🇱🇹 Summit IX – Food & Drinks
This is a bonus issue dedicated to weather, food and drinks at the conference. For Summit's agenda, go here. PSA: from today, as our ops team goes into overdrive, please reply on WhatsApp / Telegram / Signal to reach us when needed; email access is going to be sporadic.
Weather
In the coming week, we will still be in a heat anomaly, with ☀️15C/60F in the mornings and ☀️25C/75F in the afternoons. Early on, as you walk through Old Town, a jacket or a hoodie is your best friend – especially where it's windy. Come lunchtime, though, and it's t-shirts everywhere.
To provide a bit of extra protection from the sun, we'll make the roof of the tent at the program venue opaque; and the sides will remain open at all times. In 2023 and 2022, quite a few attendees used sunglasses; if you have a pair, maybe bring them, just in case?
Dress Code
The event's dress code is 'whatever makes you comfortable' – the priority is on staying productive throughout the three days of the event.
Throughout the conference, there are just two more or less 'special' occasions:
The sit-down Industry Dinner –
And being on stage to present, if you're one of the speakers this year –
We are absolutely happy with both shirts and t-shirts, bow ties and baseball hats – there's absolutely no pressure or policy to look 'formal'. We're a creative industry, we're a diverse group of people – let's embrace it.
Drinks
One aspect of running a conference for established professionals from fifty countries is that there's no "average profile" that we could cater to – instead, we have a combination of diverse, often contradictory, preferences.
A little bit like Steam, where there's an abundance of niche communities that support vastly diverse types of content ('this game has dialogues!' can be great news for one forum, and a curse for another).
One trend that we observe is that more and more attendees switch to 0% alcohol options. Sometimes this is driven by health or sports needs; sometimes this is a response to a high-pressure environment where you have to perform at your best with clients (internal or external) based in different time zones – someone may need your advice right away.
At the same time, there's people from cultures where alcohol is incorporated in a moderate way, and whose preferences do not change: go to Rome, get out for lunch, and enjoy a glass of Piglio; visit Larnaca, and have a KEO with your village salad; fly to Hamburg, and take an Astra with your backfisch at Fischpfanne – in these cases, the drinks are a part of the overall experience.
All of this to say that in 2024, we worked to diversify the drinks offering in a number of directions, all at once – from 0% to 42%, from double espresso to decaf. Hopefully, whatever steams your boat, just got a little bit better at this ninth edition of the conference.
Espresso Bar
The Espresso Bar is back, to the right of the main stage. Come here for a single or a double espresso, or an affogato. On the occasion of suspension of ex-Twitter in Brazil, this year's coffee beans come from the country of Justice Alexandre de Moraes (🇧🇷 Daterra Blossom).
As always, espresso bar serves coffee in these handmade ceramic cups. If you wonder how thee are made, here's a gallery documenting the making of the cups for Perkins Coie's updated brand.
Coffee Corner
The Coffee Corner returns, offering Americano, Flat White, Latte and Cappuccino. This year we offer 3 kinds of beans: from 🇸🇻 El Salvador (Buena Vista), from 🇨🇴Colombia (Villa Mercedes), and a decaf from 🇧🇷 Brazil (Swiss Water Decaf, apparently a better way to decaffeinate the beans – don't ask me, ask the coffee team!).
Ice Cream
The Ice Cream Corner makes a comeback. Given the heat anomaly next week, it seems like a wise decision. We offer 3 flavors made with milk (pistachio, chocolate and vanilla) and one dairy-free sorbet (blackcurrant). The Ice Cream Bar is located right next to the Espresso Bar, which is why we're able to bring back caffè affogato this year.
Tea Station
Ernestas and his team at Tealure are happy to see you again, with the same six types of tea that we had last year: a sencha from Japan, a smoked black tea from China's Fujian Province, Assam from India, Summer White from Nepal, and two caffeine-free options: ginger and lemongrass from Thailand and Nigeria; and mountain tea (aka ironwort aka sideritis) from Greece.
Kombucha & Water Kefir
Our answer to sodas – the fermented drinks of kombucha and tibicos (water kefir) – are available from the Tea Station at all time.
🍊 Juice Bar
This is a new feature that grew out of Fenwick's ginger shots (you may recall that some years ago, when we did branded goodies for all the sponsors, Fenwick's choice was a set of healthy shots). Those were so popular, that we kept thinking about adding juices to the menu ever since.
In 2023, we couldn't find a supplier to our liking, but this year we've met Marzena – a very energetic lady who runs her own juice corner at a local food market. We kick off with two options: 100% freshly squeezed orange juice and a 50/50 orange & grapefruit mix. If this works out, we'll expand next year.
