Tori Allen, an expert events planner, shares her hot tips for hosting an unforgettable dinner party.
What makes a dinner party perfect? For Tori Allen, a Melbourne-based events planner (@toriallen_events), it's seeing everyone eating, laughing and having a good time. “Any dinner party is all about the food,” she says. “That, and conversation.” Fortunately for us, both these things can be easily achieved without alcohol.
With that in mind, we asked Tori to talk us through the essential ingredients that make up a successful dinner party, from styling the table through to creating conversation. And her first piece of advice? 'Have a drink ready when your guests arrive. Even though you're not having alcohol, you can still serve a beautiful drink in a cocktail glass or highball, along with a garnish of orange rind or dehydrated grapefruit.'
“I love entertaining,” says Tori, “whether it's a last-minute callout on Sunday for a pizza in the backyard, or a long lunch where I've put a lot of thought into things and am trying out a new recipe. It's really important to think about what the occasion is: who is the crowd, and what will they love?”
Like any good host, Tori will clean the house from top to bottom to make the space as inviting as possible. 'I'll always pull from my glassware selection too,” she says, “and style the table with foliage, flowers and herbs from the garden. There'll almost always be candles too.”
When it comes to hosting an alcohol-free dinner party, Tori finds that an easy way to make food a real focus is by having a theme for the evening. “Mexican and Italian are two flavoursome cuisines that can be enjoyed without alcohol,”she says. “You just pick some amazing recipes and create a meal plan. If it's Italian, for example, you could have a mozzarella bar with different types of mozzarella, like buffalo, bocconcini and burrata. Slice up some beautiful heirloom tomatoes then add some balsamic glaze and a quality olive oil. This will create a lot of conversation around the food.”
Now that your guests are living la dolce vita, it's time to progress through a delicious Italian feast. “Italian is all about plentiful food,” says Tori. “Either DIY pizza or really yummy pasta. There are a lot of great recipes out there, whether you're looking on Tik-Tok or following someone like @juliaostro on Instagram. A simple pesto or seafood works well, or you could be cheeky and make a vodka pasta, with the alcohol burning away during cooking.”
For dessert, there's nothing quite so Italian as a tiramisu. “I'd do a big bowl of it with percolated coffee,” says Tori. “Or even an affogato without the liqueur. Cream, chocolate and coffee really is enough – you'd struggle to drink wine when you're getting through that.”
Even though this is an alcohol-free dinner party, you can't get away with serving a glass of water. Any successful dinner party requires food, flavour and having considered drinks with the meals, so the beverages should never look like an afterthought.
“It's all about the theatrics,” says Tori. “That's why something as simple as a really nice soda water with a considered garnish goes a long way. For Italian food, you can also look at a bitter style of drink like a Cinotto, or a simple palate cleanser like ginger beer or yuzu soda.”
There also happen to be more and more non-alcoholic beers, wines and spirits that manage to sacrifice alcohol content without losing the all-important flavour. Heineken Zero and Big Drop Upton Lager are just two alcohol-free beers providing a crisp lager experience, making them the perfect offering at the start of a dinner. Another great option is McGuigan Zero Alcohol Rosé, or a G&T made from Gordon's 0% Gin.
For the rest of the meal, Natureo's Grenache Shiraz makes for a killer food wine, particularly with a rich, tomato sauce, and you can even make a chocolate mocktini to pair with Tori's suggested tiramisu for dessert. Just grab some of Seedlip's Grove 42 and mix it with dark chocolate, sweetened condensed milk, chilled coffee and vanilla extract, then add some cream on top. Bellissimo!
Now that your food menu and drinks are organised, you can concentrate on making the dinner table a truly inviting place to be.”If you've gone with the Italian theme, keep things really rustic and ambient,” says Tori. And of course, generously sized pasta bowls are non-negotiable.
Tori also suggests creating a few table talkers. “You might want people to have a big laugh, or go a little deeper,” says Tori. “Have some prompts like, ‘If you woke up tomorrow with one new ability, what would it be?’, or, ‘Would you rather be a little too hot or a little too cold?’." These prompts will help people feel more comfortable with each other and, all things going well, lead to some fascinating conversations.
Combine these ingredients – flavoursome food, alcohol-free drinks, preparation and conversation starters – and you're well on your way to hosting an alcohol-free dinner party for the ages.
