A fragrant feast

Visitors to the House of no. 4711 can now enjoy a unique flavour experience – a four-course menu with fragrance oils to match. Served in the sumptuous surroundings of the new museum, this is a feast not only for the eyes but also – unique in Cologne – for the fine nose! We went along to try it out.

Everyone knows what the number 4711 stands for: the “original eau de cologne”, famous far beyond the city that gave it its name. It’s a global brand with a distinctive fragrance, whose composition was created in Cologne back in 1792 and remains a closely guarded secret even today. The recently refurbished “House of no. 4711” (Dufthaus) in Glockengasse is truly a place of discovery, with history dripping from the walls.
The team at 4711 have recently introduced a new way for visitors to experience the brand – using their sense of taste as well as their sense of smell. Sound difficult to imagine? Well, shop manager Monika Hadrys and chef Alexander Eisenmenger from cocina móvil have found a way to incorporate the fragrance’s ingredients into a range of exquisite dishes. And they present the results in a superb four-course fragrance feast.

However, before the guests can take their seats, they are greeted by Monika Hadrys on the ground floor with a glass of 4711 crémant. She gives them a rundown of the most important facts about the brand and the history of 4711, before they move on to the museum on the first floor.
A long, festive-looking table awaits them as they arrive in a magnificent room, with classical music providing the backdrop. The walls are adorned with posters illustrating the creativity of the advertising campaigns for the fragrance in years gone by.

One look at the menu is enough to see that Monika Hadrys and Alexander Eisenmenger have put a lot of thought into the idea. The special feature of the menu is that the guests are served fragrance samples of the dishes’ ingredients before each course arrives.
For the starter, that means bitter orange and basil. On the plate, this takes the form of a herb tart accompanied by kumquat and lentil salad. This is followed by a chicken consommé and scallops, preceded by lemon as the corresponding ingredient. It’s amazing how your taste buds recognise the ingredients you smelt beforehand – a perfect symbiosis of smell and taste!

One of the highlights of the fragrance feast, not unexpectedly, is the main course. Lavender and rosemary feature here, with a mouth-watering beef medallion harmonising perfectly with a lavender crust, rosemary jus and layered potato cake. And, of course, no dining experience is complete without something naughty to round it off. A chocolate and orange cake provides the perfect end to the menu. That liquid centre – to die for!
Good food should, of course, be accompanied by good wine. So wine merchant Frank Schillings from Vinevent Weinhandel is on hand to offer recommendations.

So, if you’re looking to discover the world of 4711 – with all your senses – the “fragrance menu” is exactly what you’re looking for! It costs 95 euros per person for four courses and is currently available to book on the following dates:

9 November 2019
7 December 2019

More dates to be added.

It is also possible to book the fragrance menu for private events for groups of 20 or more.

This blog post is the result of a commercial agreement with MÄURER & WIRTZ GmbH & Co. KG and contains advertising content.