NB: like many native residents of Vilnius, Marzena speaks fluent Polish – so if you, too, speak the language, then don't hesitate to order sok pomarańczowy.
Local Draft Beers
This is the first year when we switch to draft beers – including a 0% pale ale. A small step towards a better quality of beer, served with more efficiency.
The draft beers are available during Reception Dinner, Industry Dinner and Garden Dinner at the courtyard of Hotel PACAI. We will also serve beers at both lunches – in the corner, discreetly, so as not to push it.
KEO from Cyprus
If you attended Summit On Tour II in Limassol, you may remember this local beer with the intense yellow label (3 years from now, the brewery celebrates 100 years). Because we needed a light beer for the afternoon breaks at the program venue to go along with the home-made chips, we thought that it would be good to revisit Cyprus in this way.
Since it's impossible to find KEO our region, we had to arrange a custom shipment (fun trivia: the Orthodox Church of Cyprus owns a 20% stake in the brewery, which lead to rumors of a lawsuit when KEO got featured, without authorization, as 'a Greek beer' in an American porn film).
KEO sits at a moderate 4.5% alcohol, and is available during the afternoon refreshment breaks at the courtyard of the Art Museum on both days.
Kölsch Glasses
Getting draft beer and fresh juice gave us an excuse to introduce one more category of branded items: Summit's very own Kölsch glasses, made to order in Czech Republic (where else?). You will spot them throughout the conference whenever you need to pour a drink.
Vodka from Warsaw
High quality vodka, served pure, was popular in 2022. In 2023, we added the option of having it served with the Latvian cranberry juice (direct pressing).
This year, we imported another caseload of Mikrogorzelnia (still the best vodka that I've come across, not that I go around tasting vodkas normally 🙀; the other drinks from this artisanal producer are pretty weird – but this specific wódka cysta żytnia is a masterpiece).
This vodka from Warsaw is served with cranberry and a bit of grapefruit zest (Reception Dinner and Garden Dinner), or pure on the rocks (Industry Dinner) .
The cranberry cocktail, by the way, is also available as a 0% option.
Thyme & Horseradish Local Liquors
If you attended the Summit in 2021, you may recall the bout of rain that we experienced on the last day. It just so happened that we then decided to warm up the attendees by offering a variety of local strong drinks... which met a strong demand. Since then, we serve some of these at the final dinner of the event, as a peculiarity (you go to Prague, you try Becherovka – that sort of thing).
This year we have a Thyme, Honey & Saffron (42%) and Horseradish (42%) options on offer, during the Garden Dinner.
Colombian Rum
Last year, Jorge Bedoya C made a mistake: he brought me a bottle of La Hechicera from Colombia. I've never been a fan of rum, to be honest, mostly because what we get in Eastern Europe tends to be a product of trading companies that are pushed by PE towards quick expansion by repackaging someone else's stuff ("the company was unable to provide a proof of origin for the majority of its rum" is a killer line for an 'artisanal' producer).
La Hechicera, though, comes direct from a Colombian family, and couldn't be better (or more authentic). This year, we procured two cases of La Hechicera's Reserva Familiar, to be served on the rocks, with an optional slice of lime, during Reception, Industry and Garden Dinners – as long as we have the supply (if you have other crazy ideas for strong drinks for 2025, please tell me).
Promara from Cyprus
A group of counsels had a chance to visit Zambartas winery in Cyprus before the kick-off of Summit On Tour II this April, and to witness the start of the bottling for 2023's promara/προμαρα (hence the signed bottles).
We like the direct relationship with the producer, the history of the grape (indigenous to Cyprus; almost forgotten, but recently rediscovered), the fresh taste and the ease of drinking (12.5%). For the Summit, we imported 100 magnums.
Classic Red: Rioja
Since 2019, we make the same futile attempt each year: we try to find something better than CVNE's Viña Real Gran Reserva as the main red wine of the Summit; the thing is – as long as we stay within the desired price range (ca. €100 per magnum), we just can't find something as balanced and as rich in taste. So this year, again, you will be served the fantastic Viña Real (90+ points in all the wine ratings)– its 2016 edition.
Special Red: Uruguay
The experiments with the red were not for nothing, though: we ended up thinking that even if we cannot find a better classic red, we can still add something like a special red to the menu.
We then looked high and low for something special, with a lot of duds like "this great Chilean wine is almost like Bordeaux" (why not buy Bordeaux then?), until we hit a combination of a region-specific grape (tannat), a small winery (Bodega Irurtia), and one of the lesser explored regions – 🇺🇾 Uruguay – which is, however, still connected to our community through the Montevideo office of ECIJA.
