Victoria & Albert's Chef's Table Photo Recap

Here is the photo recap of our experience at Victoria and Albert's Chef's Table on June 6, 2011. Paired wines and links to more details on the course are provided next to the photos.

Grilled Spot Prawn, Soft-Poached Quail Egg, Cab Squash Blossum, Burrata alla Panna with Jamon Iberico
Paired wine: Taittinger Prestige Curvee NV

Maine Lobster with Passion Fruit Pearls
Paired wine: Michel Redde Sancerre "Les Tuilieres", Loire 2007

Cold "Smoked" Niman Ranch Lamb with Fuji Apple and Curry Dressing
Paired wine: Grans-Fassian Piesporter Kabinett Riesling 2007

Sake-Soy Marinated Gulf Shrimp with Bok Choy and Soy Beans
Paired wine (sake): Kanbara "Bride of the Fox" Gohyakumangoku Junmai Ginjo, Nigata

Roasted Quail with Asian Pears and Serrano Ham Jus
Paired wine: Ceretto Rossana Dolcetto d Alba, Piedmont 2006



Veal Sweetbread and Shank with Chanterelle Mushroom Ragout
Paired wine: Domaine La Roquete Chateauneuf du Pape, Rhone 2005

Australian Kobe Beef with Garlic-Potato Puree
Paired wine:  Benziger Tribute Sonoma Mountain 2006

Comte Sail Antoine, Flagship Reserve Truffle Cheddar, Colston Bassett Stilton, 24 Monnth Parmigiano-Reggiano
Paired wine: Quinta do Crasto Late Bottled Vintge Porto 2005

Orange Panna Cotta with Chartreuse-Pineapple Sorbet and Cherries

Mocha Scented Tanzanie Chocolate Mousse Timbale, Chocolate Cocktail, and Coffee

Victoria & Albert's Chef's Table: Course Ten

We made it. The last course. Before taking a look at the final dessert, here's that video of the coffee contraption:

Now the final dessert. We were both very full by this point so we weren't going to have much of this. I think it's a technique of fine dining to bring out the richest chocolate thing they can whip up to leave you with the impression of really being full.

Mocha Scented Tanzanie Chocolate Mousse Timbale

Chocolate Cocktail
These were tough to get through. Very rich. Chocolate mousse inside was more like a ganache. The chocolate drink also had a heavy orange flavor. All were good, just too much. Afterwards, they bring out a plate of chocolates and other candies. I was able to eat two jellied candies. We had heard they box up the rest of the chocolates for you. They didn't do it for us (we did not ask).

After settling up we received our menus and a loaf of orange bread. We dove into that 4 days later and it was still the moistest bread ever. Need more of that.

Overall the whole event was about 4 hours long and lots of fun! We went back by cab to the Animal Kingdom Lodge and prepared for our early wake-up call for our flight home.

Victoria & Albert's Chef's Table: Course Nine

Now for the sweet desserts. Our first plate had 3 items:

Orange Panna Cotta with Chartreuse-Pineapple Sorbet and Cherries.
The best item on the plate was the sorbet with the candied thyme.

Our coffee was prepared at-table using a fancy contraption that drew the water up into the grounds, then back down into the serving vessel as coffee. We got some video of that for the next post.

Victoria and Albert's Chef's Table: Course Eight

We've now crossed over into the dessert portion of the evening, which meant 3 items were coming.

Our first "dessert" was a cheese course.   I don't think I've ever ordered a cheese course.   The closest may have been at Food and Wine Fest.   Now that I've had one, I'll pay more attention to them in the future.  We both really enjoyed it.

Comte Sail Antoine, Flagship Reserve Truffle Cheddar, Colston Bassett Stilton, 24 Monnth Parmigiano-Reggiano

Each cheese was paired with a fruit, such as fig or a suace.  This was also served with our last wine pairing:  a port.

Victoria & Albert's Chef's Table: Course Seven

Back from the break. We are escorted back to our table and get ready for our final entree course.

Australian Kobe beef with garlic-potato puree
This was good! The beef was cooked perfect for Dave and went well with the sauce. The little vegetables come from a farm that specializes in them. The black mass in the potatoes is black garlic. This stuff is really good and appears to be a new on-trend ingredient. It's normal garlic that's been fermented. It has a real nice caramel/molasses taste to it. There was another new red wine with this course.

Forgot to put this in an earlier post. They had an ottoman for Holly to set her purse on.

Victoria & Albert's Chef's Table: Course Six

There's two more entree items left to go and they just started pouring red wine for the next course.

Veal Sweetbread and shank with Chanterelle Mushroom ragout
Sweetbreads.......We figured this was coming at some point. We've never had sweetbreads before for good reason: you shouldn't be eating THAT! The dish also had gnocchi and shaved white truffles. The verdict: I loved it. The sweetbreads added a bit of fatty texture to the dish. Holly did not enjoy it too much, but I think a lot of it has to do with not enjoying eating a baby animal.

This guy is working on fava beans. Lots of process goes into preparing these as we learned from Chef Aimee.

The waiter asked if we wanted a break. YES! We were escorted out of the kitchen to the main entrance. We had 20 minutes to stretch our legs. We watched the lobby band play some music and then went onto the terrace off the staircase.  We sat out here and enjoyed the view for awhile. The. We made our way in passing "Misnery" - which is our nickname for Misner's Lounge. We consider it the least appealing and impersonal lounge on property. A "miserable" place. We met back up with the hostess and were escorted back for our final entree.

Pre Rock & Roll 5K Tune-up video

Time to take a break from food. Here's a quick video from a recent 5k in Chicago. 8am start time meant we left the house at 5:30.