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I'm going to devote an entire post to Remy, the French restaurant on the Disney Dream, because it was such an epic meal. If you're going to go yourself, you might want to skip this post as it may ruin some surprises! Of course, if you hate to be surprised or want more intel on the restaurant, read on...
First of all, let me say that I think the better half was more excited about this than I was...$75 is a LOT to pay for a meal. However, I think that in the end, it was worth it!
Since we ran all over the ship as soon as we boarded, we were able to get some decent interior pictures of Remy. The decor is art-nouveau inspired.
We were given a table right by the window, which was great for the first 30 minutes or so, when we got to watch a beautiful sunset over the water. After that, however, we were looking at the reflection of the rest of the restaurant in the window. I think the ideal spot would be in one of those "elevated booths". The Pixar character Remy makes a few appearances in the decor...he and Emile can be seen in the center mirror on the back wall...(you can only see Emile in my picture)
...the upholstery on the booths (no picture), and the backs of the chairs.
Love it. Wash your hands before eating! =)
If you arrive before your reservation, you hang out in the Meridian lounge (shared with Palo, which is just on the other side of the ship from Remy). Perfect time for "prom pictures". =)
I knew I wouldn't want to be "flashing" once we got into the restaurant proper; I don't like my dining disturbed in that manner, so I would never do it to others. As a result, I must apologize for the sub-standard food pictures to come. As much as I love my point and shoot camera, it isn't a star performer in romantic mood lighting. =)
Our waiter (fabulous French accent standard equipment, as with all the staff) started us off by seating us and explaining the menu (
why didn't I take a picture of the menu??) We were to choose an appetizer, seafood course, meat course and dessert. However, there were many surprises to come! First off, another staff member came by to prepare us the house cocktail, using the special Tattinger champagne prepared for the Dream:
Wait until you see the PINK champagne in a later post! I'm not a fan of champagne. But this was really good, with a small piece of candied pineapple in the bottom of the (martini) glass which caused it to sparkle prettily throughout the meal (yes, I'm a very slow drinker unless there's a copious amount of fruit juice to soften the blow). I believe the other addition was pear vodka (also not a vodka fan!)
Next came a couple surprise courses (no pictures). First, an
amuse bouche that was a little fried cube of tomato soup. Very clever; and I love my
haute cuisine of the
Texas state fair variety. ;)
After that, a little chef's surprise: ratatouille! But it was ratatouille like you've never seen before: The vegetables were in a
very small dice: a few millimeters at most! And it was topped with olive oil ice cream, which was not brain-freeze-inducing cold, but very pleasant against the just-warm ratatouille.
Bread service...and another Remy appearance.
And now the advice you will thank me for later if you go...ignore the wheat bread, wait until the cheese course (OH YES THERE WAS A CHEESE COURSE) for the "Remy roll" (a lovely tender mini-baguette), and get double truffle brioche. I'm not a mushroom fan (it's a texture thing), but OH. MY. GOODNESS!
Now the expected appetizer came. I had gone with the waiter's recommendations on all my courses; after all, he knows the food a lot better than I do. His choice for the appetizer was declinasion tomate. I was a little apprehensive; I like tomatoes and all, but there were other things that looked good, and what if this was "bleah"? It was not.... To the left, there was a frozen cube of tomato concentrate, garnished with pesto, which the waiter poured a tomato broth over. To the right, there was a Parmesan foam topped with chopped black tomatoes in balsamic vinegar. In the center:
Tomato "pizza"...a layer of eggplant puree, then a layer of whipped ricotta puree, topped with tiny heirloom tomatoes and THE MOST DELICIOUS BASIL EVER. I'm a huge basil fan, mind you. When I asked the waiter about it...he told me it came from the chef's personal garden!
swoon I must tell you, also, that I do not like eggplant, but I believe it's really a texture thing, because this was DELICIOUS. The fourth part of the appetizer was "essence of tomato", which turned out to be a champagne glass with a liquid in it. The waiter told me to "close your eyes, imagine yourself in a garden, and feel the sunshine on your face". So I did. Rule Follower, I am. ;)
The hubby had a smoked bison, fennel and blood oranges concoction which seemed delicious (I had a small bite, but it was lost amidst my tomato-y bliss). But...pretty.
