Adventure Time With the Gingerline Dining Expedition

Hey everyone!

So one of the fun parts of my work is being invited to a number of exciting events, one of these was the screening of the film the Aeronauts, a very pictoresque story of a couple who explore the weather patterns through a hot air balloon. I normally go with a friend or two but this time I was actually left to go on my own after an emergency with my best friend. I’m consciously building up my ability to do things unaccompanied so I decided to go solo and see what the day had in store for me.

So we began on a bus journey that was basically like a trip into nostalgia for me, as the driver compartment was segmented toward the front of the vehicle and it was exactly like the buses in Brighton when I was a kid. It gave an older world image and I was excited to go from the cinema we had the screening at, to the cinematic restaurant experience. Now I have never in my life been to a restaurant that works like this so I was really confused as to what to expect, I thought there would be literally like a performance that would have dancers coming out and doing something with the theme of the evening, but this was totally new.

So we are guided into this dark circular room through a very strange doorway that’s sort of designed for very short people? I’m offered a wrist band that tells the waiters I’m vegan. I was then guided to tables that were basically the basket of a hot air balloon. It was really spectacular and there was an array of ladders and ropes connecting to these luminscent orbs above us. We had wines, red and white for the table and I was partnered with a group of really awesome people who also worked in social media. It was just really strange and fun at the same time. I’m glad I went on my own because I could take in more if that makes sense?

So the entire backdrop of the room, which again is a circle is basically a cartoon screen playing out a journey of us, being blown from destination to destination by the wind. It’s totally amazing and I would recommend to try somewhere like this. We started out in England, as we were in London, and we had these very traditional, olde worlde jellyed eel style chintzy, picalilly starters. They were all amazing and were nothing as gross as they looked or sounded. Mine was vegan, so they were catering to everyone. But the crazy part, so all the waitors come out and are totally mute, in costume, defined by the destination, and they’re in full performance mode dancing around, insisting we get up and party. I was like… honey. You dance over there my loves and leave me to the wine. It was bonkers.

We went from the UK to Japan, the site of Mount Fuji was beautifully illustrated across the backdrop and we were served by the whimsically clumsy cast of dancers, who were all in unison tumbling and offering us miso soup and asian inspired side dishes. They were really easy to eat and light, I really enjoyed the selection.

Then off to the carnival and the umpaloompa tried to encorporate me into some sort of dance involving a ladder. I was just not there for the madness so I passed to the guys on my table and we started to guess where the adventure would go next. I think it went to Brasil, but it was giving me Cuba so I’m not sure? We were served a delicious course of a chilli. Now again, they identified me as the vegan by the wrist band but they didn’t utter one audible word throughout, so it was quite impressive.

They had these millet breads and spicy soups, rices. This was more of the main and they encouraged everyone to get up and dance and run in circles. It was really entertaining and each time the costumes changed to match wherever we’d gone on the journey. I really appreciated the illustrations as they were done very beautifully and the voice acting was like a real cartoon. The wind that was taking us in our balloons was reminiscent of a cartoon, but I can’t put my finger on who it reminded me of.

Off we went to Russia and we had a short of vodka. This was welcomed. There were no pickled sharks thank God, but I was a bit memory loss after the Vodka so I can’t recall if there was a meal part to that?I’m not at all sure. It was very interesting and I thought the shot was actually drinkable because as I’m sure many of you hussies are aware, vodka on it’s own is a hard pill to swallow if you’ve ever been out with your mad friends, sneaking into clubs etc. No horrific memories were conjured by said potions.

So then we moved to our final destination. The stars in outter space. It was absolutely transcendent and really beautiful because the lighting changed, it was more romantic dancing and sort of ballet inspired? So out came the waitors and they presented us with cards I should mention, that told us what was on each course. I don’t know where I’ve popped mine but if I find them I’ll add them later. The dessert was a crazy assortment of layers, it was like a mouse, with a cream, with a chocolate, with a this and a that. Mine was vegan and it tasted completely indetectably so, which I was majorly impressed with.

And so my adventure came to an end as I needed to rush off home to get the train. But this experience was exceptional and I highly recommend anyone to go have a play with the mad Gingerline dining.

Let me know if you’d go on your own!