Wood Nymph
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I love the plates with their perfect little depressions for food. 
I Wonder if Disney Will Get Mad if We Disassemble the Furniture. Sept/Oct 2024 TR! (Updated 5/29!)
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Stacybaeasm
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I'm with Wood Nymph. Is it weird that I'm more excited to see what each plate looks like than I am for the food? But getting to chat with the chef!! All I can think about is folx at the chef's table on Hell's Kitchen. I would love to sit at a chef's table and watch!
VAtink
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Aren't they cute? I love the presentation there!I love the plates with their perfect little depressions for food.
VAtink
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Haha, not at all, as my mom says, you eat with your eyes first! Yeah, it was super cool to just casually chat with the chef throughout the meal, it really is an amazing experience!
VAtink
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Day 9, Part 4: Victoria and Alberts – Chefs Table – Part 3!
Course six was next which was a Koji-aged Quail with Sunflower risotto and sunchokes. With this dish we moved into the red wines and started with a Pinot Noir from Sonoma.
I don’t think I’ve ever had quail before so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was really just like chicken, very fancy chicken! This was a really nice dish, I loved the sunflower “risotto” it came with! The wine went really well with it, it wasn’t too full body to overpower the food, but had a very interesting, and delicious, complexity. I would definitely like to find a bottle of it to have at home!
Course seven was a lamb course. It was Colorado Lamb with Peach and Mostarda. This was served as both a lamb loin and lamb belly. This was served with a garnacha, which is one of my favorite types of reds!
This was very good, and I’m not usually a big fan of lamb! I liked that they served both the loin and the belly as well. Not unexpected, the belly was a fattier piece, but so incredibly flavorful! The wine pairing was fantastic with this dish, it was a heavier full bodied wine that paired perfectly! I will note here, that the wine was starting to catch up to us, so we were a bit slow finishing the previous courses glass, hence the two glasses in the picture!
There was another bread service after this course, again we only had a few bites since we were getting pretty full at this point!
The next course ended up being tied for the top dish this evening (the other being the lobster). Course eight was a Miyazaki A-5 steak with Applewood Bacon. This was paired with a Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa.
As noted, this was one of my favorite courses. This was so incredibly delicious. The meat was so tender we didn’t even need to use a knife. My only complaint was it was such a small piece, I could have had a much larger serving of this dish!
Next up: Victoria and Alberts – Chefs Table – Part 4!
I don’t think I’ve ever had quail before so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was really just like chicken, very fancy chicken! This was a really nice dish, I loved the sunflower “risotto” it came with! The wine went really well with it, it wasn’t too full body to overpower the food, but had a very interesting, and delicious, complexity. I would definitely like to find a bottle of it to have at home!
Course seven was a lamb course. It was Colorado Lamb with Peach and Mostarda. This was served as both a lamb loin and lamb belly. This was served with a garnacha, which is one of my favorite types of reds!
This was very good, and I’m not usually a big fan of lamb! I liked that they served both the loin and the belly as well. Not unexpected, the belly was a fattier piece, but so incredibly flavorful! The wine pairing was fantastic with this dish, it was a heavier full bodied wine that paired perfectly! I will note here, that the wine was starting to catch up to us, so we were a bit slow finishing the previous courses glass, hence the two glasses in the picture!
There was another bread service after this course, again we only had a few bites since we were getting pretty full at this point!
The next course ended up being tied for the top dish this evening (the other being the lobster). Course eight was a Miyazaki A-5 steak with Applewood Bacon. This was paired with a Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa.
As noted, this was one of my favorite courses. This was so incredibly delicious. The meat was so tender we didn’t even need to use a knife. My only complaint was it was such a small piece, I could have had a much larger serving of this dish!
Next up: Victoria and Alberts – Chefs Table – Part 4!
Last edited:
Stacybaeasm
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LOL...the wine was catching up to you. I give you credit for getting this far. I would have been done at the 2nd glass.
VAtink
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The crazy thing is the wine pairing these days is significantly less wine than it used to be! The last time we ate at the chefs table not only were the pours larger, but we had more courses and each course came with wine and we got a welcome glass of champagne that wasn't part of the pairing. I think in total we had 12 or 14 different drinks back then.
This time we only had a measly 8 drinks./
VAtink
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Day 9, Part 5: Victoria and Alberts – Chefs Table – Part 4!
