Goldring Travel’s 2016 Culinary & Cultural (Food & Wine) Cruise on the Seabourn Quest – Part VIII (Extraordinary Culinary Finale)

The 2016 Goldring Travel Culinary & Cultural Cruise has two more extraordinary culinary events to enjoy.  In Dublin with a Michelin star chef and, as always, on the last day at sea when Seabourn’s Executive Chef gets to flex his culinary muscles. (Note: This article has been recreated as its prior version, written at the time, has disappeared).

We arrived in Dublin, Ireland ready to spend the day with Michelin star Chef Graham Neville and his culinary home, Restaurant Forty One.  However our day did not start at the restaurant, but about 45 minutes outside of Dublin proper visiting Chef Neville’s private organic garden at Kenah Hills in Killiney.  

As an added bonus, we brought along Seabourn’s Executive Chef Tom from The Grill by Thomas Keller.

Thomas Keller Chef Tom and Michelin Starred Chef Graham Neville

We were greeted with wonderful craft cocktails which we enjoyed as Chef Neville explained how his organic garden was not only the source for many of his vegetables and fruits for the restaurant, but his experiments in bringing back some ancient varietals…some of which worked out better than others.

We then had time to leisure explore this extraordinary garden, chat with the chef and wonderfully have all our questions answered…and there were plenty; especially from our gardening buff guests!

What we didn’t know is that this harvest was, in part, for us!

With our appetites whetted it was time to head into Dublin to Restaurant Forty One for an over-the-top dining experience.

Restaurant Forty One’s elegant dining room

Each course was paired with a perfect wine…after, of course, a Veuve Cliquot champagne welcome!

Zucchini blossom soup paired with an elegant Sancerre

Irish Lamb paired with a Spanish Rioja Reserva

Berry Sorbet with Creme Fraiche, Custard and a Flaky Pastry paired with a Royal Tokaji Aszu 5 Puttonyos (Wonder if the Chef knew we did a Tokay tasting on a prior Goldring Travel Culinary & Cultural Cruise?)

We ended our meal with a delicious chocolate truffe!

It was then back to the Seabourn Quest and a sail to Milford Haven, Wales.  It is a very small town with not much to see, but we did have Chef Andreas join us in a small fish shop for a lesson on how to skin a fish!

It was then on to Cobh, Ireland (the departure port for the Titanic) and a drive in Cork.  Goldring Travel’s Culinary & Cultural Cruise visited here once before, with a visit to Darina Allen’s Ballymaloe Cookery School and Organic Farm a few years ago.  While we had a wonderful time chatting with Chef Daria Allen and touring her beautiful farm, we also learned how to fillet a fish. (Must be an Irish thing!)  

It was a dreary, cold, day when we arrived, so a walk around this small port town was quick.

This time, with no event planned, I wanted to visit the English Market which, unfortunately, I did not have time to do the last visit.  I used this time to stock up on some goodies for the famous Food & Wine Tasting on the last day of the cruise.   But I also took some time for a wonderful lunch in the Farmgate Cafe, a restaurant just above the market (where it gets all its ingredients).

In a very unexpected turn of events, we hailed a taxi for our ride back to Cobh.  In the typical Irish manner our talkative driver asked us where we were from:  Aspen, Colorado and the New Jersey Shore.  After a brief chat about John Denver and his singing a bit of Rocky Mountain High, our driver donned a pair of Bruce Springsteen sunglasses and said he had this 9 minute forty seven second Springsteen song that I probably never heard.  Next thing you know we have the windows down and we were singing a duet of “Jungleland”!  Best taxi ride ever!!!

Now for the final event on our last day, a sea day:  The Famous Food & Wine Tasting where Seabourn’s chefs go all out.  And all out they did!  It was an incredible experience with course after course being prepared right in front of us.

There is a saying in the culinary world:  “I want to kill you”. That when you do your absolute best and want your guests to beg you to stop…and you don’t…and they are thrilled you didn’t.  Well Seabourn’s Executive Chef Andreas Lang and his supporting chefs killed us!

Scallop Risotto with Truffle

Dover Sole

These fantastic dishes were paired nicely with a variety of wonderful wines.

Oh, and then it was time for dessert!

And so ends another very successful Goldring Travel Culinary & Cultural Cruise.

A huge Thank You to Seabourn and its fantastic staff and crew!