Drew's 40th Birthday Dinner in Queen Victoria’s Room - Victoria & Albert's

Most Brits seem to associate America with burgers, fries and other types of fast food, but over the years we have experienced some wonderful food in restaurants both casual and fine-dining. It should therefore be no surprise that Disney, that tries to do all things well, has within Disney World one of the best fine-dining restaurants in the region. Located in the Grand Floridian, one floor down from our room, is Victoria & Albert's Disney's ultimate in fine dining. Within Victoria and Albert's is the Queen Victoria Room. I'll let Disney describe it:

Behind frosted-glass doors, the room is a private collection of only 4 tables—accommodating parties of 2 each—set against elegant furnishings, a slow-burning fireplace and lavish artwork showcasing Europe’s royalty. It’s the perfect setting for a special occasion or romantic dinner. 

As the harmonious melodies of a nearby harpist echo throughout the warm chamber, experience the art of French gueridon service, where food is expertly prepared at your table. A wait staff of 2 is on-hand throughout dinner to tend to your every request, ensuring an unforgettable visit from beginning to end.

So where else could we go for Drew's birthday dinner.

Again, unusually for the US there is a formal dress requirement:

Dress Code - Guests must wear proper attire. Men must wear dinner jackets with dress pants or slacks and shoes. Ties are optional. Women may wear a cocktail dress, nice dress, dressy pant suit or a skirt with a blouse. Jeans, shorts, capri pants, sandals, flip-flops or tennis shoes are not permitted.

This meant that we both had to buy jackets for this holiday, so we could enjoy the dinner. My, former, work suits would be to heavy for Florida, so the week before travel we had headed to M&S for new jackets and in Drew's case matching trousers too. So here we both are dressed for dinner.

Our Welcome

We were welcomed to the room by the two waiters who would be looking after the six of us in the room this evening. The guys were Al, originally from Brooklyn, and Matt who came from Charleston, South Carolina, a place we had previously visited. They both looked after us with amazing grace and care. 

Our first choice was our selection of drinks. They offered us a list of Still and Sparkling Water, with eight international waters in each category. We were feeling a bit patriotic and choose the sparking Ty Nant from Bethania in Ceredigion. 

I mentioned there were six of us in the room on three tables. Four of us from the UK. The other two couples were both celebrating their wedding anniversaries as was noted at the end of the meal when the female partner was given a red rose. 

Amuse Boche

Our meal began with an Amuse Bouche of Cauliflower Panna Cotta with American Caviar which were served with micro chive and tiny potato crisps (chips in American) which was to be eaten with a lovely tiny Mother of Pearl spoon. The spoon avoiding the discordant taste that silverware might have on such a delicate taste, the taste was indeed very delicate, but delicious. The tiny chive leaf even had its own contribution to the overall taste offering an oniony taste.

First Course

Our first course was a dish of Alaskan King Crab with Water Melon and finger limes with a habernero veil. To my taste the water melon was a little strong for the gentle flavour of the crab, so I separated it. The melon was delightful in its own right, but I preferred the crab without the additional taste. The crab was beautiful and the veil, with a light chilli flavour worked well to bring the crab taste to the fore. A great start to the meal.

Second Course

Our next course was roasted sablefish with baby pak choy and coconut curry broth. This was one of my favorite dishes of the evening. The sablefish is called black cod or bluefish in different parts of the world but in Alaska where this one came from it is known as sablefish. The fish had a flaky, soft-texture and mild flavour which was the star of the dish. The pak choy came two ways, one cooked in a very light tempura batter, the other simply steamed, both were great. The sauce had tiny spheres of apples which were sharp and set off the rest of the sauce which had a saltiness like the sea that set the fish off perfectly. 

Third Course

Our third course was a lovely wild turbot with toasted capers and preserved lemon. This had a heavenly taste, I've had turbot a few times before, notably at Rick Stein's in Padstow, and this was cooked as well if not better than that. The stregth of the turbot's flavour means it needs a tangy, salty flavour to draw out its best, so the little capers and the tangy lemon was perfect for the job. Delicious, probably my favorite dish of the meal. I note that the waiters were calling the fish Turbot to rhyme with robot, rather than Turbot to rhyme with butt. I don't know if this is an American speech form, or they were trying to emulate the French, who tend to use that pronunciation?

Fourth Course

Our next delight was a great favorite of both Drew and mine - Langoustines. Though there were none of the pain of the harded shell of a fresh Langoustine here, these had been prepared and the lower shell and tail reattached for effect. They were New Zealand Langoustines and while one was left clear of sauce, as a comparator, the other was covered with nage crema. Nage being the style of cooking known in France as a court-bouillon, though as the crema implies this one was combined with cream to make a very sleek sauce. Which did I prefer, that is a hard call, the unsauced langoustine was delicious with its sweet meat still firm to the tongue, the sauced langoustine was also lovely with the cream adding a pitch of zinginess to the flavour that didn't take away from the langoustine but celebrated it. Alongside the langoustines were two piri-piri strips gently crumbled with black truffle, making the whole dish have a little heat and a great luxuriousness.

