As far as Victoria and Albert's; what can I say? It was incredible. The best meal we have ever had. I know others have compared it to other high end restaurants in big cities but I have never been to any of those places. (Not that I don't hope to one day.) But for now, V&As will be the pinnacle of food I have eaten.
I wish I had more fancy adjectives to use to describe this restaurant, but I'm not digging up a thesaurus.
Ok, first-We drove to the Grand Floridian from Bay Lake Tower. We really should have taken the monorail. We ate at V&As on Sunday, the day we got in. We have never been to BLT before and driving here next to the MK can be a bit confusing at first! So ater we got turned around TWICE we found GF. The gate guard directed us to Valet parking. Apparently valet is free if you are dining at V&A. (I have a TIW card so it was free for me anyways) But I forgot to bring cash as a tip, so remember to bring a few bucks if you are dining at V&A! Chris was able to tip using a CC though so we felt better.
So we valet the car and head in to the GF. We arrived around 4:30 for a 5pm ADR so we had time to kill. We walked around the second floor and found a couch to sit on. There is a lounge there but since we were doing the wine paring we didn't want to have an extra drink.
If you don't know, V&As is on the second floor toward the back on the left. Next to Citricos. At first I could not find it because I didn't notice the sign above the entrance.
We walked over about 4:45 and there was no one around. After a few minutes two other couples walked up. About 5 to 5 a woman walked out and took all of our names and let us know we would start right at 5.
We were called first and shown to our table.
One thing I will note here-The restaurant is smaller than I thought it would be. I have seen pics but IDK, I just thought it was bigger. I think there are about a dozen tables in the main dining room.
Our waiter came and gave us our custom menus and went over them with us. They also leave the vegetarian menu for you to go over. We looked at it and most of the options were are the regular menu also. You are given a few minutes then they come back and take your order for all the courses.
I ordered
Cold Smoked and Seared Bison with Truffle Vinaigrette
Maine Scallop with Braised Fennel and Blood Orange Gastrique
Roasted Quail with Asian Pears and Serrano Ham Jus
Niman Ranch Lamb with Candies Marble Potatoes and English Peas
The Cheese Plate
Grand Marnier Souffle
Christopher ordered
Gulf Shrimp and Heirloom Tomatoes with Charmoula Sause
Roasted Alaskan Sablefish with Arugula Pudding
Marcho Farms Veal with an Apple Wine Kraut
Kurobuta Pork Tenderloin with Verjus-Bacon Vinaigrette
The Cheese Plate
Caramelized Banana Gateau
We both had the wine paring.
We each tried bites of the others food. I will say there was NOTHING we didn't like.
I wish I could remember what all was on the first course. It had four small bites the chef chose. Two items were only "good", but not AMAZING, and I was a little worried I may be disappointed with the meal. For that price I don't want good, I want spectacular!
Well the second course came and my fears were lifted.
Everything went together like a symphony of food. I cleared every plate! I was most surprised with the third and fourth courses. Fennel is something I would not have said I loved before. And I could not believe how well the Asian pears went with the quail. My favorite from Christopher's plate was the Gulf shrimp. I love shrimp and order it almost every time it is offered on a menu. And I purposely did NOT order it at V&A to "try something new".
Like I would have ever had something like that before!
We LOVED one of the cheeses and will be trying to find that. There was also one wine that Chris really liked. I am not a big red wine fan and most of our wines were red. As a pairing however they worked so well I did enjoy them very much.
Now my favorite from the meal was the dessert! The Grand Marnier Souffle was....I have no words for it. After seven courses and four pieces of bread I was stuffed! but I would have eaten another one of those souffles! It made me feel a way that I can not describe on the family friendly DIS boards
For anyone who has never had Grand Marnier before it is an orange cognac, so if you don't like orange flavor I would not recommend this one. For everyone else, OMG heavenly!
After the meal they brought out a rose and a loaf of bread to take home. They also brought out a few small pieces of sweets.
To say we were full is an understatement! We were there for 2 hours 45 minutes. While you are there time feels like it is standing still! I had no idea we had been there that long.
Well, there you have it. My review is not too fancy but I hope it is a good overview for those who have never dined at V&A before. We will be going back and I hope to dine in the Queen Victoria room if possible on our next visit. As a FL resident I was able to buy the Tables in Wonderland card and I saved 20%. The card almost paid for itself after this one meal!
Also I didn't take any pictures of the food here because of the atmosphere but I do have pics of almost everything else we have had.
