The Everything Victoria & Albert's Thread

[Richard M Nixon]

Thank you very much for this information. It truly helps. My husband is a beer geek and loves trying new and different beers that are not easily accessible where we live (PA). He actually loves local breweries that often brew small batches. So it seems he may not be impressed with a possible beer pairing at V&A. Do you happen to know if they have an online beer selection list I can review? If not then we will possibly skip this as an option for drinks at our dinner.

The high end wine pairing is exclusively stocked by very small batch and boutique vineyards. Israel made it a point to mention that they usually only had 1-2 bottles of each on hand and that the vineyards would all fight to get in. Beer isn't quite as highbrow as wine, but perhaps they have something similar in place.

 

[Wicket's Mom]

This thread is very helpful, we are going to celebrate out 50th anniversary at V & A in September.

 

[alex9179]

Yes, Israel offered this up as an option on our next visit so I'm sure he does it for people from time to time, not sure how they'd price it though. However, I'm not going to take him up on it, to me, the wine selection far surpasses the beer selection. Even though they do have some nicer options on the beer list there's nothing especially amazing from when I looked at the beer list compared to what's out there.

I'm not sure if it's updated but it'd be worth a look.

I'd also shy away from it for turnover reasons, or request that no IPAs or vanilla/coffee stouts be included in the pairings as I'm sure the turnover is fairly low and their flavors deteriorate far faster than other stronger styles Imperial Stouts, Belgian Dubbels/Tripels/Quads, American Strong Ales, etc.

If your husband's a "beer geek" he may be disappointed, I was hoping to find a treasure trove of limited or vintage options like what's available at some of the better beer bars across the country with stuff like vintage sours/lambics/gueuzes, limited run barrel aged imperial stouts, harder to find trappist beers that come in very limited numbers to the states (wasn't expecting anything from Westvleteren but some of the more rare Rocheforts and La Trappes), maybe some crazy DeMolen beers like Hel en Verdoemenis Batch 666 or anything from Cantillon or vintage American Barleywines like Rogue's Old Crustacean or Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot from the mid 1990s or early 2000s?

I was hoping the beer selection would be in line with the quality of the wine and spirit selections but it's closer in rarity/specialness to the water list than the wine list. Turnover of the beer inventory could be a factor but, at the same time if they stocked some of the rarer more fortified options their turnover could stay low while simultaneously keeping or increasing the quality and rareness of the inventory.

I also think the craft beer landscape is too fad oriented for this to work for the beer geek crowd as well as wine and spirits do. The hot-right-now styles will be all the beer geek crowd will want and those, in turn will be the most difficult to source.

This is very helpful. Honestly, I'd be more concerned with having complementary pairings than "limited" offerings. I have two beer people that would enjoy the thought put into that.

 

[Claudia1]

We ate in the Queen Victoria Room last week, 8/3/16, and had the exact menu at Booger73's in March. We were able to snag the reservation just 3 weeks prior for our 40th anniversary. They offered a couple of special dishes but the main menu was still the same. DH did the wine pairings and loved them. The experience took over 4 hours and we loved it!

 

[Moback]

I have a question about the Queen Victoria room menu. My wife and I will be there in October and I do not eat meat other than fish. My wife will, but I will not. Will they be able to accommodate such an opposite pair?

 

[Claudia1]

I have a question about the Queen Victoria room menu. My wife and I will be there in October and I do not eat meat other than fish. My wife will, but I will not. Will they be able to accommodate such an opposite pair?

From my experience, yes. They will call you prior a week or so prior and ask you if there are any dietary preferences. They will serve each of you something different.

 

[izzylovesmickey]

I love Touring Plans reservation finder! Got an email this afternoon alerting me that there was a reservation available for Victoria and Albert's main dining room. I'm so excited! It's the day after our 25th anniversary but no complaints!

 

[steg]

This is very helpful. Honestly, I'd be more concerned with having complementary pairings than "limited" offerings. I have two beer people that would enjoy the thought put into that.

I agree, I'd rather have the pairings be on point as opposed to having off the wall beer geeky stuff, but, I just feel like we get to have the best of both worlds in so many spaces (wine, madeira, port, bourbon, scotch, etc) at that restaurant, why not have that with beer as well?

For instance, I had a '35 Port (1 ounce), a '22 Madeira (1 ounce) [both surprisingly reasonable price-wise given their age] and an '88 Port (2 Ounces, from the reserve pairing with the 10 course) with the cheese course of the 10 course on my last visit. I'd love to be able to order a '05 Cantillon Lou Pepe Kriek, '13, Cantillon Fou Foune, '87 Sierra Nevada Bigfoot, '09 Founders Nemesis, '09 Three Floyd's Dark Lord, or a '68 Thomas Hardy's, to have in addition to the great pairings though.

Another example is the whiskies they offer glasses of the regular stuff but also have stuff at $650/glass ('78 Glenmorangie Pride, not a great deal here price-wise, bottle runs ~$3600) and If you're a Pappy Van Winkle Fan, they've got all of them all there as well, to my knowledge. I've never tried any of those yet, though.

 

[SurferStitch]

We've dined at V&A 7 or 8 times over the past 19 years, and we've always been absolutely amazed at the meals we've had. We are dining there again this October for our 20th anniversary, and I'm over the moon! I can't wait to see what is offered. Wine pairings are a must for us, and we usually add on a couple of extras while we're there, too. The biggest downside to this visit...not Tables in Wonderland discount!! Boo!!