We imported a few cases of their best offering, the 2017 Gran Reserva, served at all the dinners (and lunches, discreetly in a corner). Based on the popularity of the idea, we'll find another 'exotic' wine for 2025, or kill the idea and stick to just one red for the event.
French Champagne
At this point, the new attendees of the conference probably start to have doubts about just what sort of a conference they have signed up to... Don't worry! We're like a first class lounge at an airport: plenty of expensive liquor on offer, but everyone whom see is drinking mineral water. It's the opportunity that matters.
However.
However, there's one kind of drink that always runs out first at the Summit: Billecart-Salmon's Brut Réserve:
This champagne is available at the Reception Dinner – and then at the Industry Dinner for as long as we have availability (we stocked 50 magnums, that's 600-700 servings).
0.0% Bio Chardonnay & Bio Merlot
Following on the success of last year, both 0% bio chardonnay and 0% bio merlot are available at the Summit everywhere where any regular wine is served. In the last few months, a few new labels have made it to the market in Italy and France – we will explore those in time for the next year's edition.
0.0% Sparkling
From the non-alcoholic sparkling options, we bring back the 3 from the last year + offer one new option – depending on the occasion.
At the Reception Dinner and at lunches, we offer 🇩🇪 Cuvée Sparkling Zero (0%). At the Industry Dinner, it's 🇫🇷 Thé Pétillant Brut Cuvée Prestige Bio (0%). And at the Garden Dinner, it's 🇫🇷 Florentina Bio and 🇫🇷 Le Petit Étoilé, plus whatever Cuvée Zero and Thé Pétillant Brut we will have left at that point.
Food
As the number of attendees increases, our biggest challenge is in being able to serve high quality of food to more people while minimizing any queueing. We want the food to be healthy, and the food breaks to be stress-free.
On the choice of products, we go for local ingredients with an eye on the shortest path from farm to table. The only concept that we have, is to do what's best in the season. Gone are the days of 2015 and 2016, when we had peas flown from Spain. We have no ambition to impress you with the complexity of the dishes. We aim on less processing, and on being able to tell what's inside without reading the label.
Even though we do serve different meats, there is no pork in any dishes whatsoever. I highlight this because in some regions, people might use it as a staple (last month, in Münich, I ordered a salad of vegetables, happy to find a vegetarian option in Bavaria; it arrived sprinkled with speck 🙈).
At every meal, you will find vegetarian options. Where possible, we also offer a variation of the same, but vegan. If you have any questions or concerns, please ask the staff at the food stations.
Buffets
The Reception Dinner, as well as both breakfasts, are served a hot and cold buffets, as we have people arriving at different times, and need to offer the mobility of going around while chatting and having a drink and a bite.
At the Reception Dinner, the drinks are served from 16:00 and the food is served from 17:00. We close the bar at 21:00.
At breakfasts, tea and coffee, as well as food, are available from 08:00 through 10:00, and then are replenished for each of the coffee breaks.
Meze
From our experience in Limassol, we bring to Vilnius the concept of serving both lunches and the sit-down Industry Dinner meze-style: multiple dishes on offer, with some already on the tables by the time when you arrive.
Specifically at lunch, this means that you can come to PACAI, sit at a table and start eating the starters right away, going for the hot dishes when needed – rather than having to pick up your own starters in a line. We expect this to significantly shorten the time from arrivare to mangiare.
Menu Highlights
I thought of including the whole menu here, but only George will read it – so let me just mention a few highlights:
- the breakfasts include both sweet and sour options;
- at lunch, we've got éclairs with raspberries and financiers with sea buckthorn, as well as carrot and rhubarb cakes;
- there's plenty of Brussel sprouts, cauliflowers, green beans, courgettes, broccoli and pan-friend local mushrooms in the menu;
- for the summer rolls served in the morning of the second day, Nicosia-based Kuzūba sent to PACAI four kilograms of freshly made tahini;
- at the Garden Dinner, we have live cooking stations not just for the desert (šakotis), but also for the fish soup, and for shashlik (шашлык) – which, if you haven't been to Caucasus, is best described as meat/fish/vegetables grilled on skewers.
Industry Dinner
One last thing: the Industry Dinner is the only sit-down dinner at the conference. It starts at 19:00 at Hotel PACAI (but you can come as early as 18:15, to find a seat and have an aperitif). You need to bring your ticket to access the dinner area. Each table seats 8 people. Grab any seat that you want – as long as it's the same color as your ticket. The humble menu is below –
With this, I wrap the issue and wish you safe travels. See you at the game Workshop (from 14:00 on Tuesday; pre-registration is a must), or at the registration desk on Tuesday (from 16:00 at Hotel PACAI) and Wednesday (from 18:00, at the Art Museum).
// Sergei & the team at Charlie Oscar