We were finally getting into the sweet courses at this point. Starting with course nine we had Purple Haze Chevre with Thai Guava and Reypenaer VSOP. This was paired with a Sherry.
This was a nice dish, although the goat cheese is one I get often at Whole Foods so not the most special dish of the evening, but still very tasty! We also got some crackers to spread the cheese on.
They also started the coffee service during this course. I love their coffee contraption! It’s a bit different than the one they had a few years ago the last time we ate at the chefs table, but the concept was the same.
Course ten was an ice cream cone, a Candied Carrot, Hazelnut Praline, and Cocoa Soil.
This was really good and such a fun presentation! They recommended picking the cone up and dipping the ice cream in the cocoa on the bottom, which was such a great suggestion, this really made the dish pop!
Course 11 was this delicious dessert with Valrhona Nyangbo Dark Chocolate, and Caramelized and Spiced Pineapple.
This was so incredibly good, very decadent!
Finally, we were at the last course of the night! Course 12 was actually four different desserts!: Opera Gateau, Lemon Ganache Square, Blueberry Macaron, and Chartreuse Baba.
These were all so good, but by this point we were so full it was hard to finish!
At the end of the meal we had to ask for the menus, they had them ready, but forgot to give them to us. Once we had our menus we were escorted out through the kitchen again, we made sure to thank everyone we passed on the way out for such an amazing meal!
Overall, this was an absolutely magical night. All the food was so good, we didn’t have anything we didn’t like. The wine pairing also was done really well, we’re so glad we went with it, even though it was a lot to drink!
Now I will say compared to the last time we ate at the chefs table they do seem to have reduced some of the special touches and this time felt almost rushed compared to our previous experience. The previous time the dinner ended up taking almost 5 hours, and mid-way through they actually recommended that we get up and take a stroll around the hotel to make room for the rest of the dinner. This time the dinner was much quicker, only about 2 hours, and we didn’t get offered that mid-dinner break. There were also fewer courses than the previous time we ate there, which I understand the number of courses can vary by night, so it may just have been our night had fewer courses.
Oh, and the wine pairing also included fewer wines, the previous time we had a different wine with each course, including the dessert course. This time the first two courses only had a single wine, and the dessert courses only had coffee. Not the end of the world, and probably a bit healthier, but just comparing to our previous experience it did feel like a slightly lesser experience. Ohhhh, and one last thing, they no longer give out roses at the end of the meal! I was shocked by this, every time we’ve ate at Victoria and Alberts, even if not at the chefs table, we’ve been presented with roses at the end. I’m sad that was eliminated. And also (I swear this is the last one
) the menus they provide at the end to take home aren’t as nice as they used to be, they used to come in like this nice folio thing (kinda like the ride photos used to come in), but now it was just on a shiny piece of paper which just felt so much cheaper.
All that being said, we still absolutely loved our meal, and for the service was excellent. We just missed some of the special touches that seem to have gone away over the years. We’ll definitely be doing this one again, but probably after a few years since the price tag is a bit eye watering!
After dinner I called for an Uber to take us back to the YC. Once back we finished packing and finished the wine in the room since sadly the following morning we’d be heading home.
I had to get a picture of my moms stash of drinks, I don't know what she was doing with this many!
Next up: See Ya Real Soon!
This was a nice dish, although the goat cheese is one I get often at Whole Foods so not the most special dish of the evening, but still very tasty! We also got some crackers to spread the cheese on.
They also started the coffee service during this course. I love their coffee contraption! It’s a bit different than the one they had a few years ago the last time we ate at the chefs table, but the concept was the same.
Course ten was an ice cream cone, a Candied Carrot, Hazelnut Praline, and Cocoa Soil.
This was really good and such a fun presentation! They recommended picking the cone up and dipping the ice cream in the cocoa on the bottom, which was such a great suggestion, this really made the dish pop!
Course 11 was this delicious dessert with Valrhona Nyangbo Dark Chocolate, and Caramelized and Spiced Pineapple.
This was so incredibly good, very decadent!
Finally, we were at the last course of the night! Course 12 was actually four different desserts!: Opera Gateau, Lemon Ganache Square, Blueberry Macaron, and Chartreuse Baba.
These were all so good, but by this point we were so full it was hard to finish!
