Mikka & Redwitch once again go to WDW and eat everything! Live! With pictures! Yay!

[auntfrannie]

Just wow. An amazing meal. I did the main room on my 50th birthday. I think it's time for me to try and get a reservation for the QVR next time.

 

[Mikka]

Leaving tomorrow! Leaving tomorrow! Leaving tomorrow!

I think the Queen Victoria room has a lot to recommend for it, but... well, I'll talk a bit more about it in the last post I do.


On to the second to last course. /sniff

This is when the coffee or tea should show up, but due to some wrinkles I didn't get my tea till next course. As on the menu, it's listed at the very end, I'll just post pictures of the coffee/tea there.



So here is dessert number one! (Unless you count the cheese as a dessert, which I suppose is reasonable.) This is the lighter one: 'Citrus Timbale with Violet Sherbet'. Timbale refers to the sort of pan used in baking this, which is sort of drum shaped: thinner at the bottom then at the top (not that all drums are shaped like that). A timbale is what you bake panettone in, basically. Yes, I did just steal that from wikipedia, why do you ask?

This was a meyer lemon mouse with a blood orange core- see?



...Sitting on top of an almond shortbread cookie, with a bit of raspberry sauce, and then the violet sherbet with a candied flower on it.

Honestly, at this point I was getting to the point of "tooooo fulll". I think mom was, too. But we still made a pretty decent dent on this, though we were aware there would be another dessert coming.

My opinion? I actually liked this one better then the next (I believe mom had a different opinion). It was sweet and sour, light, and had a bunch of contrasting but fruity flavors that went lovely together. This was a very well executed dish, in my opinion. Totally enjoyable. Also, the candied flower was delicious.

(It's nice to have a bunch of posts where I just say positive things, huh.)


Two more posts, and then we're done! Sort of sad, save for that I'll probably be starting a new post tomorrow. Wow.

 

[Mikka]

Final course...

Let's be different and start with the description first!

'Peruvian Chocolate Timbale with Roasted White Chocolate Gelato'.




This is basically exactly what it looks like. A chocolate timbale somewhere between a cake and a mouse in texture and consistency (creamer then a cake, but lighter then a mouse, basically), white chocolate gelato (that was surprisingly delicious- mom and I are not huge fans of white chocolate, but I imagine this actually used real cocoa) and then more chocolate. Oh, and some edible gold, as that stuff is awesome.

I ate I think around two bites of the timbale (which was excellent, don't get me wrong) and all the gelato, as I do love gelato (and as I said, this was really good). It's around this point that the fact that you're no longer drinking and staying awake kicks in and you realize you got up for rope drop at AK that morning and you've eaten sooo mucchhhhh... so yes, I was feeling a bit tired (and due to timing, we ended up taking the trip to DTD to transfer, which was a pain due to construction).


Err... in case you couldn't tell, I'm really just sort of babbling, as sadly I don't really have anything to say. 'It tasted delicious, but I was far too full'. That's really it.


Alright, we'll have one more post of the coffee/tea/chocolates, as well as just a brief summary of our thoughts. Woo! Coming later.

 

[DisneyJo]

It's a pity you can't just go for dessert

 

[chocolateMinnie]

I LOVE the look of V&A but I'm really not sure if I could cope - I'd certainly like to have a go

 

[Redwitch]

I think it's time for me to try and get a reservation for the QVR next time.

There are positives and negatives of the QVR. But I am all about experiences, so I say - go for it!

'It tasted delicious, but I was far too full'. That's really it.

This is the truth. But if I was a betting woman, I'd bet I managed to put a good dent in that chocolaty goodness.

It's a pity you can't just go for dessert

Yes, really! Dessert and drinks would be nice! But as they seem to have no problem filling the tables for full dinners, not happening.

I LOVE the look of V&A but I'm really not sure if I could cope - I'd certainly like to have a go

The portions are smaller then full plates and the meal can last hours, so it is easier then expected to finish the majority of the meal.

Packing just about done. I still have some household tie-ups to complete before our crack of dawn flight. So excited!

 

[Mikka]

My internet is being stupidly uncooperative at the moment. Hopefully, this eventually posts.

As for V&A, it is definitely worth a try, though for a first time I think I'd do the main room- more choices, and not as long of a meal. As for dessert... you know, thinking, the one time we did the Chef's Table, we were told a lot of people couldn't make it to dessert. They often recommended before the cheese course, people taking an hour or so break to walk around the Grand Floridian, maybe the see Wishes at the docks if they were early enough, and then wandering back over to V&A and finishing the last three courses. We didn't do that, as we're already slow enough, but I guess it makes sense at the Chef's Table.



As for this last part... well, we're at the end!

First, let's start with the tea and coffee machines.

Everyone has probably heard of the V&A super special awesome coffee machine of doom. It works the reverse way of a normal coffee machine, from what I understand. If you want more information on it, anyone whose ever done a review of V&A has probably posted on it, or mom can give a long discourse.



See, it's neat, huh?

New to us, though, was that they had gotten a tea machine that works similarly.



