Toronto, like most major cities, is not at a loss for pop-up installations made with Instagram in mind – though not all experiences are created equal. Starting March 28, 30 clear, frameless and heated glass domes – like life-sized terrariums – are available to rent, with space for 4 - 6 diners inside each dome located at The Bentway.

Once in the dome, guests will be served a three-course, locally sourced meal designed by Chef Rene Rodriguez, Top Chef Canada Season 4 winner. Fun fact: He won Iron Chef against Bobby Flay in 2016 and Iron Chef Canada Challenger in 2018.

Guests will get to select from three choices off a blind menu: meat, fish or vegan. Steve Georgiev, event organizer of Dinner With a View tells me the blind menu is to create an element of surprise and to be able to cater to the approximately 12,000 guests expected to dine for the events 30 day stint.

The attraction of one-time only type of experiences in our social media day and age is obvious. Not only do you get the benefit of being a part of something that few others are, you also get to shout it from the rooftops and have the photos to show. When everyone and their mom is a tastemaker these days, this is a becoming element, making you seem in the know, connected and on trend.

But more than just a photo-op, pop-up installations such as Dinner with a View, or last fall’s Happy Place, allow you to experience unique, unlikely settings acting as a backdrop to connect with friends or family in a day and age where no one seems to have any time to meet up IRL, when you can just connect and catch up via Facetime, text or through sliding into one another’s DMs.

The nature of pop-ups only being available for a limited time — and in some cases — while reservations last, is that it puts pressure on people to actually commit and keep plans.

You are less likely to bail on plans when you’ve paid money in advance and are in an intimate setting, unlike booking an easy to cancel reservation at a restaurant that will likely still be there tomorrow.

Deciding where to go with a group of friends can be such a production – like choosing what to watch on Netflix. When one-off opportunities like this arise, it’s almost like you’re guaranteed a stress-free eve. The caliber of this event makes it as if you’re going to a dinner party, but no one has to worry about organizing, the meal, décor and design, all you have to do is show up and everything is set to roll out smoothly. And you can show up empty handed without having to pay any bills, since you pay for your ticket in advance.

Georgiev tells me why he decided to go a pop-up route. “Just like a travelling show, people can only attend it for a limited time, which makes it an experience they don’t want to miss. A pop-up makes an event more desirable versus if we were to do this on an ongoing basis. It’s cool to be able to pick up and move locations and transport this event across Canada and beyond. It can be different every year, the possibilities are truly endless here,” says Georgiev.

The idea came about when Georgiev noticed an opportunity in the market. “Yes you can go to an amazing restaurant and have great food, but going to a restaurant is not a new experience itself. You can also go to a food festival but those, in general, are not high end. We wanted to be able to provide a luxurious experience that was above and beyond food,” says Georgiev.

So what else does said experience entail? Let’s back up a second to the terrarium theme, which caught my attention because of how strange, yet original, it is. “The food we offer is inspired by different world cuisines, and our domes bring to life a truly unique and lively, earthy environment. Our food comes from the earth, and the terrariums are inspired by greenhouses and plants, so this really goes perfectly. We also thought this would be an elegant and chic way to present the domes,” says Georgiev.

There’s also moments curated to be photographed, like an outlook point when you enter the main area that allows you to capture all 30 domes.

Dinner with a View runs from March 28 to May 2 at The Bentway. Reservations must be made in advance at dinnerwithaview.ca and start at $149 to rent the dome, and an additional $99 per person for the meal.