“60 kg of foie gras, 60 kg of scallops and unlimited champagne!” Chef of the L’Ange Bleu cabaret, Loïc is preparing to serve 1,200 place settings for New Year’s Eve. In the largest cabaret in France located in Gauriaguet, near Bordeaux, “on tries to do better than in Paris.“A New Year’s Eve, however, disturbed by the surge in Covid cases and a prefectural decree which imposes the closure at 2 a.m.
“We will not be able to serve you the onion soup but you can leave with breakfast” (Aurélie, secretary of the Blue Angel)
“For the past week, we’ve been juggling cancellations, explains Alexandre Duvollet, the director of the cabaret. A lot of people cancel because they are positive or if they are in contact, but since we are on the waiting list, there is no problem since we replace empty tables each time and we reimburse people without any problem. “.
French cancan evening and tropical fiesta
All motorists on the A10 arriving in Bordeaux are familiar with its colonnaded facade. Opened in 1997, the Blue Angel is an institution of the entertainment world which organizes every December 31 “his biggest night of the year” (198 euros the cabaret evening, 155 euros the tropical evening). After a New Year’s Eve canceled in 2020 because of the Covid, the team of 80 people hoped for a New Year’s Eve “normal“in 2021 but the Omicron variant played the spoiler.
“We will have the Cabaret Revue with dancers, singers, comedians and magicians and there will also be the Brazilian dancers of the daughters of the Sun” (Alexandre Duvollet)
“Normally a New Year’s Eve at the Blue Angel, the evening begins at 8 p.m., with the Revue playing until 3 a.m., the orchestra doing the dancing entertainment, we serve the onion soup, then the little one. – lunch with coffee at 6 a.m., says Alexandre Duvollet. For two weeks, we already knew that we no longer had the right to make our customers dance and there, by closing at 2 am, that forces us to contract the show. “
No onion soup or cotillion. “Because of the Covid, we are not allowed to breathe in the room, it would not be consistent with wearing the mask so we provide the party favors and they will be taken home”, explains Aurélie, one of the reception staff of the Blue Angel. The tongues of grandmothers will also be whistled at home.
– Jules Brelaz