The Chef's Table

We were invited to eat at the chef's table tonight. Are you impressed? The invitation came with a $95 pp cover charge. Are you still impressed? Well, if you know me, I'm all about incremental benefit being worth the incremental cost.....and since we're already paying for dinner as part of our cruise fare, a $190 surcharge was .....well.....hard to swallow (see what I did there?). Let me be the first to tell you it was totally worth it... beyond worth it. It was an extraordinary experience. Maybe the best dinner I've ever had. Absolutely superb. As a point of reference, dinner lasted 3hr and 15min.

The experience started with a kitchen tour. We had been on a kitchen tour in a previous segment so it wasn't new but the head chef and the F&B (food and beverage) VP escorted us through and provided their perspective on what it takes to serve 2200 passengers and 900 crew 3 meals per day. It was fascinating.

Let's start with the menu. It was an 8 course meal, impeccably presented, paired with wines in every course.

We were 6 couples, ranging from 10 years to 57 years of marriage and were from Georgia, California, North Carolina, Ireland and Canada. We all got along great. The California couple was celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary so it was extra festive. We started with a champagne toast that was quite light and bubbly, of course, and accompanied the first 2 courses.

We moved on to the first of two appetizer courses. A trio of beef tartar with crustini, a mini orange donut stuffed with chicken pate and a poached potato topped with caviar. No single selection stood out from the others but together made an amazing combination of flavors and textures. This course was smooth and subtle, soft (except the crustini) and delicate. Despite a doughnut's reputation as a sweet treat, this one was savory, as was the entire course.

The second appetizer course was also a wonderful trio, but a completely different experience. In contrast to the savory and suave first course, this course was bold both in taste and texture. A crispy prawn, a short rib croquette and a mango shooter, which doubled as a dipping sauce before...well...finishing it off like a shot. It was such a clever way to add yet another dimension of sweet acidity to complement the crispness of its two partners.

The next course was a risotto filled with asparagus, lemon and grapes. Again, not a combination I would naturally gravitate to but it worked so well together. The tartness of the lemon, the sweetness of the grapes blended well, as did the al dente asparagus with the traditionally creamy risotto. It was paired with a pinot grigio, which was delicious, buttery and a tad tart.

We of course needed to cleanse our palates at this point. I was prepared to go brush my teeth but given the fancy nature of this meal, I didn't have to. The next course was an orange sorbet with Campari. Given the choice of Colgate or sorbet, I'll take the sorbet. Pic below. Eye candy, I'm sure you'll agree. 😉

The main course was rack of lamb, filet of beef and lobster. I assumed that we could choose 1 of the 3, but we were served all 3 artfully arranged on our plates. But before that, they brought around huge serving trays filled with the meat and seafood, which we oogled over and understandably so. It was impressive. Then they flambe'ed the tenderloin before slicing to give it a special carmelization that was outstanding. I had never seen that technique before and a) I'm a foodie and b) I've been blessed with many extravagant business dinners in my career. So bravo, Princess!!!

We had 6 sauces to choose from. I chose the bernaise and a lamb au jus reduction.

I can't even begin to explain how delicious it was. At this point, I was in a food coma, speechless, but able to fully enjoy and appreciate every morsel.

This course was paired with a Syrah that was outstanding (yes, I'm aware of how many times I've used that adjective). The name Bramasole means to yearn for the sun. What a perfect name for the region of Italy this wine originates from as well as a centuries old sunbaked Italian farmhouse that still stands proudly there above Cortona. That farmhouse was featured in the famous movie Under the Tuscan Sun.

And then there was dessert, 3 courses of dessert, 3 mind-boggling, exceptionally delicious, mouth watering rounds that TKO'd this diner. My coma turn into full-on life support. I find it ironic that all the dessert euphemisms I wanted to use (whipped cream with a cherry on top, icing on the cake) were inappropriate as there weren't any cherries, icing or cake. This was on an entirely different level. They were works of art, almost too beautiful to the eye to sacrifice to the mouth. I said, "almost". The first dessert was like the first appetizer course, a trio of different textures and tastes. A candied apricot, a fig compote and baked brie on a pastry wafer. And like the first appetizer course, individually they were good, together they were great. I would refer to it as a perfect marriage of flavor but it was a trio and that's not what this blog is about 😉.

But the next course, oh my! We weren't expecting another course. We were beyond satiated and already had the perfect meal so why were they refreshing our silverware and our dessert wine? Almost invisibly, our team of waiters ( yes, there was a team of about 15 waiters to serve 6 couples throughout the dinner) appear behind each guest with another work of art grander than the last. On queue, they lowered our next dessert in front of each of us to a chorus of ooh's and ahhh's.

Again, it was a delight for the eyes and the taste buds. Chocolate, cream, hazelnut, and other flavors I couldn't identify but they were great. I'm out of words. That doesn't happen often.

But wait, there's more. Then coffee and petit fours. We were offered 6 different petit fours. My eyes yet again had a private moment, that's all I have to say about that. I'm referring to the petit fours; for my wife, it was simply too much eye candy.

To top off the evening, they gave us goodie bags with chocolate truffles, a white rose, a set of 6 princess shot glasses and a picture of us taken at the outset of the evening.

The entire evening was .....um..... "outstanding". Sorry. I left my thesaurus at home. Tomorrow, Petra Jordan. I hear we will walk off this dinner and then some. Till tomorrow.