I admit that how exactly this works is a bit arcane to me. The water is heated by the burner, then the water swirls up, and the tea leaves swirl with the water and there's a whole lot of swirling-



Seriously, look at all this swirling!

...And somehow, this makes tea as the water floats back down and can thus be poured. I'm not sure I'm getting it right; it's awesome to watch, but a bit confusing.



(One little leaf did escape in to my glass, but that's not bad.)

While mother just had decaf coffee, I was given a whole list of loose leaf teas to choose from. White, green, black, rooibos (blah blah not really tea, I know). I believe I went with a lemon herbal infusion, though I couldn't give you certainties. At this point, I was done with the note taking.

They weren't done bringing us food, though!



I honestly don't think there's anyone who actually has room for these after nine or whatever courses. Thankfully, they're prepared for that.



Amy basically took them out of that pretty box, put them on this little tray, and then put them in a cute little plastic box for us to take. I'm not sure what the point of the tray part was besides looking at them and going 'Oooo, ahhh', but it's there.

As for how they tasted?

Well, here it's my turn to be sheepishly embarrassed, as I confess we only ate them three or so weeks ago. We threw out straight-away the cherry chocolate one and the orange rind one, as those had real fruit and probably were bad. The others, we ate. The banana and the mimosa ones were very much like their described fruit: it wasn't fake fruit tasting, but I'm not sure banana chocolate or orange chocolate is really my thing. The raspberry and the mascarpone were good. My favorites were the rum caramal (which had gotten everything all sticky, sadly) and the praline, personally. Delicious!

Mom took a few close-ups...





Finally, as mom was celebrating her birthday, we were given this little loaf to take back to the hotel with us (along with two roses):



It was good, but very crumbly. Almost to the point of being hard to eat.



And... wow, that is it. I did finish! I get to go to Disney tomorrow!

(Not that she'd really leave me behind, but better safe then sorry.)

Here's where things get a bit tricky.

You read my reports. You noticed that we basically loved every bit of food put in front of us and had no complaints with the food, setting or service. It was all delicious as well as a wonderful experience. No complaints. If you've never eaten at V&A, you should go eat there. You really should.

And yet- and yet-

The last time we did the Queen Victoria Room, we picked out what cheeses we wanted and it was cut up for us (like mom mentioned up thread). Little croutons were fried for us table side. Bread was always cut rather then presliced (rather then it just happening once here). There was an enormous amount of chocolate, and it was pick and choose rather then 'one of each. Back then, part of the selling experience was that stuff was done for you tableside while you spoke with the waiter/waitress. This time, we had the one butter service (rather then all of them being like that), the covers lifted off of our lamb and sauce poured on one dish. Yet the price has only gone up while the interaction has gone down.

So, while we thoroughly enjoyed this... there are other restaurants that do fantastic expensive meals similar to this. (Like TE, which is the same amount of quality food for cheaper- though it lacks the cool tea and coffee.) We decided if we did V&A again, we'd either do the main room and save money, or go all out and do the Chef's counter where you at least have the interaction with the chef to go off. If you were doing a romantic anniversary dinner, the Queen Victoria room might be worth splurging for, but for a mother daughter pair, it didn't seem to be.

Having said that, as soon as we got back from vacation with that in mind, it turned out their changing the Queen Victoria room to focus on wine pairings for food from around the world, which sounds awesome and up our alley. SIGH. So, okay, as it is now- the Queen Victoria room isn't worth it for us, probably. As it is in three or whatever days- it almost definitely will. Gah, Disney! Though I suppose it's good they're doing some changes, as it didn't seem really worth it at the prices. Hm.


And, hm, I guess that's a wrap! I'll probably try and start a thread tomorrow, though honestly, maybe it would be better if I waited till I got back from vacation to start it. I guess we'll see how much time we spend in the hotel room.

For now, I can only thank you all so very much for sticking with me and reading. Your comments kept me going. Thank you! Please follow along with the next report, too, if you can, and post your own food reports when you go!

(I was going to end the food report with a picture of one of my cats, but I think I filled up this post with pictures. Heh. Oh well.)

 

[Lady de Winter]

Wonderful! That looks like such an amazing experience, I am so glad you finished writing about it. I loved reading your review and am looking forward to your next one!

 

[tigerlilly]

Absolutely wonderful report!!! We live in California and have not been able to visit Disney World in ...gasp... 10 years this December! Your dining report felt like being there! Thank You! I really hope you are able to do one for your Food and Wine trip (hope you had a great time!!)

 

[Mikka]

Thank you very much! I'm hoping to start my F&W food report today or tomorrow. A lot happened, and it was an exhausting trip in some ways... but we had a ton of good food.

(I think I got lobster five times? Oooo.)

I hope you'll read it, too, and enjoy!

 

[sarasamsmoms]

I loved your posts! Your insight and personality kept me reading, can't wait until your next review. Great job!

 

[Redwitch]

I loved your posts! Your insight and personality kept me reading, can't wait until your next review. Great job!

Mikka started her next food review... http://www.disboards.com/threads/mi...ood-drink-and-as-always-pictures-yay.3456272/ Perhaps you will join me in encouraging (harassing) her to finish it!