 

[KevinFSU]

25th Anniversary on Wednesday night, August 10th, and looking forward to the Queen Victoria room.

 

[hbrc2125]

Looking to book our first V&A dinner for our trip this January. There is availability for both the main dining room as well as the QVR (nothing for chefs table), should I go for the QVR?
TIA!!!

 

[steg]

Looking to book our first V&A dinner for our trip this January. There is availability for both the main dining room as well as the QVR (nothing for chefs table), should I go for the QVR?
TIA!!!

IMO no, they now allow you to order the QVR menu in the main dining room, and the optional sommeliers reserve wine pairings with the 10 course. We're also going in January and I called V&A to confirm that they still offered it in the main dining room.

What this allows you and members of your dining party to do is have more options when it comes to ordering and not be locked in to the 10 course. What my wife and I like to do is have one of us get the 10 with the reserve pairings and the other get the 7 with the regular pairings and share them both. I like to think of it as 17 courses Between the 7 and 10 course menus there is about the same amount of food, the main (beef) entree course on the 7 is much larger than the entree course on the 10.

QVR certainly has great ambiance compared to the main dining room but I'm not sure I'd go back as long as they offer the 10 course with the better wine pairings in the main dining room.

It's also kind of awkward (at least to me) with the QVR as there's so few tables in the room, there's more going on in the main dining room and more to look at and listen to (mainly the harpist) in QVR it was a little too quiet and not really all that much going on. The way they stagger bringing out the food makes the rest of the tables just kind of look at whatever table is getting the food and to me with only 4 tables this can get awkward. But I'm really reaching/nitpicking here, we had a great time in both locations I just think I prefer the main dining room compared to QVR as long as the 10 course and reserve pairings are available.

 

[DINKsAtDisney]

We are doing Main Dining room in Sept for all the reasons @steg mentions above - it just seems less awkward and quiet in general. I'm still hoping for a Chef's Table miracle though

 

[drdrowsy]

IMO no, they now allow you to order the QVR menu in the main dining room, and the optional sommeliers reserve wine pairings with the 10 course. We're also going in January and I called V&A to confirm that they still offered it in the main dining room.

What this allows you and members of your dining party to do is have more options when it comes to ordering and not be locked in to the 10 course. What my wife and I like to do is have one of us get the 10 with the reserve pairings and the other get the 7 with the regular pairings and share them both. I like to think of it as 17 courses Between the 7 and 10 course menus there is about the same amount of food, the main (beef) entree course on the 7 is much larger than the entree course on the 10.

QVR certainly has great ambiance compared to the main dining room but I'm not sure I'd go back as long as they offer the 10 course with the better wine pairings in the main dining room.

It's also kind of awkward (at least to me) with the QVR as there's so few tables in the room, there's more going on in the main dining room and more to look at and listen to (mainly the harpist) in QVR it was a little too quiet and not really all that much going on. The way they stagger bringing out the food makes the rest of the tables just kind of look at whatever table is getting the food and to me with only 4 tables this can get awkward. But I'm really reaching/nitpicking here, we had a great time in both locations I just think I prefer the main dining room compared to QVR as long as the 10 course and reserve pairings are available.

are you sure they will let you order 2 different menus at the same table? Most restaurants that offer tasting menus do not allow that sort of thing-- it throws off the pacing in the kitchen and at the table.

 

[steg]

are you sure they will let you order 2 different menus at the same table? Most restaurants that offer tasting menus do not allow that sort of thing-- it throws off the pacing in the kitchen and at the table.

Yep, asked this specifically just to be sure we could do it like we did last October. We did it last October in a table of 5 in the main dining room. 3 of us got the 10, of those 3, 1 got the reserve pairings, another got the caviar supplement, and the other 2 got the 7 course but split the regular wine pairing, they were able to pace it pretty well. Even though we ordered in the same way a middle schooler's math problem reads.

 

[hbrc2125]

Thank you @steg!! Taking all of those points into consideration. I have the QVR booked now because i figured it would disappear before the main dining room but i'm still on the fence.

 

[steg]

Thank you @steg!! Taking all of those points into consideration. I have the QVR booked now because i figured it would disappear before the main dining room but i'm still on the fence.

Congrats! You should keep it! Experience it for yourself at least once and then head to the main dining room on a subsequent trip.

 

[jedijill]

Glad to find the new thread! Dining in the MDR again for my birthday on 10/25 this time with other friends instead of solo like all my previous experiences!

Jill in CO

 

[steg]

Glad to find the new thread! Dining in the MDR again for my birthday on 10/25 this time with other friends instead of solo like all my previous experiences!

Jill in CO

Solo at V&A sounds like quite a bit of fun! I might have to try that some time! You probably feel like you get tons and tons of attention! How was it?

 

[kiford]

It's also kind of awkward (at least to me) with the QVR as there's so few tables in the room, there's more going on in the main dining room and more to look at and listen to (mainly the harpist) in QVR it was a little too quiet and not really all that much going on. The way they stagger bringing out the food makes the rest of the tables just kind of look at whatever table is getting the food and to me with only 4 tables this can get awkward.

I'd been a bit concerned with what I had read about the tables being close together and no real privacy and being able to overhear conversations before we went the last time. I didn't personally find them to be that close and can't say that I was able to hear any conversations near us. And we were too involved in talking to each other to be watching other tables get their food. Personal judgement obviously as to whether or not one finds the QVR awkward or not but we didn't and in fact will now always prefer to book it (although I'd take the main dining room any day over not being able to get a reservation at all).