This last Thursday marked Dîner en Blanc Vancouver’s 10th year. Better known as the occasion where everyone dresses all in white and has a massive picnic in the park. It is a worldwide event spanning six continents, with its origins in France. Diners must register to attend and invites are granted based on referrals from past participants. And everyone attending is required to provide their own food, tables, chairs and tablecloths.
This 10th year marks the hand off from its founders, The Social Concierge, to Aly Armstrong Event Planning & Design for a new generation and hopefully the next 10 years.
As per tradition, diners were not given the location until hours leading to the event. This year it was under the Cambie Street bridge and lined the sea wall with a view of the water’s edge and harbour.
As media we had our own lounge space where we were treated to a charcuterie and small bite spread hosted by Peake of Catering. Grazing boards with cured meats, sharp cheeses, pickled vegetables, and compotes. Spoons of salmon with a vegetable salsa, a savoury gel with blueberry at its centre, and puff pastry bites.
At the bar we sipped on Disaronno cocktails, a citrus number with club soda and/or a creamy mix of coconut milk and Disaronno velvet cream liquor.
For those looking for wine, Santa Margherita Wines had us covered for white, rose, and red. Plus a sparkling option to help celebrate.
Half the fun is the ability to mix and mingle with several photo ops and stations set up across the event space. Balloons and the bottom half of the Eiffel Tower set to a backdrop mentioning the event.
There was a regular Photo Booth and a 360 degree booth. The latter would be a first for me, best done with a group as the camera rotates around a platform and you ham it up for the lens. Our theme was “Dad dance moves”.
There were several pockets of art on display. A Pop-up gallery by Lyon-born, Vancouver-based “Archeological Pop Art” artist Ghislain Brown-Kossi who débuted his newest works for the first time ever at the event. And Installations by calligrapher Lele Chan and contemporary sculptor Mark Ollinger.
For entertainment there were theatrical and dance performances with Vancouver’s Alliance Française. And on stage, local Romani-jazz sensations Van Django.
There were also models and a stilt walker roaming the event grounds, dressed in elaborate all white costumes, at the ready for your photo ops.
Evolve wines were giving out samples of their sparkling from off of a wine wall, hosted by lavishly costumed models.
And guests were able to purchase glasses and bottle of champagne from this year’s Champagne partner Taittinger, and enjoy it in their lounge directly under the bridge.
The event started with the ceremonial twirling of the white napkins to mark the start to dinner. As we didn’t have a full sit down meal, we left the event site to eat, planning to return after.
We ended up at the neighbouring restaurant Provence Marinaside for some French fare. Given the event and the theme it seemed appropriate.
Similarly we had to do the Escargot Provençal with garlic, parsley, brandy, and a butter sauce. With it we ordered the Fresh Baked Half Baguette served in a bag with a jim beam butter for extra. Although we didn’t really need the latter considering there was already so much butter left pooling at the bottom of the snail dish.
With our two courses we ordered two glasses of a light white, that was recommended by our server. I found it tart and tangy, but not distracting from the food we had with it, especially our shared entree below.
The Bouillabaisse is a west coast style seafood boil with wild caught prawns, hokkaido scallops, mussels, clams, fish, and fingerling potatoes. Served with a few slices of crusty bread and gruyère et la roville. Fresh and zestyC quality seafood in a tomato based sauce.
With this we had to order another fresh half baguette. The still steaming soft bread was the perfect sponge for all the tasty broth.
The meal was great, but sadly because of it we missed the sparkler moment as soon as the sun set. This is another event hallmark, where all guests light up sparklers in the dark of the night. In years past I remembered it being at 10pm so was planning for that.
We did return to be able to take in the glow of yellow lights with the bridge in the background. And the last DJ set by Paris-based scratch DJ, DJ M1, and Vancouver’s own TDM.
The Afterparty was at D6 at the Douglas Hotel within Parq Casino. Guests had free rein of their indoor lounge, hidden bar behind the book shelf, and event space that spilled out into the patio, overlooking BC Place’s flashing lights.
Here we would down cans of Sakebomb and glasses bottles of Peroni beer, dancing to the live DJ.
And they were also giving our free vapes, that we took advantage of and smoked out on the patio.
In short, this was another successful Dîner en Blanc with an epic finale to end the night on. If you missed out on this year’s occasion, be sure to bookmark the link below for next year’s affair.
https://vancouver.dinerenblanc.com
