Happy Diwali! We celebrated the Hindu festival of lights at The Pierre’s signature restaurant, Perrine. This holiday takes place in October or November, depending on the lunar calendar. This year, Diwali officially fell on November 7th. We attended The Pierre’s Diwali celebration last year and we were excited for another fantastic evening of fabulous food, drinks and fun. We are excited to share our Diwali celebration with you.
Perrine’s terrace was illuminated with beautiful lanterns, oil lamps and twinkling lights. DJ Suhel brought Bollywood to Perrine with his Indian beats while guests dined on Indian bites prepared by Executive Chef Ashfer Biju and sipped on Miraval rosé and Bacardi cocktails.
When guests arrived, they received a traditional greeting with pasupu tikkas (tumeric). Turmeric is an important spice in Indian culture for centuries. Indians cook with the spice, apply it to their faces and use it for spiritual purposes. Guests also received colorful diya lamp favors, which represent the end of darkness and ignorance.
Guests wore brightly colored traditional garments to celebrate Diwali. Ladies wore a mix of saris, lehengas, salwar kameez, gowns and anarkalis, while men sported kurta pajamas, sherwanis, vests and mojari (traditional Indian shoes). Heritage India Fashions dressed Kanchana and some of our friends.
For more tips on what to wear, check out this Diwali post.
The Diwali celebration included a traditional Puja, which is a prayer ritual in Hinduism, Buddism, Jainism and Sikhism. The puja was performed around the rangoli and rastogi. A rangoli is a colorful, pattern made on a flat surface with colored rice, sand or flowers. A rastogi is a large brass diya lamp. Diya lamps and lanterns were scattered around the edges of the rangoli. Guests took turns lighting the diya during the ceremony. The rangoli was beautiful.
Chef Ashfer created a delicious Diwali menu that combined traditional and contemporary bites featuring: Pav Bhaji, Vada Pav, Bhel Puri, Pakodas, Samosas & Chutney. The food was as scrumptious as it was beautiful.
Mains included flavorful Kebabs, Biryani, Dal Makhni and Mini Brioche Sandwiches.
We sampled many mithai (or sweets) throughout the evening. The desserts were presented beautifully on the Mithai Wall.
The signature wine was Château Miraval Côtes de Provence Rosé. Miraval served Imperial sized bottles of wine. For those of you that don’t know, that’s 6 LITERS of wine per bottle or two double magnums. We are big fans of rosé and even hosted our own Rosé All Day party at Bar d’Eau.
Other signature drinks were Lassi, Aberfeldy Scotch, Bacardi Rum and 1947 Premium Lager Beer.
A Diwali party isn’t complete without lots of Bollywood music and bhangra dancing. DJ Suhel brought Bollywood to The Pierre.
Guests danced the night away in their vibrant Indian attire.
Chef Ashfer and his team’s food was amazing. We highly recommend a visit to Perrine for dinner. We had our birthday dinner earlier this year in the Rotunda.
Thank you to The Pierre, Perrine, Ashfer and Melissa for including us in the festivities.
Photographs courtesy of Meagan Rachman and Twinspirational.
Diwali is the day to light the diya,
Ignite the rockets and burst crackers,
But it’s also the time to be safe,
From the fireworks and all the sparklers.
-Anonymous
Twinspirational blog covered in detail about the the Diwali celebrations at the Hotel Pierre in New York City. We enjoyed the ambience, good food & drinks.
Hope to attend the Diwali celebrations in 2019.
Happy Diwali to you and yours! It looks like you had a wonderful night.
Stunning photos as always!! I love your posts. You both look so beautiful, and it looks like a fabulous celebration!
This event looks so wonderful! I love how there are so many people from different backgrounds celebrating one culture and religious event.
I honestly didn’t know much about Diwali and this is fascinating me! I’m so glad I stumbled upon your blog!
What a beautiful celebration!! The food looks amazing and looks like it was so much fun!!
That looks like such a fun celebration. And the food looks delicious too.
wow! Looks like so very much fun! Diwali seams like a great holiday and the food there looks exceptional!
Honestly, I’ve seen a lot of greetings of ” HAPPY DIWALI ” from Instagrams but I totally understand what it means not until I searched it on google and read this blog. This is such a festive celebration, everyone is enjoying and really having so much fun.
I was in California last week and got to experience the pre-Diwali festivities there for the first time! I loved seeing everyone out in their finest clothes and oh my goodness the food was amazing!
What a great post about Diwali! Everything from the ambiance, colors, food and dancing looks amazing! You covered this event really well, and it looks like you had a great celebration!
This looks like such a fun celebration! The food looks AMAZING and your photos are stunning! Thank you for sharing about the Diwali holiday! 🙂
You guys surely had so much fun celebrating! Thanks for sharing, by the way, this made me know a bit about what Diwali is 🙂
Awww this is so wonderful. I love celebrations of cultures and learning new traditions. Love learning something new.
It looks like you had the most amazing time! I love all your dresses and the food looks amazing.
We also have Diwali, festival of lights here in Singapore and there is a street full of colorful decoration purposely dedicated for this festival located near little India district. You family picture look stunning and I love the vibrant colors, seems like everyone is having a good time.
It looks like the Pierre team went all out! I love that they incorporated so many traditions into the evening. It looks like an absolute blast!
Wow, Such a wonderful Celebration, Looks like everyone really had fun. Happy Diwali to all of you!
Diwali looks like an amazing and fun celebration! Love all of the colors and the food looks delicious!
Wow, now you guys know how to party, I love to see how people from other cultures have neat traditions and Im sure, all of the food 🙂 Thank you for sharing!
I would love to witness a Diwali celebration, it seems like such a fun and vibrant festival
What a stunning celebration! I’ve heard of the festival of lights but not the term Diwali itself. I love how vibrant, colorful and meaningful every part of this day was. And dang, the chef knocked it out of the park!!
What a beautiful evening!! The food looks delicious and it looks like you had a wonderful time. Lovely celebration.
WOW! All those gorgeous colors and yummy foooddssss!! I am in love with this whole gallery~
The colours of your outfits and the food are just spectacular. The happy looks on your faces tell me that you had the most amazing Diwalli.