Fifth Course

So we came to the first of the meat courses - Marcho Farms Veal 'En Crepe'. Marcho Farms are a famed US producer of Veal and other speciality meats. The veal presented here, in its crepe, as 'en crepe' implies was pink and juicy. There were two medallions of veal and some lovely veal Sweetbreads served with Fava Beans, this caused Drew to start making sounds with his tongue like Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs. Of course the sweetbreads eaten with Fava beans in that film were not veal! How would I descrive this?  Delicious, delightful and cooked to perfection. It was the third of my favorite dishes.

Sixth Course

The sixth course was smoked rohan duck with fuji apples and celery root. Duck is one of Drew's favourite foods, certainly his favourite meat, so he looked forward to this with real anticipation. It was presented under a cloche with applewood smoke coming out of the cloche and filling the room as part of the service. The duck piece on top, with its micro radish was delicious, extremely well crisped on one side and pink and juicy on the other. Only an amazing chef could get it cooked so well. Something about the confit duck didn't work for me - a sweet taste that took away rather than added to the duck, but Drew enjoyed it a great deal, having a sweeter tooth than me. The celery root, or celeriac as we more commonly call it, was a nice complement to the duck. The fuji apple is a sweeter version of that fruit than I prefer. Overall, with the exception of the confit where Drew and I disagreed, we thought it was amazing and delicious. 

Seventh Course

The seventh course was Beef. This was two different types of beef, Australian Kobe style beef and Miyazaki Japanese beef. Both Kobe and Miyazaki are Wagyu beef with an intense marbled soft fat and high percentage of monounsaturated fats. Wagyu has a distinctive rich and tender flavour compared to other beef. Kobe is the creme-de-la-creme of Wagyu beefs, so it was nice to taste the comparison between them. Both were cooked rare for me, with Drew opting for his to be Medium. They were both delicious and melted on the tongue as you put them into the mouth. You can taste from its meatiness the difference between the two, but both were of absolutely excellent quality and cooked exactly to our tastes.  The meat was served with roasted Garlic Potatoes and a rich veal reduction. Given how wonderful the meat tasted on its own I used the sauce for the potatoes rather than on the meat - wonderful. I know it sounds greedy, but this was so nice I could easily have eaten another plate full.

Eighth Course 

Next came the cheese course. This was a wonderful selection that, instead of selecting, we both decided to have a taste of each of them. The cheeses included a California soft cheese made with Jersey Cow Milk, a Wiltshire Cheddar, a Derbyshire Stilton, a US Truffle Cheese and a rich Dutch Cheese with an unspellable name.

The cheeses were served alongside toast and macadamia nuts and a crispbread with the soft cheese. I am a cheese addict and each of these cheeses met my desire in terms of their flavour and quality.

Ninth Course

So we come to the desserts, the first was a Mango dome with meringues and blackberry velvet and a stained glass effect sugar-tuile.

The meringues were very light and fluffy and not overly sweet as meringues can be. The mango was light and fresh and went well with both the meringues and the blackberry velvet. The tuile was extremely pretty with many colours through the sugar work, but it was, Drew believes, mainly their for presentation purposes as it was to large, dense and sweet to eat.

Tenth Course 

The final course was chocolate. It was an Hawaiian cona chocolate souffle served with a chocolate tuile, chocolate ganache and chocolate soil all served with chocolate sauce poured into the souffle, and more of the chocolate sauce in a gravy boat on the side. This seemed to be two desserts in one with the granache and the tuile working wonderfully together whereas the souffle which fine on its own seemed to be separate from the rest of the dish.

Coffee

During the sweet courses we had the fun of watching water going up a tube as we were prepared to be served coffee in a reverse vacuum coffee maker. With the heat underneath the water bubbles up, when complete the heat is extinguished, they had a special tool to do that here, and the coffee then pours down into the bottom bowl and is served. It was a tangy Peruvian coffee and we completed it all.

Post Meal Treats

Having had our ten courses we were then offered Petit Fours, Drew had all six of these and enjoyed them a lot - though by this time he was somewhat sugared out. <<Co-pilot's note: His nibs, dear readers, has strangely failed to mention that poor little Drew was forced to eat both of his desserts and his petit fours on account of his diabetes. I defy anybody not to be sugared out after four desserts and six petit fours or similar circumstances>>


Drew was then given a bag with our menus, his special birthday greeting, and a birthday gift of an orange date nut bread cooked on the premises.



We left the restaurant caught the lift up the one floor and got to bed at 11.30pm after a wonderful celebration of Drew's birthday.