There's a MUCH better picture of this dish
here.
Next came the fish course. For me (in the background), lobster...with a most life-changing sauce whose ingredients I unfortunately cannot remember, on top of fresh greens (chard, I think?). The hubby's fish was Turdot, with gnocchi on the side, both in a phenomenal white wine sauce.
Now, when you read "white wine sauce," you probably have some idea what that tastes like. Let me assure you that this was light years better than and completely different from whatever you're thinking of (no offense if it's your own white wine sauce you're thinking of ;). Michael was hesitant about ordering fish at all (he's still trying to come to terms with the fact that he's not allergic to it...long story), so the waiter recommended this one, but also told him that he could just order another meat course if he wanted.
Speaking of the meat course...my Waygu beef, with life-changing whipped potatoes.
Life changing. And whatever the reduction was that it was served with was unbelievable. Of course, these teensy root vegetables were also from the chef's garden. The hubby had a pigeon pastry. I didn't even try it, because I was so absorbed in my steak.
Next, our waiter wheeled over an entire glass-domed cart of cheeses. We had the first cuts of the night, so they were all in beautiful whole wheels and wedges. We told him we weren't fans of blue cheeses, so he only gave us one to try. He arranged them from milder to stronger. We probably tried less than half of what was on the cart! I sadly cannot remember them all, but I can point out the standouts.
At about 10:00, next to the "R", goat cheese topped with honeycomb. Clockwise from that, two hard cheese that were fantastic. The second was Gruyère. Next were three soft cheeses related to Brie. I actually don't care too much for Brie; the first was good, the second (true Brie) was good for Brie...the third, I swear, had an aftertaste of Pine Sol! But, you have to try different things. =) And the next one (at 7:00) more than made up for it...a light cheddar-like cheese with Calvados. NOM. The final cheese, a blue, was OK. The only one I couldn't finish was the Pine Sol cheese! I did not get a picture of the wonderful freshly made crackers we had with our cheeses. Oh, and in the middle of the plate are chopped dried apricots!
Finally, dessert! DARK chocolate-covered praline, with edible gold foil.
Holy cow.
And Michael's; a poached pear with raspberry mousse inside, with macaron and candied pistachios.
And because the raspberry mousse inside was so perfect...bonus picture...
I had to get a shot of the signature plate. And in the background, you can see the white chocolate placard with my birthday message and some of the 5 pink roses they gave me.
They did not sing, LOL! Would have totally ruined the mood of the restaurant. =)
We were silently congratulating ourselves that we had managed to make it through dessert, and believe me---I felt like I had
just been able to eat everything. Even though each course was small, there were a LOT. And I maybe had one truffle brioche too many. Then, the waiter came out with a small silver dish, which he opened to reveal squares of dark and milk chocolate with ganache filling. THEN, he brought out this:
I like to call this course "Second Dessert" (hey, I figure if Hobbits have Second Breakfast, then fancy French restaurants have "Second Dessert"). There were tiny lemon tarts, nougats, caramels, handmade marshmallows--which, if you've never had homemade marshmallows, are a TOTALLY DIFFERENT ANIMAL than those packaged atrocities we buy at the store--some kind of fried cinnamon-sugar bread (kind of like fancy churros), and handmade lollipops!! I was so amused by the fact that I was sitting in a fancy restaurant sucking on a lollipop!
After we made it back to the room, there was a card from Remy on our door...and inside...
TRUFFLES! For once in our lives, we had no desire to eat truffles. We were too full! We did enjoy them very much later.
My roses bloomed beautifully over the rest of the cruise. Here they are on our last day:
Usually, the more beautiful the rose, the less of a fragrance it has. But these smelled WONDERFUL. Of course, I had to leave them on board...no bringing any vegetable material back into the States. =)
| JiffNotes |
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| Remy was totally worth the expense! |
