Coming back to the Symphony is almost like coming home. It's a great ship, and has a wonderful crew. And what makes the crew's service so wonderful is its attention to the little things that most guest would not notice.
Like how orders are taken in the Main Dining Room. The waitress (in our case) takes orders from female guest oldest to youngest, then gentlemen in the same order. The food is then presented in the same order. This is classic European service at its finest, the way they taught it to us in culinary school. I've never seen it done as well anywhere else, on any continent or sea.
So what was for dinner? As I will be here for 12 days, I really have to pace myself. So my strategy is one drop dead dish at each meal. At lunch, that meant I had the cold seafood plate. Perfectly cooked and seasoned marinated shrimp, tender mussels, and a fantastic Alaskan King Crab salad, all accompanied by a delicious Champagne. I'm sorry, but they were pouring it so quick, I did not catch the producer.
The crab and brie soup that I started dinner with was sublime. An extremely flavorful crab stock swimming with large pieces of crab and thickened with brie, as opposed to the traditional cream. It was brilliant, the astringency of the cheese perfectly offset the sweetness of the crab meat.
Keeping with my strategy, my entree was a simple perfectly broiled rock fish. Accompanied by sauteed spinach and perfectly roasted potatoes. I would not like to be on the prep staff of this kitchen as they must have to turn God knows how many vegetables.
Dinner wines were all Rieslings. Dr. Loosen's Kabinett from Mosel was the white wine with dinner. Great acidity balanced the slight off dry character of the wine. Delicious fruit. With dessert (a fruit plate) we had one of the greatest sweet wine of the world, Kracher TBA Riesling. It was the nectar of the gods. Honey and melons, refined acidity and a finish that just went on forever.
Tonight is the Captain's welcome dinner, and I have no idea what I will have. Tomorrow Prego. I will check back in after Prego.
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