Ambiente 2009

The new desire for fine dining

Crisis? What crisis? – This seems to be what visitors to the Arzberg exhibition stand at this year’s Ambiente in Frankfurt/Main in Germany were thinking: the atmosphere was wonderful. And the food simply delicious – as you’d expect when top chef Kolja Kleeberg (who owns the Vau restaurant in Berlin) is cooking! He served his dishes on porcelain from top designer Peter Schmidt’s Form 2006 collection: “I serve food in my own restaurant on this porcelain – it’s hugely flexible in the way it can be used,” says Kleeberg, beaming as he dishes up: baked cod branade with fennel and caviar, medium rare saddle of veal with salsa verde and hazelnuts, warm lentil salad with black pudding and kebabs of prawns and octopus with guacamole and olive tapenade.

And it wasn’t just for the cookery demonstration on 14 February that the Arzberg stand saw plenty of visitors. We recorded increased numbers of visitors on every day of the show, and the response to the trends and collections was unwaveringly positive. Retailers in particular, who in turbulent times such as these need reliable partners and a coherent image throughout the collections, welcomed the message from Azberg’s managing director Helmut Sättler: “We have a clean brand, a great team, a fantastic product and a good price-performance ratio with Made in Germany.”

The trend towards greater indulgence and style continues unabated. The new desire for fine dining – now more than ever!