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In Suite Dining


CruiseCat99
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I have read several posts where people mentioned asking a chef to prepare a meal in-suite that was from his/her home culture. I am curious if this is something people paid a premium for, or if the staff were willing to substitute their own preparations for the regular menu? I am interested in having this experience, but want to know what to expect before I ask. It sounds like a lovely experience and possibly one of those "once in a lifetime" meals.

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We have done this on two different cruises. Each dinner was prepared by a chef from the Philippines (different chef each time). We asked that they choose dishes that they would serve to their families at home. The menu was set by each chef . The second time we gave the chef a copy of the menu from the first experience so the second meal had different dishes. The meal was served course by course by our butler in our suite. The meals were paired with wines suggested by the sommelier based on the chef's menu. It was a great experience and we will do it again on our next cruise. We were given copies of the menu signed by each chef. There was no extra charge! The credit for the idea of a meal from the chef's home country goes to UKCruiseJeff!

Edited by mysty
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Many of those of us who have sailed Silversea have had this dining experience.

One may either ask for specific dishes or food genres or specialities of the chef.

We have had special meals in our suite as well as special meals prepared for a group of our guests.

It is necessary to plan ahead and discuss with your butler.

Silversea does a terrific job with this customized experience!

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I have read several posts where people mentioned asking a chef to prepare a meal in-suite that was from his/her home culture. .

 

Just to clarify. I do not recall any posts about chefs cooking -- preparing meals -- in suite. All meals are cooked/prepared in the galley. They can be served in suite.

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CC99,

 

My suggestion is that you pick a moment say just before lunch service in the MDR very early in your cruise, and ask whether you can have a quick word with the chef if he can spare a moment. Explain what you want and ask whether he has a particularly talented chef who he is "bringing on" and who he thinks would be great to produce some local food that he would likely prepare for his/her family at home. If you can it might be considerate to ask him to pick the night for you when he has less kitchen pressure which might for example be on a non-formal night. This might even improve your meal a little and you might have fresher rather than pre-cooked results.

 

I first experienced this long before butlers and discussed it with a head chef on Wind during a lengthy discussion about Asian street food and when I asked whether it was feasible and not too inconvenient and he thought it a really great idea.

 

You could ask your butler to do this but I think you improve the risk of a better result if you take the trouble to discuss it directly and have direct contact with the chef when you can discuss your likes and dislikes ie chilli or not, fried etc and when is best for them to do it, and I also suggest that you ask the chef to write down the name of the person who will be preparing the food for you as sending a personal note after your meal would really be prized and appreciated by a young chef. You could concern yourself with wine pairings or just choose something generic you like, but you may find that with some spicier offerings a really decent supply of really cold beer in an ice bucket in your suite might be a better option.

 

I hope you try the dining idea and enjoy it and hope you enjoy Venice and Whisper and that your husband had a great 70th.

 

(Thanks for remembering M! :) )

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And leaving the wonderful aroma of curry in the suite for weeks to come. :)

One of the reasons I did not enjoy my experiences at ryokans in Japan. They cook this elaborate Kaeseki dinner in your room but the problem is it's mostly fish and the odor lingered throughout the night.

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