Thank you to everyone who came and celebrated Belgian National Day with us! Yesterday, we had our wonderful event at Belgos and achieved full capacity with 70 attendees! Although the event officially began at 6:30 PM, we had some eager attendees who decided to show up around half an hour early!
Opening the night was the BLCC General Manager, Robin Heemskerk, who expressed his gratitude for those attending and how lucky we were to be able to have this event. He was followed by the Belgian Consul, Patrick Eeckhout, who said a few words on the current flooding crisis in Belgium and asked for a minute of silence. Afterward, Robin introduced the event agenda, lightened the mood, and wished everyone a happy event.
While everyone was taking advantage of the all-night-long Happy Hour drink prices and the opportunity to network, starters began arriving at the table at around 7:45 PM. Shortly after, the first round of the Lucky Draw started, announced by BLCC Trainee Vincent Demeyere. Attendees watched the wheel spin, hoping that their name would be the one on screen. In the first round, prizes from Corney & Barrow, Odoo, FRITES and Lotus Biscoff were won by participants who appeared happy to accept their prizes, before taking pictures with the Manneken Pis statue to celebrate.
At around 8:45 PM, the main courses began arriving, and tables began filling up with delicious Belgian dishes. As the night continued, it became ever more lively, as bottles of rosé, champagne and wine began arriving at tables. Announcing the second round of Lucky Draw prizes and winners was Karlijn Deforche of the Belgian Club in Hong Kong! At the second round, prizes from Duvel, Samsonite, Gregory, Tumi, and Lotus Gallery were won by attendees!
Just before the iconic Belgos hybrid dessert, the “Creffle”, was to be served, Robin began and commentated the third round of prizes. This time, however, prizes from Grappas, Grappas Cellar, Mo Bros, Shoreditch, La Chouffe, Green Delta, the Hong Kong Maritime Museum, SUIVIE, Frederic Blondeel and Meat the Sea were given in an order irrespective of sponsor, keeping the audience guessing what the next prize is. At around 9:45 PM, dessert was served and the atmosphere at Belgos was great, with the Belgian community enjoying drinks, food and each other’s company.
The final round of prizes began at 10 PM, with both Vincent and Robin announcing the winners of the remaining prizes. Enthusiastically, the BLCC team presented each lucky winner with more prizes from Corney & Barrow, Padstow, Odoo, SUIVIE and Duvel. As Robin announced the final grand prize from The Peninsula hotel, the room filled with anticipation. Just so no one left empty handed, Robin announced that everyone would receive free Vedette beer from Liquid Assets. With only 10 minutes before the event had to end, the BLCC thanked everyone for a great night!
It is safe to say that the Belgian National Day 2021 event was a great success and if it were not for the 10:30 PM restaurant closing time due to social distancing regulations, we would have stayed until we needed to go back to the office! To those of you who were not able to make it, we hope to see you at a future event soon!
Thank You Again To Our Wonderful Belgian National Day 2021 Sponsors
