Modern art and gin, gatecrashing Microsoft party in Berlin

12Nov/090

Just a quick thank you to the kind folks at Microsoft for the free Bombay Sapphire gin and tonics at the Solar lounge bar in Berlin last night. Launching Windows 7 is surely an event to be proud of, but equally the hospitality extended to myself and colleagues was very much appreciated.

The negotiation from the group was quite outstanding. I am still amazed at how we got past the huge bouncer with the "I have Microsoft on my computer" in poor German, and proceeded to the 17th floor in a glass lift to enjoy the party.

Below is a video of us travelling up in the lift [note, YouTube video to be upload].

Views across the former West and East Berlin at night was spectacular and certainly you found yourself pointing at the glowing lights and architecture of this buzzingcity.

But fingers were also being pointed at the colleague wearing an eBay branded shirt. Honestly, how did this guy get in? We're still keen to find out how many Microsoft employees approached him and asked why he was at the party. I'm certain he did not respond with "Ich habe Microsoft auf meinem Computer".

This bar was pretty swanky, but the price of the drinks were pretty wanky. 2 gin and tonics was €17, around £15. But when asked for the next round if they were on the "tab", how could you refuse that opportunity.

Maybe all the beer at the Modern Art of Asia (MAOA) restaurant in Berlin was to blame for feeling a bit "tired" this morning, or leaving Solar at 2am (I think). This and early starts for a taxi ast 8am to the office (7am UK time) don't mix.

The restaurant was brilliant. It was an asian restaurant, but the real uniqueness was the fact that you get a bowl, choose a marinade, and then go fill up your bowl with the food you want the chef to stir fry up. Child in a candy shop comes to mind. It was "eat as much as you want", and customers can fill their bowls with as much or little as they want.

It was clear that the vast selection of vegetables on display, noodles, bean sprouts, etc was evidence that you could mix and match the food in line with the marinade you had selected. The key was when you got to the end of the line, and saw the selection of meat and fish.

OMG. First choice for me was kangeroo and osterich, with a base of bean sprouts, mixed peppers and a healthy spoon of chillies. The marinade was fennel and garlic, but couldn't taste any of this as my mouth was burning up.

Having to run at a slower pace of eating and drink more beer was the only way to cope with this. Then when it was bearable, I dived into the 2nd dish and went for some pork and chicken. Finally, the 3rd dish was a real treat. The king prawns would have been almost half the bowl. I had finally caught up with the eating, and the drinking was in full steam.

But the conversations only seemed to get more random with the more we drank. I remember "if you had to do a mixed music group, who would it be?" and "if you could be a fictional character who would be be, and which fictional bar would you drink at?". I remember someone mentioned the Corrs, get the brother out the way first. But by the time of leaving Solar, whoever asked "The Queen, would ya?" should've been shot.