The Chef's Table: An Elite Meal

In case you didn't know, Jason and I went on a cruise this past December. (To read about our cruise, check out: We Took A Cruise, Continuing the Cruise, Our Favorite Day on the Cruise, and Cruisin' Home.) We sailed on the Carnival Glory to the Eastern Caribbean for a week. We didn't plan very much in advance as far as activities to do while on the cruise, but Jason did make dinner reservations for The Chef's Table. The Chef's Table is a small, group dining experience that includes a tour of the galley, and a private, exclusive dinner with the executive chef. Allow me to share our private, professionally created meal with you.

Our menu for the evening, which was rolled up, tied with a ribbon, and garnished with a star anise. (It got a little squished in the suitcase on the
return trip.)

The "Reception" consisted of hors devours in the main galley while they explained their processes to keep the kitchens, and staff, running smoothly to feed an entire cruise ship of passengers and crew. They gave a few fun facts of how many thousands of pounds of bulk foods it takes for a week-long cruise, how much it costs, and things like that. The chef also demonstrated how they create their signature dessert, the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake. It was very noisy in the galley, as it was in the middle of dinner for the rest of the ship, and kind of hard to hear, so I let Jason do the listening, and I focused on enjoying the hors devours!

We did not take photos of the hors devours as we didn't feel it was appropriate at that time. They were little bite-sized, stunning creations of deliciousness, let me tell you! And by bite-sized, they were probably 1-inch square at most.

I believe it was the Salmon Tartar Cornets with Sesame Seeds that had caviar on top. We had not eaten real, legitimate caviar before, so that was exciting to try. And, it was delicious just like all the other hors devours.

After the galley tour and hors devours, we were ushered to a private dining room with personal servers, and accompanied by the executive chef, Mr. Biju. The table was set very properly with all the spoons, forks, glasses, personal name cards, and everything. Both red and white wine were provided and poured to your liking throughout the meal. I couldn't tell you exactly what types of wines they were, though.

 Our first course of the meal was Beet Blanket in Spiced Grape Tea. If I remember correctly, it was kind of like a very thinly layered jello dish, but made with vegetables. It included asparagus, cauliflower, honey carrot tian, mache, and lemon streusel with beet being the top layer. I personally am not a huge fan of beets, but it was fun to try. And, it didn't taste bad- it just tasted different.

 Our second course was the Crab Stack created with corn custard, polenta cracker, tangerine, and passion caviar with crab. I do believe that this dish was pretty tasty, and it was very creatively plated. Listening to the chef describe how they created the various elements, such as the polenta cracker, was very interesting. But, I'm not sure that I will ever be able to recreate it myself!

 Duck Textures, the third course, was made up of creamy quinoa, parmesan churros, olive snow, port wine jus, and of course duck. I really liked this one! I have only had duck one other time, and was excited to eat it again. (My first time having duck was Roasted Duck Curry.) Again, the plating of each of these courses was quite superb and definitely not the same as what we would get for our cruise meals in the regular dining room!

 The fourth course, Bisque Our Way, had two stunning elements when they served it. This photo is of the initial bowl before the tomato was added.

 This is the second photo after they poured, in tandem, the two different tomato soups. This dish consisted of two tomatoes, three basil, crisped brioche, garlic chip, and I don't remember what the white "island" was that expanded and floated when the tomato was poured in. This was an exceptionally amazing dish that Jason and I both enjoyed! And, when tasting the two different tomatoes side by side (as recommended by the chef), you could really tell a distinct flavor difference between them.

I believe it was at this point that the house magician stopped by and entertained the table with some magic tricks. Jason mentioned later that when they take a break during the meal for your food to digest/settle, you know that there's still a lot more food coming!

 After the magician's magic, we were served the fifth course of Sea Bass. This consisted of chorizo crust, fried pop corn pudding, lemon macaroon, lobster foam, and sea bass. I don't think I've ever had sea bass, so it was fun to try another new meat. The sea bass was tasty, but I wasn't that fond of the pop corn pudding. None of it tasted bad, but it just wasn't my preference. Plus, we were getting full at this point, and I had determined that it was not important to eat everything on the plate.

 The sixth course, and Jason's most favorite, was the Wagyu Beef served with bone marrow soufflé, scallioin and garlic panisse, and gremolata crisp. This was, by far, the most amazing course of the evening! If you're not familiar with what Wagyu Beef is, check out wagyu.org for a brief history, and know that to buy one 14oz boneless ribeye steak, frozen, could cost $60. Jason said that just getting to eat Wagyu beef, which he has wanted to try, was well worth the cost of this entire meal! And, it really was delicious beef!!!!

Other fun details about Wagyu beef are: it is said that the cattle are given beer, massaged daily- sometimes with sake, and listen to classical music. I've tried to research those claims, but haven't found any reliable sources to quote about that.

Dessert. The seventh, and final, course of our amazing dining experience. Prior to serving dessert, the servers quietly asked each couple if they were celebrating anything special on the cruise. And, Jason told them we were there for our anniversary. So we got a special, personalized plate and everyone sang "Happy Anniversary" to us. The dessert plate was created with sea salt praline chocolate, raspberry mojito, key lime cake, apricot vanilla gel, and citrus cream. There were a few things on the plate that I didn't care for like the raspberry mojito because I don't like mint but, in general, you can't go wrong with quality food such as what was included in this dessert course.

At the end of our multiple-course meal, which lasted over 3 hours I believe, we were very full. But, it was an amazing meal, and dining experience! It was definitely the most elite, high-quality meal I have ever eaten. And, if we were to ever do a cruise again, I would say it is worth the money to reserve a spot at the Chef's table again.

As part of our dining experience, we were given a photo with the chef and, a copy of the recipe for their signature Warm Chocolate Melting Cake. Look for that recipe in one of my upcoming weekly Recipe Reviews! And, I hope you enjoyed this visual fine dining experience!

What have been your fine dining experiences, and did you enjoy it?