The HK$12,000 Dinner: Gaddi's Celebrates Its Longevity With One-Night-Only Menu And Wines From The 1970s

Words by Gavin Yeung

September 15, 2021

Cover Limousin veal Prince Orloff and gratin Dauphinoise with white Piedmont truffle (Photo: The Peninsula)

The 68-year-old fine dining institution goes big this October as it transports guests back to its gilded heyday with food, wine, music and a history education

Put the lighter away for one moment—before you start burning your boatloads of cash, first consider the Gastronomic Memories one-night-only dinner at The Peninsula's longstanding European restaurant, Gaddi's, due to take place on October 7. Held in recognition of the fine dining institution's remarkable 68-year run, the dinner is all about numbers, especially the whopping HK$10,888 price tag per head, which, with a 10 percent service charge, puts it just HK$23 shy of the HK$12,000 mark.

Gaddi's in the modern day (left) and back in the 1970s (right). Photo courtesy of The Peninsula.

For all that moolah, you'll get six courses by the venerable chef de cuisine Albin Gobil that cast a nostalgic eye back at the refined French fare served at Gaddi's back in the 1970s; each dish will be paired with a rare bottle from the same decade, as selected by sommelier Felix Law.

Among the gilded dishes are Brittany turbot Argenteuil roasted in a fig leaf with matelote sauce, whose smokiness makes for a natural pairing with the 1975 Château Mouton Rothschild Pauillac; and the Limousin veal Prince Orloff and gratin Dauphinoise with white Piedmont truffle, carved tableside with a glass of full-bodied 1970 Château L'Évangile Pomerol (Double Magnum).

Above The Limousin veal Prince Orloff is carved tableside (Photo: The Peninsula)

On this trip into nostalgia, guests on the night will also be privy to a six-part presentation that covers the restaurant's long history, from Leo Gaddi—the magnanimous general manager of The Peninsula who the restaurant was named after—and much-loved maître d'hôtel Rolf Heiniger, to an accounting of the former ballroom's opulent interiors and the awarding of its first Michelin star in 2019.

What's more, a live jazz band will immerse guests in the sounds of the '70s as they play a curation of songs from Live at Gaddi's, the 1966 album by the restaurant's resident jazz band of that era, The Keymen.

Above The original 'Live at Gaddi's' vinyl record by The Keymen (Photo: The Peninsula)

To commemorate a very expensive night, guests will be gifted a copy of the limited-edition book The Story of Gaddi's, as well as a professionally-shot portrait by a photographer-instructor from the Leica Akademie.

Speaking as to why some might be willing to splash out 12 big ones on a night at Gaddi's, The Peninsula's group executive chef Florian Trento says, "It is difficult to explain to people who haven’t been to Gaddi’s how it is not just another restaurant serving fine French cuisine. People underestimate the emotional attachment to Gaddi’s... that first dance, the proposals. It has meant so much to so many people and families over the decades. After all, how many other fine dining restaurants can claim they have been around for almost 70 years?”

If you're willing to take the plunge, book your table by calling +852 2696 6763, or via email at diningphk@peninsula.com.

Gaddi's

Tsim Sha Tsui

$ $ $ $