This post is also available in: Български (Bulgarian)
I’m basically a person, who is extremely hard to be surprised… mostly because whatever happens to me I’m expecting it..one way or another. Imagine my reaction when I received an invitation to the opening of the 5th Gastronomic Festival in Premier Hotel in Bansko.
It souded unreal!
And if I have to be honest, only when I got there I realized what actually is happening to me. Something, that changed my outlook of life in a wonderful way.
In this and the next post I will tell you about the incredible moments, which they gave us at the beginning of this festival.
As you might guess from the title, this year the event is organized for the fifth time. Host, as I mentioned, is Hotel Premier Luxury Mountain Resort, and the idea – 3world-famous and a couple of bulgarian chefs from the culinary scene to show what an amazing art can be cooking actually.
(More information can be found at their official website, and their Facebook page.)
So… the opening party was on November 4, Friday. We arrived at the hotel around 7 o’clock in the evening and we had about an hour to make ourselves pretty. I did not expect anything special. So maybe that’s why my second shock was the surprise of the accommodation. The staff was very kind and helpful, and my room was mindblowing. Here is the moment to say, I visit the hotel for 2nd time. The previous was on December 8 last year and the way they treated us made a great impression back then aswell.
On the table in the living room for me there were fruits and wine with compliments from the hotel, and on the nightstand – delicious candy with sweet note for Goodnight.
20:00 was the start of the evening. The cozy atmosphere of the hall and it’s magical appearance helped perfectly the whole experience.
Great surprise for the evening were the delicious dishes, prepared by chef Alex Alexiev. The combinations, that he had prepared were unique and frankly I would never have thought of such ones. Some of them were his favorite beets.. caviar, different types of fish, cancer, shrimp, cheese… and whatnot. Even flowers and gold, for God’s sake!
Unfortunately I can not recite the ingredients of the meals, although, Alex Alexiev was kind enough to portray his entire menu, but instead I will show you how attractive and extremely beautiful they looked.
For the desserts, however, I can speak a little more. Macaroons, meringues and, oh God. .so much sugar! The whole table was like diabetes in cups, but nobody had anything against it. :D Макароните, for example, are a big weakness of mine. I’ve tried the unbelievably tasty Laduree ones in Paris, so therefore I was quite critical of them. Their gentle and unobtrusive flavor, however, erased any thought of comparison.
The combination of meringues and berries was magical.
But here comes the moment of me totally melting. the chocolate cake was so juicy and surprisingly for me, the honey, used as a basis, fitted perfectly.
The small balls, that you see on the photos are the most delicious cheesecake, I’ve tried in my life. It was so creamy, sweet, spreading over all sensors in the oral cavity, that right here I was totally sold.
At the party was also the manager of the chain of hotels, of which is part Premier, Vasiliki Karalioliou. Amazing woman. In the moment, when you meet her it gets clear why the hotel is so different from all the rest, that we are used to. Her ideas to do everything with heart, to put emotion and to try to touch the person in front of you with it, especially with special treatment, impressed me. Her desire to provide not just a room to stay, but whole experience, which will remain a memory for the rest of your life is what, is missing in so many hoteliers in the world. Is missing in so many people in general..
It was an incredible night. Thanks to this event I met even more wonderful creatures, like the bloggers Denina Martin, Vanina Hadjiyska, Sophie Yotova, Anna Dinkova.. amazing people, filled with dreams and aspiration to achieve them.. I missed this feeling and I am very grateful to them, for reminding it to me.
At the party came the special guest of the next evening – chef Jordi Esteve. More about him, and about his dishes – I will share in my next post. :)
I really liked the idea of the event organizers to use hashtag #eatThatArt for the photos from it. The dishes, I saw and those, coming ahead are definitely an incredible art!
I was speechless after such night. This is the first gourmet event, I attend and it was so amazing, that certainly everyone should experience something like this in his life.. once or even several times. For me I would say, it is now the beginning of a new love. :)
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Little information about photos:
Photographer of the pictures with logo: Iosifina Svania
The others + post processing, are mine. :)
What do you think?