Bizarro Insta-Thirsty ‘Dinner in a Dome’ Pop-Up Is Coming to Montreal

Want to go out for a formal dinner with some friends but you really want that dinner to take place inside a small plastic dome? Well, there’s a pop-up just for you on its way to Montreal.

Dinner With A View is the name, and it will appear in the Old Port (alongside the Grande Roue) from mid-April through to mid-May; a Toronto edition is also happening from late March to early May.

In short, a number of (apparently) plastic domes will be set up near the riverfront, and groups of up to six will be served dinner within those. The official site for the pop-up claims that the domes will be converted into “terrariums”, using some fairly grandiose language.

Each [dome corresponds] to a different region of the earth’s terroir: tundra, tropical, grasslands, arid and boreal forest. These extraordinary spaces are designed using resplendent materials such as live flora, luxurious textiles and elegant illumination.

In practice, that means “we put some plants and lights inside!”: pictures of the domes online look nicely decorated, but they’re hardly teleporting diners to a tropical rainforest.

It’s unclear who is behind the pop-up, but it looks somewhat corporate, with American Express as the main sponsor. The drawcard here is almost certainly the dome gimmick — while there is a respectable chef involved (René Rodriguez, known for appearing on Top Chef Canada), there are minimal menu details available (the event itself artfully frames this lack of information as a “blind menu”). No information on bar offerings appears to be available, so it’s unclear if you’ll be drinking a fine natural wine or Labatt Blue. (Eater has reached out for details on this and other parts of the pop-up.)

The dinner is not particularly cheap, either: just reserving a dome (which fits up to six people) costs $149, then the three-course dinner itself is an additional $99, with drinks, taxes, and tip not included.

It comes across as more of an Instagram-friendly gimmick than a legitimately interesting culinary experience; a novel milieu for influencers to grab a few likes. The pop-up’s own “About” section appears to back this up.

“Artistic spectaculars will frame the stage which will offer opportunities to capture that perfect photograph against an iconic urban background.”

Plus, the name hardly makes sense: the domes are transparent but their tessellated pattern means that they don’t really seem to offer the “view” promised by the event name itself. Anybody looking for a dinner with an actual view (and for cheaper!) would be better served by nearby Portus 360, or one of various rooftop drinking and dining options around Old Montreal.

• A magical ‘garden dome’ pop-up dinner is coming to Montreal [DailyHive]
• Dinner With A View [Official]