PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. – In an exquisite, top-deck restaurant with incredible ocean views, Disney Cruise Line debuts Remy – its first-ever premier dining option. With French-inspired, gourmet cuisine by two award-winning chefs and a unique approach to wine service, Remy melds classic and contemporary styles in a sophisticated new dining concept exclusively for guests age 18 and older on the Disney Dream.
Chef Arnaud Lallement from l’Assiette Champenoise, a Michelin two-star restaurant just outside Reims, France, and Chef Scott Hunnel from award-winning Victoria & Albert’s at Walt Disney World Resort have collaborated to create a French-inspired menu featuring superior products and seasonal ingredients sourced from around the world.
French-trained Chef Patrick Albert, executive chef for Remy, oversees an all-star culinary team providing guests a superb experience and epicurean excellence each day aboard the ship.
“From the moment our guests walk through the door at Remy, they are transported to a fine French dining experience,” said Ozer Balli, vice president, Disney Cruise Line Hotel Operations. “The success of Palo on the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder encouraged us to create this elegant, upscale and even more intimate dining experience for the Disney Dream.”
Dinner at Remy is a lavish and leisurely affair, starting with a signature chilled Taittinger Champagne cocktail made tableside, followed by eight to nine small courses complemented by a stellar wine list. Lallement’s cuisine is simple and stylish, earning l’Assiette Champenoise two stars (of a possible three) from Michelin, making the experience “excellent cooking and worth a detour.” Hunnel’s innovative dishes garnered Victoria & Albert’s the coveted AAA Five Diamonds, a rating accorded a mere 0.19 percent of restaurants in North America and the Caribbean.
Polished touches at Remy include a tableside trolley for serving international cheeses and decanting stations for wines. Guests may order from two tastings menus that include wine pairings, or order a la carte from the menu.
Artistry comes from the kitchen with focused tastes such as smoked bison with fennel salad and blood oranges; lobster with vanilla, bisque and lobster roe foam; wild loup de mer; Australian Wagyu; a tomato tart with Parmesan espuma; coastal turbot with vin jaune sauce and gnocchi, and young pigeon pie with foie gras, spinach and tomato.
Simple sweet endings like a vanilla-poached pear or a dark chocolate praline with cocoa sherbet pair beautifully with post-prandial coffee service including French press and grand crème.
With a subtle nod to the hit Disney•Pixar film “Ratatouille” and its petite French star Remy, the softly lit main dining room with seating for 80 is designed in art nouveau style with a palate of soft greens, deep reds and rich gold. The restaurant’s classic French design features graceful sinuous lines on chair backs, etched in glass and in wall treatments, nouveau-style floral and leaf design in the carpet, and warm lighting. The famous Remy character is subtly and artfully integrated into the design.
Tables are elegantly set with Frette linens, Riedel glassware, Christofle silverware and china made exclusively for Remy, with gracious accents such as purse stools for women’s handbags. The attentive serving staff is part of the sophisticated story, dressed in long white aprons, black jackets or burgundy vests, and bow ties.
A private Chef’s Table dining room, Chez Gusteau (inspired by the fictional Paris restaurant in “Ratatouille”), seats eight. The intimate room is furnished with rich décor inspired by the film – bold, red carpet, chairs and drapes with touches of gold, opulent chandeliers, and scenes of Paris on the walls. Chez Gusteau has its own entrance to the kitchen to allow the chefs easy access. Guests also may be seated in the glass-walled wine room amid more than 900 bottles of wine.
Exceptional Wine Service
Once dinner is booked and guests are on board, they are invited to meet with a sommelier in Remy’s glass-walled wine room to taste and pre-select their wines for the evening. The restaurant offers two wine lists: a special French list with 200 vintages from most every region in France, and Remy’s Vault, a separate and exclusive wine list with rare wines from all over the world. Select wines from the French list also are available by the glass.
From Remy’s Vault, 24 wines are selected as the best of the best, presented by white-gloved sommeliers in an elegant velvet box that opens like a book with the name of each wine engraved on a silver-plated plaque. The list includes a 1947 Château Cheval Blanc, another nod to “Ratatouille” (the wine requested by the movie’s food critic). Considered one of the best vintages in the world, a single bottle of Château Cheval Blanc retails for $25,000.
After-dinner libations include Rémy Martin Louis XIII Rare Cask, one of the most sought-after cognacs for connoisseurs, aged in centuries-old casks and served from an elegant Baccarat crystal decanter.
An additional charge of $75 per person is required to dine at Remy, in addition to the cost of wine and alcoholic beverages. Wine pairings selected from the French list are an additional $99. The dress code requires men to wear a dress jacket, dress pants and shoes (ties are optional). For the ladies, cocktail dresses, evening dresses, pant suits or dressy skirts and blouses are the options.
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