour of more champagne. As a surprise, the head of the house, Olivier Krug was there to chat with us about his family and the champagne while we nibbled on some rather interesting food coming from the kitchen.

We then moved into the dining room where we were treated to some amazing dishes. We started with cured lobster in a spring onion consomme paired with the 1998 Krug. The sweetness of the lobster really shining in this dish. Halibut with Seaweed sofrito was paired with the Krug 2000 and the main was a very cleverly put together dish of wood pigeon buried under fallen autumn leaves, the whole thing entirely edible. The wood pigeon was served with the Krug rose which all by itself was treat but to be paired with a meal, even better. That rose was complex and very – rosy, for lack of a better word. I do adore rose and Krug’s is one of the best.

Throughout the evening, the Krug was free flowing and there was a piano man to play our favourite songs. At one point,  one of the guests jumped up and started singing along to one of his requests. One wall of the dining room was a top to bottom window and when it started to snow unexpectedly, you really had to wonder if the folks at Krug had somehow engineered the snow to fall as if on cue.

All too soon, the “carriages” arrived and it was time to go home. It was however, a most enjoyable evening. I mean honestly, an evening of Chef Nuno Mendes’ food paired with all things Krug, served in an amazing glass house. That has to be certainly one of the more unique experiences I’ve had here in London.

I was invited to the first Institute of Happiness but I hope it won’t be the last one they present.  The event was priced at £220 per person and included chauffeured transportation to and from the event. For more information regarding future events, visit their website.

Prior to the event, we had to fill out a questionnaire regarding what makes us happy. One of the questions was, what is your favourite sweet? I was expecting the dessert to be some sort of variation on that, so I jotted down, Snickers bar (I do love one now and then). The dessert was nothing of the sort and I was a bit disappointed so imagine my delight when I slipped my hand into my coat pocket on the way home and found a Snickers candy bar – whimsy mingled with surprise and delight, a touching way to end the night….