Day 8: Like Royalty / WDW-40, 2016

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I think I’ve covered pretty much everything about Victoria & Albert’s, so onto the food itself! Because we chose the 10 Course Tasting Menu, we could, if we wanted, switch some items from the Prix Fixe 7 Course Menu… I’ll go into more detail as we go through each course.

Victoria & Albert’s »

First Course

Amuse-Bouche…

Cauliflower Panna Cotta with American Caviar

An amuse-bouche is a small pre-starter – just a few bites in size. The French words literally translate to amuse the mouth – or in foodie terms to excite the palate for what is to come. Now, this is where I wished I’d recorded what we were told about everything on the plate. I am sure that sitting in the Cauliflower Panna Cotta were three tiny salted potato chips, and there was a herb resting on the caviar – maybe a chive?!

We were presented with spoons made from mother of pearl to eat the caviar with, as a metal spoon is said to impair the flavour. I’m a fountain of food knowledge and was telling Steve about this before the amuse-bouche was brought to the table.

I was not a fan of the American Caviar, but Steve seemed to enjoy it. The Cauliflower Panna Cotta was nice though.

There was the option here to upgrade the caviar – Galilee Osetra Caviar with Traditional Garnishes – $105 for ½oz, $210 for 1oz. That was a no from us!

Second Course

Steve and I had different dishes for the first course. I am not a fan of one of the ingredients in the dish he had, so I switched to the dish from the 7-course menu.

King Salmon with Cucumber and Dill

Dill is a herb that I really can’t get along with, so this dish was not for me. The King Salmon is that orange-y cube you can see at the front of the dish. Again, I wish I could tell you what everything else on the plate was, but alas, I can’t.

Popcorn Crusted Diver Scallop, Panisse and Blood Orange

I love scallops, and this dish tasted very good. What is a panisse you ask? Well, it’s a fried, chickpea flour cake from the South of France. There, we both learned something today!

Third Course

Alaskan Sablefish with baby Bok Choy

We have never heard of this fish before, but it was very nice indeed – tender and buttery. From the photo, I can see it was served with mushrooms and edamame beans too. In the background of the photo below, you can see a little wooden board. I’ve provided a larger picture too. It is called an Oroshigane – a sharkskin grater which is the best thing to grate wasabi on. This is proper wasabi and not the green horseradish that pretends to be wasabi that we get with sushi!

There was an option here to have a different (upgraded) fish dish – Wild Turbot with Toasted Capers and Preserved Lemon – $35.

Fourth Course

New Zealand Langoustine with Nage Crema

This course was one of my personal favourites. In my diary, I’ve written “Delicious, delicious, langoustine. So soft and flavourful – amazing!”  You know when you just don’t want the mouthful of food to end because it tastes so good? That was this dish!

What is Nage Crema? I’m glad you asked… Nage is the term used in the USA for a flavored liquid used for poaching delicate foods, typically seafood. A traditional nage is a broth flavored with white wine, vegetables, and herbs, in which seafood is poached. The liquid is then reduced and thickened with cream and/or butter. (Thanks Wiki!)

Fifth Course

Smoked Rohan Duck with Peaches and Celery Root

I am not a fan of celery – it’s my top, most hated food ever. But I love duck, and so, I asked if the celery could be left off, and it was. This was a real theatrical dish, brought to the table covered with a smoke-filled cloche, which when lifted, wafted out the aromatics from the dish. Wonderful!

Sixth Course

Marcho Farms Veal “En Croute”

This dish was another winner. The veal was served two ways – I know one was wrapped in pastry – the en croute part, and the other towards the front of the plate just grilled with truffle shavings. I couldn’t tell you what is in the middle, or what the meat is sitting on (and no smart “on a plate” replies here please). It could be puréed potato, or cauliflower… whatever it was, in my diary I described this plate of food simply as divine.

Seventh Course

Australian Kobe-Style Beef with Roasted Garlic Potatoes

This dish was available with an add on of 宮崎牛 Miyazaki Japanese Beef – $55, which I, as the birthday girl, opted for; Steve didn’t. This beef is 100% purebred Japanese Wagyu from the Miyachiku co-op. The name of the breed of cow that is used by Miyachiku is Kuroge Washu, also known as “Japanese Black”.

For reference on the plate, it is five slices to the right of the steak. This was not some pretend Wagyu beef that you buy as a burger in Iceland, this was the real deal. At just over ten bucks a slice it was some of the yummiest meat I have ever eaten. I did offer my wonderful husband a slice, but the rest was all mine!

The potatoes were lovely, and beautifully presented too – piped on the plate, with tiny vegetables nestled between the folds. The gravy, which was in the little pot on the plate, was very good too – probably made over days from all the meat bones and reduced right down.

