First Dates star James adds some spicy salsa to Sarah‘s ‘roaming’ dinner party

SINGLE in Sydney’s Sarah meets some dishy blokes aboard a luxury yacht, as part of a roaming dinner party — including a reality telly star.

Dishy blokes at roaming dinner on luxury yacht

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I’M salsa dancing, barefoot, on the bow of a boat, with a man in a sailor’s hat and a striped shirt.

On one side of us bobs the yacht belonging to the owner of Westfield, while on the other, the lights of the Harbour Bridge twinkle against the black sky.

I feel amazing.

Mostly.

My pal Clare keeps it classy aboard our yacht. Picture: Supplied / Instagram

Sarah Swain Sydney Soiree pictures/ Instagram

A large part of me is also fairly anxious that with one wrong mambo I’ll shoot into the depths of the harbour like I’m on a slippery dip.

Thankfully though, I lived to tell the tale of what, quite frankly was the best night out I’ve had this year. If not last year too.

You see, I was at a ‘roaming dinner party.’

No that doesn’t mean you have to carry your plate and cutlery around the streets.

Westfield businessman Frank Lowy's luxury motor yacht was right next to our slightly smaller boat.

Instead, think Come Dine With Me boiled up with First Dates, with an pinch of The Amazing Race thrown in, all taking place across the Eastern Suburbs (a version has just been launched in Manly too).

Take groups of four girls and four guys, mix them together, add food and wine, and you’ve got the perfect ingredients for dating with a difference.

Our very civilised first stop of the night. Picture: Rosie Levine

I say dating — Sydney Soirée isn’t just for singles, but organisers reckon they’ve matched 20 couples since they started in 2014 — and one of the organisers has even landed a fiancee.

Anyway.

While my pals Claire, Dan and Kate and I ended up on a yacht for dessert, we’d actually started the night in equally salubrious Double Bay.

You see it was the girl’s turn to ‘roam’, while the men were tasked with the cooking.

We also had to supply the wine — 12 bottles of it — which we left at our first venue.

And we were so nervous as we trotted up to the door for our starter

Harbour Bridge in the distance, from our yacht. Picture: Supplied

But meeting our first hosts was more refreshing than lemon sorbet after a hot curry.

You see I’ve almost given up on meeting normal blokes.

And by normal, I mean somebody I might want to date.

These guys had jobs, manners and their own hair.

And after our salad starter, I’d just started giving a rather nice, rather posh guy tips on his road trip in the States, when it was time to move on. The timings are stricter than an Oscars acceptance speech.

Luckily, our main course stop was just up the road.

Kate and Clare prepare to dine. But where were the knives and forks? Picture: Supplied

And we walked into the art deco house and straight into a scene from a Contiki bar crawl out. Or a university dorm. Possibly both.

One guy insisted on us downing shots of tequila beneath the curtain poles which dangled from the ceiling.

With out main course hosts, who were like a cross between students and Contiki tourists. Picture: Supplied

Another told me he was a journalist for a large rival publication — but informed my friend he worked in finance. Hmm.

The bathroom door jammed when you closed it, and to get a grip on the handle to yank it open, the only option was a damp towel that hadn’t been washed since 1983. Gross.

And to top it all they’d failed to read the email which said I was veggie.

So I ate some carrots and tomatoes.

One drink or two Picture: Supplied

Very funny for the non veggies. But I was starving. Picture: Supplied

Still, it was fun.

And it meant our dessert was even more amazing.

The third course (ice cream) was served aboard a sleek yacht which set sail from Rose Bay, with four cheeky chaps aboard.

And if the yacht wasn’t enough, they’d even handed us all a rose and a sailors hat when we boarded.

What’s more, I later discovered the bloke I was salsa dancing with was actually that tall guy called James who the next week appeared on First Dates.

James from First Dates was a bit of a dish. Picture: Supplied.

Remember, the one with the cat and the funny accent?

(I saw on breakfast TV he’s now not dating the girl he was set up with too).

And I tried to find him and his pals later at the after-party in Bondi Junction, to which all the diners go at the end.

But all I found was some lanky Irish bloke who tried to snack on my face when I lost my friends. I was like a single wilderbeast separated from the herd.

Still.

I had started feeling a bit like a starving diner, salivating over a dish only to be told they’re all out in the kitchen.

But at least now I feel like there’s plenty more tasty chaps on the menu.

Details: The next Sydney Soiree event is on Saturday, 28 May.

Originally published as First Dates star James adds some spicy salsa to Sarah‘s ‘roaming’ dinner party