Before I get into the meal, I forgot to mention this wonderful exchange we heard in the Magic Kingdom yesterday.
Mom, trying to organize her kids into a straight line for a photo:
“Line up alphabetically!”
Kids, confused, start to do that.
Mom: “No, I said alphabetically! Alphabetically by height!!!!!!”.
Dean: Smacks forehead. Alphabetically by height. Those poor kids just don’t have a chance.
Anyhoo, let’s get on to the main event of the trip, our third visit to Victoria & Albert’s, the only restaurant in Central Florida to be honored with AAA’s Five Diamond rating every year since 2000.
As always, they called us a week or so ago to go over our allergies, likes and dislikes, to custom tailor a menu specifically for us.
Disclaimer: All of the wine that I have reviewed below was part of our “wine pairings”, with the exception of the one at the very bottom, so the prices I have listed are guesses based on internet prices unless other specified. I am not sure how much bottles would be in your local market.
Our Amuse-Bouche came with this wine.
Tracey’s dish was the same as mine, minus the crab and caviar. We both absolutely loved this dish, and the pairing with the champagne.
What a treat that was, and the next course was even better.
We both agreed that this was probably the food and wine pairing of the night. It accomplished what so many pairing set out to do, and so often fail at: It elevated both the food and the wine. Just superb.
After cleaning up her plate, she pointed to it, looked at me and said, “MAKE THAT!!”.
Yeah, right.
Up next, we got to chew on some glass. Literally.
Yeah. Potato Glass. Our waiter explained how it is made, it is a 24 hours process, and I can’t remember enough of it to share it with you. The roasted fingerlings are under the meat. Tracey’s meal, the poussin (free-range chicken), was a combination of white and dark meat, put together and baked in it’s own skin.
I liked my dish (tooth fish is a type of cod) more than Tracey did. I fact I loved it.
Tracey and I both agreed that this wine cut into the “dilliness” of the dish. I love dill; she likes dill. So, we disagreed about whether or not this was a good pairing. She liked that it cut into the dill flavor; I did not. To me, this was the only poor pairing of the evening.
Next up was one of the optional add-ons, which I selected. Even my fish-hating wife loved this one.
Next up was a ‘surprise’ dish which wasn’t on our menu. A second “Amuse-Bouche” if you will.
This was tasty, but since the wife is the short-rib lover in the family, I gave her half of mine.
Up next, we get into the red wines.
DEEE. LISH. US.
So good, and another terrific wine pairing with the below, my all-time favorite of this varietal.
Bring on the red meat!!
Parts of this dish were a bit spicy for Tracey, and I was pretty skeptical that this wine could stand up to the heat. I was so, so, so wrong. It went with the dish perfectly.
OK so now let’s get serious. And I mean ridiculously serious.
Everything on this plate was delicious, but let’s talk about the Japanese Wagyu. Our waiter had some incredible information about this beef.
- The cows cost around $100,000.
- They know the lineage of the cow, as if it were a Thoroughbred racehorse
- They have the cow’s nose print. Read that again. You can’t make this up.
Don’t believe me? Here it is.
So, how was it? Incredible in a very small dose. Honestly, I cannot imagine sitting down to a whole steak made from that beef. Even if this weren’t the eighth course of the evening, it is just too rich for me to consume in a large quantity. Both of us preferred the Australian Kobe-style Filet.
The wine pairing was excellent with both cuts of beef.
OK that’s it, enough food, let’s go home.
Ooooooooooooh, three more courses????
We joke that during dinners like this, you come in hungry (unless you are a fool), and early in the meal you are usually anxious for the next course. By the fourth or fifth course, you are begging them to give you a bit more time.
By the eighth course, I am begging them to shoot me.
The wine was a real treat and paired lovely with everything on this plate of “pre-dessert”.
Oh, you thought that WAS dessert? Oh no, true believer.
Another off-the-menu bonus treat.
Delicious, of course. But at this point I am pretty much ready to tap out, except that we are not quite done yet. NOW, it is time for dessert.
OMG so good. EVERYTHING was so good.
We were done with the wine pairings, but I figured we had not quite spent enough money tonight, so I took a look at the after dinner wine menu and decided to try something that I can’t imagine too many people have ever had. I am not going to give it a score since it was pretty much a curiosity instead of a normal glass of wine. Tracey tried it and hated it, but I thought it was pretty good. It was certainly a special birthday treat.
Well, that was the end of a fabulous evening, and a pretty damn good start to my birthday week of great wine and food. This was the pinnacle, for sure, but won’t be the last great meal we have this trip.
Yes, this is the new clubhouse leader in the “most expensive meal we have ever had” contest, surpassing the meal we had during our last visit here a few years ago (which was equalled earlier this year at Eiffel Tower Las Vegas), but it was worth every penny. No regrets at all.
Next up: An early morning tomorrow, as we head to Hollywood Studios and get our first view of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge!
Confessions of a Huge Wine-R 