Dinner on the Floating Dining Room this past July was one of the most unique dining experiences I have ever had in my own city, Vancouver. As you can imagine I have been to many different types of dinners of the years, some of my most memorable meals had been while I was off travelling.
The Floating Dining Room was created by a visionary, Shannon Ronalds who had an idea to start a foundation called School of Fish with its ultimate goal to raise $100,000 with the money to be used to train and educate chefs around the world about sustainability in our oceans. Shannon knew the right people, his friend and former boss Harry Kambolis (owner of C Restaurant and a leader himself in Sustainability) and Chef Robert Clark (Chef at C Restaurant and one of the best chefs in North America also a leader in Sustainability). The foundation was co-founded by Shannon Ronalds & Chef Robert Clark. The idea was born and was an amazing fete, I dined on the Floating Dining Room on opening night on July 24th with Shannon Ronalds leading the way, he was our Sommelier, Server, and Guiding Light to me and my fellow diners (in all we were 12 members of the media guests of Shannon Ronalds for the night).
After we assembled at C Restaurant, we all made our way down the seawall, gangway to the dock and walked to the Floating Dining Room that is somewhat anchored next to the dock. The dining room measured about 20 feet long x 8 feet wide and the floor is made up of 1700 plastic bottles rescued from the ocean, the structure was designed by Matt Kirk-Buss of Loki Ocean and built by Shannon Ronalds and a couple of friends who donated their time to the project. It is constructed entirely of renewable, recycled, reclaimed and/or re-purposed materials, seats only 12 and is a fully outfitted formal dining room complete with fine china, and crystal. Clear walls and ceiling shield patrons from the elements while affording them a very unique perspective on False Creek and the views beyond.
The 6 courses dinner was paired with 6 wines, the menu for the dinner was created by Chef Robert Clark using sustainable seafood including BC Spot Prawns supplied by Organic Ocean. The wines were selected by Sommelier Shannon Ronalds from many wine tastings to choose the right wines for this dinner pairing.
By: Richard Wolak