At the end of the meal we had to ask for the menus, they had them ready, but forgot to give them to us. Once we had our menus we were escorted out through the kitchen again, we made sure to thank everyone we passed on the way out for such an amazing meal!
Overall, this was an absolutely magical night. All the food was so good, we didn’t have anything we didn’t like. The wine pairing also was done really well, we’re so glad we went with it, even though it was a lot to drink!
Now I will say compared to the last time we ate at the chefs table they do seem to have reduced some of the special touches and this time felt almost rushed compared to our previous experience. The previous time the dinner ended up taking almost 5 hours, and mid-way through they actually recommended that we get up and take a stroll around the hotel to make room for the rest of the dinner. This time the dinner was much quicker, only about 2 hours, and we didn’t get offered that mid-dinner break. There were also fewer courses than the previous time we ate there, which I understand the number of courses can vary by night, so it may just have been our night had fewer courses.
Oh, and the wine pairing also included fewer wines, the previous time we had a different wine with each course, including the dessert course. This time the first two courses only had a single wine, and the dessert courses only had coffee. Not the end of the world, and probably a bit healthier, but just comparing to our previous experience it did feel like a slightly lesser experience. Ohhhh, and one last thing, they no longer give out roses at the end of the meal! I was shocked by this, every time we’ve ate at Victoria and Alberts, even if not at the chefs table, we’ve been presented with roses at the end. I’m sad that was eliminated. And also (I swear this is the last one
) the menus they provide at the end to take home aren’t as nice as they used to be, they used to come in like this nice folio thing (kinda like the ride photos used to come in), but now it was just on a shiny piece of paper which just felt so much cheaper.All that being said, we still absolutely loved our meal, and for the service was excellent. We just missed some of the special touches that seem to have gone away over the years. We’ll definitely be doing this one again, but probably after a few years since the price tag is a bit eye watering!
After dinner I called for an Uber to take us back to the YC. Once back we finished packing and finished the wine in the room since sadly the following morning we’d be heading home.
I had to get a picture of my moms stash of drinks, I don't know what she was doing with this many!
Next up: See Ya Real Soon!
Wood Nymph
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It all looks fabulous. The desserts look good, too. I would have been too full to eat much by the end of the night.
Stacybaeasm
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- Mar 28, 2008
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It's so interesting to see a comparison about how an experience has changed over the years. But, I'm glad you all had such a great dinner. And the shelf of mom's drinks??!! LOL - that's the way to go on vacation!
VAtink
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It was so good, but yeah, it was a LOT of food!
VAtink
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Yeah, crazy the one change I hate the most is them getting rid of the roses. Such a silly thing, but I used to love getting them! It was such an amazing dinner though!
Yeah, I couldn't stop laughing when I saw her shelf of drinks! Had to finish everything before checkout!
VAtink
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Day 10, Part 1: See Ya Real Soon!
We got up around 6 this morning and took our time getting ready. We had later morning flights, but my mom likes to get to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Now if we were flying out of terminal A or B I would 100% agree with this, but since we were flying out of terminal C I wasn’t thrilled to be up so early to get there super early, but it was worth it to put my mom’s mind at ease.
We ended up calling for an Uber around 7, and our car arrived around 7:15. We were at the airport around 7:45 and per usual terminal C wasn’t crowded at all.
There was a bit of a line to drop off our checked bags, but it moved super fast, I think we waited maybe 2 minutes.
Once our bags were dropped off we made our way to security where there was a whopping two people ahead of us! Seriously, I LOVE terminal C. Even though Jetblue has changed the flights so the timing isn’t great anymore, I’ll still fly with them just to be able to use terminal C!
Our flights this morning were within about 30 minutes of each other. So we went to the gate of the earlier one, I believe it was mom’s. My gate was only two over though so easy commute! We ended up having about two hours to wait, so we spent the time going through each others pictures and I charged my phone on the wireless charging station on the armrest (I love they did this).
Finally, it was time for my mom to board, so we hugged goodbye, and I made my way to my gate to wait for my turn to board. It was a short wait, and soon I was getting on my own plane.
The flight home was pretty quick, about 1.5 hours, and soon we were landing at DCA! I was in the second row on the plane so made it off the plane quickly. Although this isn’t always the best when I check a bag since it takes forever for the checked bags to come out at this airport. I know I say this probably every TR, but I do not understand why it takes so long. It is such a small airport, the gates aren’t horribly far from the baggage carousels, so I just don’t get it. Once again it took about 40 minutes for our bags to start coming out.
