Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten, May 26th 2000

The King of Norway thanks Café Kølbert

By Lisette Arent Greve

The Århus performing waiters have got to shake hands with royalty and have attracted a great deal of attention at Norway's international Berger Drama Festival, which is taking place at the moment.

Norway's King Harald and Queen Sonja had never seen anything like it and certainly never at the royal balls and receptions held by the Danish royal family. But now they know how ill bred and embarrassing Danish waiters can be and still get away with it. According to reports, King Harald had a great time when he meet Århus's Café Kølbert who were 'waiting on tables' at the ceremonial opening of Norway's Bergen Drama Festival the day before yesterday. At the reception which followed for a select group of invited guests, the king shook their hands and at the same time thanked the eight performing waiters.

A fantastic experience

"It was an absolutely fantastic experience," said Henrik Kalsbøll, whose team stayed in character to the very end. Thus waiter Lars Gade was moved to ask the king whether he had been provided with acceptable accommodation in Bergen... And waitress Overgaard, whose first name is Merete, won a certain degree of respect form onlookers when she grabbed hold of a mature bald man's head and after a thorough polishing gave him a kiss in the middle of his freshly buffed-up bald spot. He turned out to be the city's chief of police.

On everyone's lips

Café Kølbert is now the talk of the town in Bergen. Not just among the 1500 guests who were present at the opening of the festival in Grieghallen, but also around town, were the waiters performed at various events. Not least among those wishing to give the performing waiters a very favourable mention was the Norwegian press. Bergens Tidene wrote for example: "The opening ceremony was more ceremonious and original than ever before, say those who have attended the event for a number of years. While the audience was waiting for the royal couple, they were entertained by the Danish waiters form Café Kølbert with Tarzan calls, two plants and a guitar... to the great surprise of the audience and to its great delight."

The snobs playground

One leader writer suggested that Café Kølbert should immediately takeover the Torgallmenningen, which is the city's newly restored performance space in the centre. According to the writer, the waiters are the key to unlocking this culture snobs' playground for the rest of the people. Café Kølbert is obviously very pleased and proud about the Norwegians enthusiasm but shaking hands with the king has been the absolute high point of their experiences in Bergen. "And what's more he waved to us when he was driving away in his American car," said head waiter Kalsbøll, who was continuing to serve yesterday with impromptu performances in the streets of Bergen, and a 'gastromusical' dinner at Håkonshallen in the evening.