Victoria and Albert's - The Chef's Table, Part V
After the cheese course but before dessert your serving team will inquire as to your preference for coffee or tea... I highly recommend the coffee. It's Celebes... which meant nothing to me until we ate in the dining room last fall. I'm no coffee expert, but this stuff is great. A full flavored coffee, very rich with hints of berry, Celebes coffee is from Indonesia (at least I think it is). The best part about ordering coffee at V&A is the way it's prepared:
Cool...
Starting to brew...
Mmmmm...I'll take mine with cream and sugar!
Once the coffee was poured we were each presented with a lovely trio of dessert samplers. No alcohol is served with dessert, which is why Jay and I saved some of our alkie-haul from the cheese course. Rosa Regale is divine with every single one of the desserts we tried and the Tawny Port was no slouch, either.
Course Eight (Brenda & Jason)
Miniature Chocolate Pyramid; Hawaiian Kona Chocolate Souffle'; Orange Chocolate Napoleon
Looking at these pictures again makes me want to run amuck in the local French-styled bakery, dunking my head into a vat of chocolate and then inhaling large quantities of fresh whipped cream...stopping only to munch a croissant and possibly an eclair or two...or six.
I'm running out of decent adjectives to describe the food, but I'll give it a try. The chocolate pyramid was a wonder - it looks as if it would be a very dense, thick dessert but it's actually a feather-light mousse that just melts on the tongue. **Drool factor = 5 out of a possible 5 drool cups**
The Kona chocolate souffle was also very good and served with a super gooey, rich sauce that gets spooned into the middle of the souffle at the table while it's still piping hot. An extremely rich and satisfying dessert. **Drool factor = 5 out of a possible 5 drool cups**
Lastly, the orange chocolate napoleon...very attractive presentation...a dessert-engineering marvel...and just not very good in my opinion. But I have to be honest - I don't really like oranges or orange flavored desserts, so I'm biased. I was good and I tried it and then I gave mine to Jason, who didn't complain in the least. **Average Drool factor = 3.5 out of a possible 5 drool cups**
And now it's time for the real dessert...I think our eyes just about popped out of our heads when these showed up because we thought we'd just finished dessert.
Course Nine (Brenda's second dessert)
Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee
Perfect...light...sweet...dare I say creamy? I just wish I could have finished it but by this point I was so full I thought I might burst out of my dress if I tried to eat much more.
Course Nine (Jason's second dessert)
Caramelized Banana Gateau
They originally gave it to me by mistake, but we soon corrected that. I'm not a big fan of banana desserts, either, other than Bananas Foster. Jason, however, loves banana-ey desserts and he dug into this with gusto. If you're curious like me, a gateau is a light cake or pastry that is usually filled with custard, fruit, or nuts. How 'bout that spun sugar web across the top of the dessert? Pretty cool, huh?
We had one last visit with Chef Scott before waddling out of the kitchen for the night.
I am a God!
He even autographed our menus for us - wasn't that nice? As a tip for those of you who like to keep menus from fabu places you've eaten at...always ask for a copy of the menu (you'd be surprised how often the restaurant will give you one) and then ask if the chef will autograph it for you. It makes for a great keepsake. We've done this at Commander's Palace, NOLA, Brennans, Arnaud's, Emeril's, and Tchoup Chop... so far.
One last thing before we left... it reminded me of that scene from
The Meaning of Life with Mr. Creosote and the "wafer-thin mint." We were presented with a loaf of spice bread from the GF bakery and two massive chocolate covered Rainier cherries. We took them back to the villa with us to enjoy later in the week rather than create a "bucket" moment in the kitchen.
Can't stop eating...
The cherries were awesome - they'd been soaked in alcohol and by the time we took a bite out of them they were potent! Sadly, we never got around to trying the bread but I'm sure it was tasty. I bet mousekeeping thought it was good!
The last surprise of the evening was waiting for us when we returned to our room... some very sweet DIS-friends sent Jason and me an anniversary basket! Totally unexpected...completely overwhelming...a real teary, "some people are
too nice" moment. Thanks again Nancy and Chris for your thoughtfulness.
A tisket, a tasket, the boozies were sent a basket!
That's all folks! I will be back in a few days to answer questions and post a few random thoughts...hopefully by that time the Food & Wine Festival schedule will have been released. Until then, thanks as always for reading and for sharing your thoughts. You're all wonderful and you've made this so much fun to re-live.
See everyone on the flip side of
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! Until then, be well and happy!
) vicariously through you!
You are a wonderful writer, and i enjoy your pictures too! (Even if your leg does disappear every now and then 
actually i think it's more like weeks. anyway, i think we missed each other last spring by only days, too, right? we're leaving this friday for a quickie weekend and coming home monday. okay....jot this down somewhere in your long-term memory (because it's IMPORTANT!!! 
). ray and i are going to WDW on april 20th and staying for 5-6 days. so if you guys plan a trip next spring.....i demand that you plan it at the same time as us!!!!! 
okay....sorry about that. rant over. i just never get to meet my favorite DISers!!!