Fortunately, my bag was one of the earlier ones to come out, so after grabbing it I made my way outside and over to the Uber pick-up area. It took a pretty long time to get a car this day, and the pick-up area was packed, it looked more like Christmas travel season than a random day in October! It ended up being about 30 minutes before my car arrived, which is super long for this airport, usually the car arrives within 10 minutes.
Thankfully once the car arrived it was a super quick ride home, less than 10 minutes, being only a few miles from the airport has it’s advantages!
Once home I spent some time cuddling with my cats, then started the many many loads of laundry. Since it was a Sunday I couldn't pick my dog up from boarding, but that actually works out well since it's hard to get chores done with my dog following me everywhere!
Btw, these are my cats, Binx and Hamlet as Disney characters!
Once the laundry was started I did my favorite post trip activity….started this TR!
Overall this was an amazing trip. I love all the extras we did this time around, like Up Close with Rhinos, and of course the chefs table at Victoria and Alberts. The only thing that would have made it better is if they had brought back the special events for F&W! (ok, and also maybe if it were a bit cooler out
)
Hope everyone enjoyed this TR! We’re about to head back to Disney, so get ready for a new report soon!
We ended up calling for an Uber around 7, and our car arrived around 7:15. We were at the airport around 7:45 and per usual terminal C wasn’t crowded at all.
There was a bit of a line to drop off our checked bags, but it moved super fast, I think we waited maybe 2 minutes.
Once our bags were dropped off we made our way to security where there was a whopping two people ahead of us! Seriously, I LOVE terminal C. Even though Jetblue has changed the flights so the timing isn’t great anymore, I’ll still fly with them just to be able to use terminal C!
Our flights this morning were within about 30 minutes of each other. So we went to the gate of the earlier one, I believe it was mom’s. My gate was only two over though so easy commute! We ended up having about two hours to wait, so we spent the time going through each others pictures and I charged my phone on the wireless charging station on the armrest (I love they did this).
Finally, it was time for my mom to board, so we hugged goodbye, and I made my way to my gate to wait for my turn to board. It was a short wait, and soon I was getting on my own plane.
The flight home was pretty quick, about 1.5 hours, and soon we were landing at DCA! I was in the second row on the plane so made it off the plane quickly. Although this isn’t always the best when I check a bag since it takes forever for the checked bags to come out at this airport. I know I say this probably every TR, but I do not understand why it takes so long. It is such a small airport, the gates aren’t horribly far from the baggage carousels, so I just don’t get it. Once again it took about 40 minutes for our bags to start coming out.
Fortunately, my bag was one of the earlier ones to come out, so after grabbing it I made my way outside and over to the Uber pick-up area. It took a pretty long time to get a car this day, and the pick-up area was packed, it looked more like Christmas travel season than a random day in October! It ended up being about 30 minutes before my car arrived, which is super long for this airport, usually the car arrives within 10 minutes.
Thankfully once the car arrived it was a super quick ride home, less than 10 minutes, being only a few miles from the airport has it’s advantages!
Once home I spent some time cuddling with my cats, then started the many many loads of laundry. Since it was a Sunday I couldn't pick my dog up from boarding, but that actually works out well since it's hard to get chores done with my dog following me everywhere!
Btw, these are my cats, Binx and Hamlet as Disney characters!
Once the laundry was started I did my favorite post trip activity….started this TR!
Overall this was an amazing trip. I love all the extras we did this time around, like Up Close with Rhinos, and of course the chefs table at Victoria and Alberts. The only thing that would have made it better is if they had brought back the special events for F&W! (ok, and also maybe if it were a bit cooler out
)Hope everyone enjoyed this TR! We’re about to head back to Disney, so get ready for a new report soon!
ThreeBoyMama
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What a great trip. Can’t wait to hear about your next adventure!
Wood Nymph
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My husband always has to be super early, too. I just go with it.
I'm looking forward to hearing about your June trip.
2xcited2sleep
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Chef's Table sounds like an absolutely delightful experience although I'm sad to hear they've scaled it back and done away with some of those extras. I remember the mid-meal break ... I wound up doing some tipsy shopping. 
Looking forward to hearing about your upcoming trip. Have fun!!!
Looking forward to hearing about your upcoming trip. Have fun!!!-
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