Because we’re ever so committed to daytime drinking, we were really excited about the debut of La Vita Alta, a boozy brunch pop-up party. This one was held at Red Dot Design Museum and began with welcome cocktails—well, if you can call vodka Red Bull a cocktail—for the crowd of mostly twentysomethings, before we entered the dining area, which was all black cloth and strobe lights and lounge beats.
Everything was pretty sedate all through the three-course meal by the fine folks at Table by 7, which, although well-executed and enjoyable (we loved that they served curried baby okra along with the usual European steaks and soups), didn’t exactly seem appropriate for the first meal of the day (no eggs?). Everyone stayed in their seats, blearily texting or tweeting as they ate.
“They’re all hungover,” noted one of the waitresses/”party girls” with a shrug.
But it wasn’t the case for long. As the last plates were cleared, the music got louder and thumpier and we got drunker, thanks to the mimosas the service staff enthusiastically kepts making for us. (Of anthropological interest: Although drinking from glasses seemed perfectly fine to us, that’s not how it’s done, apparently—all the cool kids were guzzling their bubbly and Royal Dragon Vodka either straight from the bottle or via a bong-like contraption. See photo.)
Overall, we think managing to rouse a roomful of hungover young adults to their feet made this a real success. Though not quite our thing, we think this series is one to watch, especially as the pop-up party scene looks set to heat up in the lead-up to F1 season.