This whole plate of food was scrummy! It was the sort of plate you want to pick up and lick clean – but you can’t because you are in a posh restaurant!

Eighth Course

Selection of Cheese from the Market

The cheese selection was wheeled over on a trolley and served up at the table. Now, I don’t know what the cheeses were, but the Disney website tells me the following: Gouda Reypenaer, Point Reyes Toma, Wyngaard Chèvre Affiné, and Colston Bassett Stilton. They may change their cheese selection seasonally, I do not know, but I know for sure there was a blue cheese on there, because I don’t like blue cheese and requested that it be left off my plate. I was given extra of one of the others instead.

The cheese came with some accouterments, which is posh for “the things you eat with the cheese” – crackers, pickles, etc. I learned that word from our Signature Dining at Walt Disney World over the years.

Ninth + Tenth Course

You receive not just one, but two desserts on the 10 Course Tasting Menu! We were starting to feel full, but not uncomfortably so. Service was nicely paced, and the portion were small. Because we could also choose from the Prix Fix 7 Course Menu, we picked four different desserts – I hope I can remember which four!

Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Wild Strawberries

This was one of the desserts on the 10 Course Tasting Menu. Look how pretty this dessert is – and with a touch of gold leaf too – fancy!

Peruvian Chocolate Crunch

This ended up being my birthday dessert – the plate was brought out with the greeting piped on in chocolate. More gold leaf! This was the second dessert on the 10 Course – so small in size. The other two desserts below are from the 7 Course, and since you only have one dessert on that menu, they are bigger portions.

Caramelized Banana Gâteau

Steve yummed this one up! Looks like some macadamia nuts tucked in there, and a random blackberry. We were most impressed with the spun sugar decoration resting on top.

Hawaiian Kona Chocolate Soufflé

What’s not to love about an ooey gooey chocolate dessert?! I think that was a scoop of ice cream on the side.

We are not finished yet! We’ve got Sulawesi Island Coffee by Joffrey’s, and Friandises to go.

The coffee was brewed in a reverse percolator – which makes the coffee in a vacuum. It was another theatrical piece, and fascinating to learn about.

We are learning lots of French in today’s trip report aren’t we?! Friandises is the French word for sweets. A huge chocolate box was wheeled over, and we could pick as many as we liked, so we went for one of each. The chocolates are made by a Master Chocolatier, and were very good. We decided we would take these home with us, but I did take a quick photo before Danny boxed them up for us.

After our dining experience, Danny and Sharon emailed us to thank us for dining with them. I replied, giving them utmost praise, and also asked if we could know what the different chocolates were. Danny was kind enough to reply with the following.

From left to right in the box –

• Almond flour Marzipan with Grand Marnier
• Chocolate Hazelnut Praline with Frangelico
• White Chocolate Raspberry with Valrhona White Chocolate and Chambord
• Dark Chocolate Banana Fosters
• Orange Rind dipped in Dark Chocolate
• Cherry Brandy (Rainier Cherry soaked in Kirsch for over a year, then dipped in Dark Chocolate)
• Chocolate squares with Caramel Infused with Myers Dark Rum
• Chocolate Mimosa (Champagne and Orange)

Our wonderful night at Victoria & Albert’s was coming to an end. All in all, we’d been there for 4 hours, but it really didn’t seem that long. It is lovely that there is just one sitting, which means you are not rushed through, and can enjoy everything at leisure. I was presented with a single red rose, and we were given a little bag with our boxed chocolates, our menu, and also a little mini cake to wish me happy birthday, which I thought was very sweet of them. We also had our picture taken as a memento of our evening.

Next it was bill paying time… hold your breath, because this one will be a shocker!

Was it worth the money? For us, absolutely! Given the surroundings, the service, the knowledge, the food, the extra touches, it breaks down to about $34 per person, per course. We had some top-notch food, with impeccable ingredients, and we would not hesitate to recommend Victoria & Albert’s at Walt Disney World. I’m am so glad that we got to dine here for my 40th birthday – it made it one to remember, and reliving it by writing everything up has made me excited to visit again one day.

As we stepped out of the restaurant, we could hear the firework bangs from Wishes, and decided on walking back to Poly instead of taking the Monorail – it was a lovely end to an out of this world dining experience.

Read about the day after:
Day 9: Two Parks, One Day
Animal Kingdom / Lunch at Tiffins / Magic Kingdom / Main Street Electrical Parade

Read about the day before:
Day 7: Going Home
Check-In – Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows / DVC Studio Room Tour / Dinner at ‘Ohana

» Read ALL the days!

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