Share Restaurant--Ruby Princess

Last night we dined in the new Curtis Stone specialty restaurant onboard the Ruby Princess. It was formal night, so we decide to treat ourselves to a new experience. What we failed to realize was that for such a gastronomic experience one really should go into training. One should not overindulge in bread pudding or Guinness at the pub lunch, or nosh on canapés and gin and tonics in your cabin as a prelude to such a meal!

Still, we put forth a Yeoman's effort and enjoyed every minute--even though we could have used a forklift to get us back to our cabin.

Let me set the stage--we were all dolled up. In the words of our delightful cabin steward, Krystian from Poland, darlinks you look fabulous!

The restaurant is on the 16th deck overlooking the stern pool. 

From our window table for two we had a lovely view of the sun twinkling off the water which gave way, on about course number 3 or 4, to a beautiful sunset where the sun appeared to plunge across the horizon. 

Our waiter, Nick from Macedonia, (they were robbed of the coastline during the breakup of Yugoslavia--Croatia got it) took excellent care of us. From recommending a delicious wine from Italy, to educating us on the provenance of every last ingredient he added to the enjoyment. 

Here is the menu which is based on Curtis Stone's restaurant in Beverly Hills. We were told that to secure a reservation there you call 6 to 9 months in advance. 

The concept is based on "sharing" good times and good food. You can order for yourself or you can have it on the table to share--we shared. I have no photos of the food. Well, we didn't want to be "those" people, and to be honest, we just didn't think to take the camera! Trust us when we say that the presentation of every morsel was spectacular!

Everyone gets the Charcuterie--this course alone requires a good 10 minutes explanation of the source of the ham that is dried for 36 months, and the preparation of the olives from Italy and the marinade used for the 1 tablespoon of tiny diced cauliflower that accompanied the plate. It came with a delicious loaf of fresh bread shaped like the head of a piece of wheat. I know I shouldn't like it, but the pate was to die for--my gourmet husband said it reminded him of liver wurst!

We had the cheese course next (yes I know--how gauche) but Nick recommended it to go with the wine, and I think he was worried we would run out! We had the Bethmale goat cheese from France which came with honey and part of the comb on yet more paper-thin baguette. We also had the La Gruta from Spain, but we ate the cubes of Quince paste rolled in toasted pecans separately because we thought it overpowered the cheese. This was my favorite of the two cheeses, which I believe we were told came from goat, sheep and cows milk. I'm sure we knew their names too, but I have forgotten--blame the wine!

Our appetizers (over an hour in at this point) were the Shrimp Salad and the Tagliatelle. No cocktail sauce for the shrimp--it was in a light marinade with matchstick-sized carrots or radishes (tasted like carrots, but had red tips and a mottled red and white center)--you tell me. The brioche was almost missed as it was beyond paper-thin. The tagliatelle was unbelievable--the freshly made noodles melted in your mouth and we said a special thanks to the Deadliest Catch crews for the Alaskan crab. 

Main courses--I waffled over whether to have the very popular Twice Cooked Duck, but ended up with the Roast Turbot White Fish Gratine. Fritz had the Beef Cheek Pie. As we shared I am able to say that you cannot go wrong with either one of these choices. The Turbot came on a bed of spinach, with a layer of Duxelles mushroom and a Gruyere topping. I couldn't really taste the mushrooms, maybe it was the Gruyere, or maybe the white vermouth--but it was delicious. The Beef Cheeks came in a crock with mushrooms and a light flaky pastry and a side of gravy--well, who ever has enough gravy! The sides we ordered were the melted leeks and the potato gratin. In my mind you can never have too many really rich courses with melted cheese and cream, but I think we had reached our limit and we probably could have done without the leeks in their very rich creamy sauce. Maybe asparagus or green beans would have been a better option (not one of the choices, but still). 

At this point, we were well after sunset and probably couldn't have gone on, except that the restaurant is at the back of the ship and had this gentle vibration from the engines. We think it helped to shake down the courses leaving room for, as Nick told us, the best course. For dessert Fritz had the Dark Chocolate Cremeux and I had the Tarte Au Citron Vert. Those of you who know us will understand that there was very little sharing of this course. My Tarte was a delightful and thankfully petite lemon Tarte with three swirls of meringue and a couple of curls of candied peel. The granola consisted of a line of microscopic dust that decorated the plate. Fritz's Cremeux was a mousse and the toasted hazelnut feuilletine was a wafer of roasted hazelnuts that were dried for 6 hours (I couldn't make this up). The burnt vanilla bean ice cream was amazing. We topped it off with some fabulous (not to be found elsewhere on the ship) coffee. We waddled out hours after we arrived having savored every bite.

Was it worth the $39 pp extra charge. We certainly think so! The whole dinner was one of those special occasion meals that you long remember. We liken it to our once in a blue moon special anniversary dinner at Canlis in Seattle. If you get a chance--do this one. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did. And, tell Nick hello!