Plankton Dinner - On The Cruise Ship

 PLANKTON

Can’t believe how big a whale can be if all they are eating is plankton  😂

One of our cruise dinners was a 5 course set menu and we got to enjoyed it in a quiet corner of one of the specialty restaurants while watching the sun setting over the Mediterranean Ocean. Bliss

Dinner showcased the Eastern Mediterranean and was designed by Angel Leon with Plankton as his hero ingredient … ohhhh fancy!

So the starter was a Plankton Puff Pastry Roll & Seafood Soppressata.

The roll was a dry-ish and crumbly bread-ish scroll (more a cross between day old bread and cake) (there was nothing about it that was “PUFF” that’s for sure), I think that detail was last somewhere in the Italian/Cruise Ship translation! 

There was however a moorish olive oil drizzled between the layers of the scroll that certainly added that needed moisture. The dusting of dried plankton gave a salty, seafoody, sort of herby flavour which seasoned the roll perfectly. The soppressata! (which wasn't a soppressate) was as thick as a pate and smooth as it had has been passed through a drum sieve.  

One had fun unrolling the scroll, a bit like deflowering an onion. 

Then it was time to spread the luscious “not” Soppressata onto the newly exposed layer of the roll. Eaten all together, it ended up a totally delightful and punchy taste of the ocean. 

Twas a cracking way to start a meal.

 

Then there was … “The White Blob” - with mussel preserve, osmosis cucumber, oysters, oyster mousse, plankton dust & caviar.

Now … this dish just looked like a very wet yeasted bread dough puddle on a plate! just starting to rise and complete with the air bubbles actively appearing! 

But WOW what a flavour bomb it was and definitely 

the dish of the day for me.

So let me break it down!

The oyster mousse … when you cut into it with your spoon it came away as a clean sliver as the olive oil under neath let the mousse separate from the plate without any residue. 

If you were doing a blind food tasting you would instantly know you were eating an oysters mousse. The super sharp irony dryness that fresh oysters leave in your mouth was still there so the blending and aeration didn’t take away from the fresh oyster taste what so ever. To reinforce the whole seafood experience, small pieces of preserved mussels and fresh cut oysters pieces were delightful hidden surprises under the mousse.

 For freshness into the dish, the cucumber cubes that had been taken to the edge of dryness by osmosis added that needed refreshing lift and a great chew-ability to an otherwise one dimensional mousse dish. 

Finally the delicate dusting of plankton again added that salty, seafoodie sort of herby flavour and with the dash of caviar 

(albeit a “little” bit too lean on!) rounded off the whole dish. Stunning Stunning Stunning DISH and Susan & Suzi, we were thinking of you both as I was eating, knowing you would have both loved it also.  

Grilled prawn with tomato & horseradish jelly with a green tomato gazpacho.

Dish 3 for the night and sorry to say it was a bit blar blar blar … it did what the description said, but without gusto! … just a nice dish … but I wouldn’t reorder it if I went back to dine here.

Now for tonights 4th and final savoy dish before the desert and what a “sonic boom” for the palette it was!

Creamy cuttlefish rice with plankton & aioli sauce.

The word creamy in the title makes one think of a creamy white sauce … but no, it was the mouth feel to the dish, super creamy texture and the Arborio rice risotto was just cooked enough for a somewhat satisfying chew. 

The “sonic boom” of the sea flavour blew your taste buds away from the very first spoon, the strong flavour of the cuttlefish sat delightfully on your palette for a very long time. 

This very well could have been the dish of the day 

(as an amuse-bouche) or smaller portion earlier in the menu but the overriding strong flavour it left on the palette and the fact it was lacking texture for the 4th dish gave the whole savoy menu no real textural ending before the desert.

 I was left wanting another dish, something I could get my teeth into! Don’t get me wrong it was a truly fabulous dish but its placement

 in the menu was not to my liking as to showcase the rest of the menu.

Now to finish … I don’t usually order a desert

 (but as it was a set menu I will indulge)  

It was a  Mandarin ice cream, whipped cream with Jasmin tea infused chocolate, extra virgin olive oil & Maldon salt.

Well the description was exactly what you got and with the savoy of the salt and olive oil it kept the dish from being to sweet …  so a happy Pete … Oh and with a glass of Shiraz to bounce off the chocolate was a great way to finish this wonderfull chance to experience such a unique dinner.