This post will be devoted entirely to our dinner at Remy the evening we departed St. Maarten (Pirate Night for anyone keeping track). I must apologize at the outset, however; we don't have a copy of the menu and the DCL website menu isn't an exact match for the items we ordered. I've got good pictures but poor descriptions, so please bear with me. If you have any questions about anything feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer.
Jay and I were fortunate enough to dine at Remy last year on the Dream and it was an incredible evening with amazing food and service. While this dinner on the Fantasy provided equally amazing service and food, there were some subtle but noticeable differences that led me to declare our Dream Remy experience the gold standard of the two. I will delve into those differences at the end of this post, but wanted to set the table early.
Dinner at Remy costs $75 per person, and wine pairings are an additional $99 per person. Neither Jay nor I profess to be all that knowledgeable about wine - we know what we like and that's about it - but $200 for wine pairings is ridiculous. In our opinion guests are much better served by ordering a good bottle of wine with dinner; for example, last year on the Dream we ordered a fabulous bottle of Montrachet that only cost $130 and we were much happier with that than we would have been with the pairings.
This year we selected a bottle of champagne to enjoy with dinner; the previous day while finishing lunch the sommelier Florian helped us find a really nice bottle of bubbles: Bollinger La Grane Annee, 2000. This stuff was exceptional - so very drinkable and it paired amazingly well with everything we tried, which is the mark of a really fine champagne ... or so we've been told.
The price of dinner includes one complimentary champagne cocktail per guest - they call it the Colette, it includes Taittinger Champagne, Pear Vodka and alcoholic bits of fruit, and your server prepares it tableside. We were lucky enough to have Yannick as our server again and he was such fun and took lovely care of us. He even tried to help me with my atrocious Midwest French and I can now tell my dearest friends that I no longer pronounce foie gras as
faaaaaaah graaaaaah but as
fwahhhh grrrahhh. I hope they're proud of me.
Yannick prepares to make us a Colette
Champagne Cocktail? Don't mind if I do!
Dinner started with a wee gift from the chef: a breaded cube of tomato soup. I don't know how the soup ends up inside this flash-fried cube, but the taste is amazing. And I adore any pre-dinner treat that is delivered with the following warning from the wait staff:
Please chew with your mouth closed or you will besquirt your dining partner.
Tomato soup embedded in a bread cube
We both received the same amuse bouche: Ratatouille with Olive Oil Ice Cream. I give this full marks for creativity but I'm not sure even now if I actually liked it. The ice cream was the best part of this offering - incredibly creamy with a hint of olive oil - but I didn't really think it added anything to the ratatouille.
Interesting
My first course was a scallop on some kind of vegetable puree. The scallop was lightly seared and so tender that I barely needed a fork to cut through it.
Scallop
And I'm pretty sure that Jay's first course was buffalo. And I think he liked it quite a bit.
Buffalo
My second course ... it looks like sailboat shrimp in slime. Whatever it's official name, it was tasty and I ate it all.
Shrimp ... I think
Jay's second course was obviously some kind of fish. The burning question that needs to be answered is this: was it turbot or loup de mer? Let's just call it excellent and move on.
Fish ... definitely fish
This next course was a reprise of something we were served at the champagne lunch on Monday: Sea Bass with Gnocchi Chili. It was delicious then and it was delicious Tuesday night; consistency thou art a jewel.
Sea Bass and Exquisite Gnocchi ... again
This next dish is something of a mystery ... I think it may be quail or pigeon. Your guess, as they say, is as good as mine!
I cry Fowl!
OK ... these next two are a complete mystery.
This is just confusing ... and a little menacing
Most likely more seafood
Whew! Now we return to something I can identify easily, me being from the Midwest. This is meat! Australian Wagyu, to be specific. While this was good, I prefer the way it's served at Victoria & Albert's where it's thinly sliced and so rare you can still smell its breath.
Beef ... it's what's for dinner
It was served with this garlic puree that had a fabulous quail egg nestled in the center - so so yummy! I love quail eggs, and if that doesn't brand me a food snob I don't know what will!
Garlic Puree and Quail Egg
What did Jay have? Pork tenderloin ... I think that's what this is. He loved it, and even tried eating the wee corn like corn on the cob. It was really quite funny.
Pork ... the other meat that's for dinner
Glazed Carrots
One of the best things about Remy, in my opinion, is the cheese cart. I love cheese. I actually would choose cheese over dessert any day of the week. Throw in some port with that cheese and I will be the happiest person you've never met. You may choose as few or as many cheeses from the cart as your heart desires - Jay and I asked that they make us a cheese plate to share so that we could try them all.
Cheese me!
Cheese plate!
Jay's dessert was the best of the night ... for one thing his came in two parts and for another, it just tasted a lot better. It included a dark chocolate mousse with a golf ball and really cool looking infused dessert caviar. And it came with a chocolate shooter in elderflower liqueur! Guess who had to ask to have one of her own to try? It was one of the best things I've never chewed in my whole life!
Chocolate Mousse and stuff
Dessert Shooter in Elderflower Liqueur ... six dozen to go, please!
My dessert was lame and boring in comparison ... and I don't really like hazelnut all that much either. The profiteroles were dried out and no amount of cream was going to make up for that.
Hazelnut Profiteroles ... meh
Once again, we were presented with sweets and such to finish off the evening; we asked for these to be packaged up so we could enjoy them later during the cruise.
Homemade Marshmallows and wee cakes
Candies ... yum!
Jay and I were the last two people to leave the restaurant that night ... along with Wendy and her mum who also were dining there. I begin to understand why we were so well suited to be dining partners this week!
Remy ... emptied out
All in all, a very nice evening but when comparing our dinner on the Dream to this one on the Fantasy we gave the nod to the Dream for a couple of reasons. First, we both liked the menu choices from the Dream a little more than those on the Fantasy. Secondly, and this will definitely seem stupid to some of you but it matters to me, the cheese selection on the Dream was more extensive than on the Fantasy. Most people don't care but I adore cheese and want as much artisan milk by-product that I can get my greedy hands on.
In addition, there were some extra special touches from dinner last year on the Dream that didn't manifest this year on the Fantasy. We didn't expect those things, but because they happened last year and colored our experience, it only stands to reason that evening stands out a bit more than this one.
Finally, the lack of a souvenir menu, which was provided last year at Remy on the Dream as well as this year at lunch, was a sad omission. But to be fair, neither one of us even thought about it until we were home trying to remember what the heck we'd eaten in the first place!
Remy remains a great deal for the price - you'd be hard pressed to find an experience like this one on land for less than $150 per person. The food is well prepared and beautifully plated and the service is exceptional. If it's in your travel budget and you enjoy fine dining I strongly urge you to give it a try - I don't think you will be disappointed!
Yes, the rum punch flowed easily but this rookie drank her Guavaberry Smoothie a little too fast right before we headed onto the bus so I was ready for anything.
We also ditched the group and agree that there wasn't enough time to look through the shops. 
Almost forgot my password it's been so long since I've logged in...
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