Wines & Messing

An extract from the late Patrick Walker’s journal describes an exchange between him and the Club Chef back in the 1960s…. “It all started when Robin Long, Peter Fisher and I enjoyed a good lunch at the Oriental Club before interviewing an English applicant for the post of Chef – not for the first or last time, food quality at MCC had deteriorated. Backgammon was then all the rage at Muthaiga, and we were perhaps influenced by an indication that the candidate’s most personable wife was a player of some renown in London. This did not make up for continuing deficiencies on the culinary front and the Messing Committee was on the cusp of making a further change, when there was an incident at dinner that started with a truly inedible Escalope de Veau. The chef was summoned and it was explained to him, politely I believe, that such an offering would have been more suitably employed as the sole of one of Messrs Bata’s better-known products. This was met with the suggestion, offered in anything but a conciliatory tone, that I should, well, go forth and multiply. Perhaps it was the glint in my eye, but there was a rapid retreat towards the kitchen and it is with a sense of shame that I admit to setting off in equally rapid pursuit. When asked where I had hit him, my answer - that it was somewhere between the pot wash and the still room - was apparently regarded as facetious. In truth there had been little more than an unseemly wrestle before I found myself helpless in the soft but powerful arms of Benjamin the pastry cook, he who was so fond of his own product that he must have weighed upwards of three hundred pounds. Thus it was that the Chef, who had been on the take, was able to improve his exit terms, while I endured some five years in the wilderness and acquired an undeserved reputation for violence.” Patrick Walker

CULINARY CAPERS As representatives of the Luxembourg team (pictured right) Chefs Macharia and Ombete were the first Kenyans ever to take part in the International Catering Competition and they managed, not only to secure a Bronze medal at the regional competitions, but also to qualify Kenya for the Culinary World Cup in 2022 where they will compete with the world’s very best chefs. Written here (left) is one of many MCC vignettes from Patrick’s memoirs, recorded faithfully in his inimitable style, but things have changed since those days and Patrick was the first to acknowledge the culinary improvements, both in variety and quality that the MCC catering teams achieve today. Between informal instruction working alongside our Visiting Chefs, and following a formal Training & Development Programme, the culinary repertoire created by the MCC chefs has reached international levels. As part of the Training & Development Programme, Executive Chef Joseph Macharia and Pastry Chef Vincent Ombete recently went to Lyon, the gastronomic centre of France, to participate in the prestigious International Catering Competition, alongside numerous Michelin Star chefs. Upon his return to Kenya, Chef Macharia was keen to try out his newly learned recipes and ten lucky Members were able to sample a “Taste of Lyon” which was the theme for the Tasting Menu for November, in the main MCC kitchen.

COMPETITION

Question: Who is this woman and what was she doing in Kenya? Prize: The first correct entry that we receive will win dinner for two with a bottle of House Wine in either Pinks or the Club Dining Room. Please send your answers to communications@mcc.co.ke

Answer to our Sept – Nov 2021 Competition

QUESTION: Who is this young man and what year was he in Kenya? ANSWER: Kermit Roosevelt 1909, official photographer for the Smithsonian expedition to East Africa. WINNER: There were no correct answers. DID YOU KNOW?

Following the end of his service as President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt led an Expedition to East Africa with his son, Kermit. The Smithsonian Museum funded the Expedition, in return for approximately 1,000 skins of large mammals, 4,000 of small mammals, and other specimens totaling approximately 11,400 items, which the expedition collected. About 10,000 plant specimens were also obtained, as well as a small collection of ethnological objects. The party left New York on 23 March 1909 and sailed for British East Africa. Following a route that took them to Nairobi, Mount Kenya, the Loita Plains, Lake Victoria, Lake Albert and up the Nile to Khartoum, the expedition ended there in March 1910. The official photographer for the expedition was Kermit Roosevelt.