A series of pop-up events this year will take people back to the golden age of 1950s air travel, offering cocktails and gourmet food.
The Mile High events will welcome guests to a departure lounge for check-in cocktails and gourmet bar snacks, with staff dressed in Pan Am-inspired cabin crew uniforms. Sponsored by Campari, Wild Turkey and Skyy Vodka, cocktails will include a classic Negroni, an Aperol Spritz and their own Mile High Martini.
Guests will then be taken through to their destination, themed on different places around the world, to enjoy a four-course meal created by ex-Moro chef Ollie Templeton.
The first events, running March 13 to 16 and 20 to 23, in a secret west London location, will be Destination Göteborg, featuring Scandinavian food.
Dishes will include pan-fried scallops with puréed potato, charred spring onions and crispy garlic, followed by crayfish, brown shrimp, smoked bacon, soured cream, dark rye and tarragon, and then chargrilled elk with golden beetroot, mushrooms, dill and cucumber salad. It will be rounded off with lingonberry ice cream with carrot cake crumble and licorice meringue. A vegetarian menu is also available.
In the Gothenburg departure lounge, the snacks will match the theme, with a “smorgasbord” including fresh roe and dark rye sourdough served with smoked reindeer and pickles.
Three more pop-ups will be held later in the year, giving “passengers” a taste of Beirut in May, Sicily in June and Mozambique in September.
The concept has been created by cousins, Ollie plus Anna, Will and Ed, who share experience in the event, theatre, culinary, cocktail, music and advertising worlds. Ed worked in bars for about six years including Henderson’s in Bristol, Cocktail in Chicago, The Drunken Ship in Rome and El Junco jazz club in Madrid, before moving into advertising.
They are working with art director Duncan Cargill who has been creating environments and experiences around the world for over 15 years, working with brands such as Selfridges, Tate, The V&A and Vertu Nokia. He was creative director of The Hospital Club in London.
Entry is by tickets, costing £65, which includes two cocktails, the four-course meal, access to the departure lounge and “in-flight entertainment”. Tickets just for access to the departure lounge cost £15, which includes a cocktail.
More at www.dinemilehigh.com.
