Dinner at Victoria & Albert’s Chef’s Table - Sunday, May 17 (Part 1)
*Note: This is a photo-intensive and wordy post, so I’m going to split this meal into two parts.
Dining at the Chef’s Table at Victoria and Albert’s has always been on my bucket list, and it is
THE HARDEST reservation to get (perhaps even harder than getting Broadway tickets to see “Hamilton”… and I’m not joking about that). My husband and I are definitely “foodies”, as I may have mentioned, and we REALLY enjoy fine dining, and try to have a nice dinner out at a unique or well-reviewed restaurant on every vacation. Do I think the food is generally worth the amount of money (hundreds of dollars each) we pay for these gastronomic adventures? No, typically not – but creating a beautiful vacation memory that is sometimes the highlight of the whole trip is definitely worth it.
Our favorite
Disneyland foodie treat is the chef’s counter at Napa Rose, our favorite
Disney Cruise Line treat is Remy, and here at WDW, it’s hands-down Victoria & Albert’s. On our first visit several years ago, we ate in the main dining rom. On our second visit, we scored reservations to dine in the Queen Victoria room. And this time, we finally achieved our Grand Slam (all three dining experiences at Victoria & Albert’s) – and found an opening for Sunday night at the Chef’s table! I couldn’t believe it when the reservation agent at the restaurant confirmed that it was open. I wanted to shout from the rooftops, and share my good fortune with everyone. So how did we manage to wrangle this coveted reservation? Well, there are two golden rules to try to make it happen – first, you have to call the restaurant directly at (407)939-3862 at exactly 180 days prior to your ARRIVAL day to your resort. And that’s 8:00 AM Eastern Time. If you are staying at a WDW resort, you can make reservations for 180 days plus 10 days afterward, which is what gives you the advantage. So I called on December 13, and asked for any Chef’s Table reservation between May 13 and May 20, and we were SOOOO lucky that they had availability on May 17, which was actually our first choice. Note: This doesn’t always work, btw. During our previous trip when we ate in the Queen Victoria room (which is the same menu, just a different experience than the Chef’s table) I followed these same instructions and was not able to secure a reservation. So it really requires a bit of luck, but it can be done, so keep trying if you really want to experience it!
The Chef’s table can seat a party of up to 10, I believe, but 6-8 would really be the maximum for comfort, in my opinion. Even if you are only a party of one or two, you will be the only reservation at the Chef’s table in any given evening, so you will never be sharing the table with people you don’t know. I booked our reservation for all three of us, and decided to give our son the option of attending with us, or staying in the room by himself to read, play videogames or watch TV. Surprisingly, he wanted to come with us. My wallet gave a big sigh of resignation and suffering, but since I knew this could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for him, I didn’t balk. He likes interesting food, and we’ve never hesitated to take him to nice restaurants – he’s not a picky eater and is always willing to try new things at least once, and we are blessed in that.
For the first half of the day, we ventured back to Epcot and used our three FastPasses for the day on Test Track, Mission Space, and Spaceship Earth. I used the trick of looking at the dashboard of the cockpit on our Mission Space “shuttle” rather than the video monitor, which really helped with the slight motion sickness I experienced last time I went on this ride. We planned to get another nibble at the Flower & Garden Festival booths if needed, but I think we were just all pretty excited to get back and relax at the Polynesian and not fill up before the multi-course dinner that awaited us. I had a one-track mind on this day, and didn’t take a single photo of anything until we arrived at the restaurant, so the morning is kind of a blur of nothingness.
I have to say that I really enjoy hopping on the monorail in our formal clothes on the way to dinner – always. It makes me smile when people notice that we are obviously going to Victoria and Albert’s for dinner, and they always smile as well at our excitement.
Our reservation was at 5:00, and we were in the waiting area of V&A’s by 4:45. A short while later, we were escorted by the hostess back to the Chef’s table, passing by the harpist, who was playing beautiful serene music that immediately set the stage.
We met Israel, the maître d’ of the restuarant. Israel welcomed us and explained how the meal courses and the wine tastings would proceed. He also introduced our serving team, “Victoria” and “Albert”. I wish I could remember their real names, but they were delightful, and as polished and friendly as you would expect. Israel explained that Chef Hunnel was not in the restaurant today, but that Chef Aimee would be taking care of us. There was a smidge of disappointment that we were not going to be able to speak with Chef Hunnel again (we were previously introduced to him during our Queen Victoria room visit, where I was star-struck and could barely say “hello” and “thank you for the wonderful meal”), but Chef Aimee was so utterly approachable and charming that we truly didn’t give it another thought once we began our experience. We began our visit with a toast (DS had sparkling apple cider, which he loves). The adults had a glass of champagne (
Jacquart Mosaique Brut NV Reims), and the first wine pairing was poured (
Jules Taylor Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough 2013).
We paused to take a look around before the first course was plated, and took some photos of the chefs in action, preparing for the evening’s dinner service.
Before we knew it, the Amuse-Bouche course arrived –
Maine Lobster Salad “Jar” with Siberian Caviar. Here is the beautiful plating with the mother of pearl spoon that allows the true taste of the dish to remain untainted, and here’s a peek inside, so you can see the makeup of the dish.
And here’s DS, who thought his first taste of caviar was an amazing treat!
The bread course was next. One of my favorites, although I always have to give myself an internal lecture to go easy, so I have room for the other courses. I could make a meal on this alone (note to self: I must get a tiny salt spoon and one of these cool little bowls to hold several types of gourmet salts, so I can re-create this at home)
To go with the Sauvignon Blanc we were poured (although, let’s be honest, I had already “tasted” half my wine, because it already went so well with the lobster salad/caviar), we were served
Colorado Bison with Celery and Radish Slaw and Kumquats. It was fantastic, of course. This was a sweet little dish, and reminded me of the first time we dined at V & A in the main dining room. Rare bison was also served to us then, so it is obviously a favorite ingredient of Chef Hunnel, although the presentation was totally different. I love the juxtaposition of the kumquats with the bison and vegetable slaw. Very interesting on the palate.
We were next poured a
JJ Prum Riesling Kabinett, Mosel 2011, to accompany the next course, which is the “wow” dish that most people remember when dining in the Queen Victoria Room or at the Chef’s Table – the
Hot “Smoked” Niman Ranch Lamb with Fuji Apple and Curry Dressing. Here is a bief video of the table delivery – hopefully it will work, as it is a fantastic presentation of the dish. There were three small pieces of lamb, one for each of us.
Our next course was the
Fennel-crusted Diver Scallop in a Salt Bowl, paired with a
Foxen “Old Vines” Ernesto Wickendon Vineyard Chenin Blanc, Santa Maria Valley 2013. The presentation was beautiful. Somehow, I always pictured the scallop meat to be sitting directly onto a bowl made of salt, and thought that would be so yummy – but I like scallops any way I could get them, and the bowl and the loose salt below the scallop shell were only for decoration. If I think about it, though, I think the scallop would absorb the salt too much, and it would ruin the meat’s flavor.
And here I am holding the empty scallop shell, so you can get a feel for exactly how large that puppy is.
Next was a
Poached Chicken Egg with Corn Foam, served with a
Lafond Pinot Noir, Santa Rita Hills 2013. This was one of my favorite dishes. Who knew that Pinot Noir goes with eggs and corn? But oh, my – this was delicious!
You can see how, when the egg was cut into, the yolk, sauce, and the corn underneath combined into utter deliciousness!
Break time! Back soon with more!
