Victoria & Albert's Queen Victoria Room

[Soundstage'95CP]

Victoria & Albert's Queen Victoria Room (with pictures)

I did a bunch of searching prior to my trip, wanting to know what to expect when I visited the Queen Victoria Room at V&A. I found very little information, so I wanted to present a foodie report from my experience.

Dining at Victoria & Albert's is an experience. The dress code requires that a suit and gown atmosphere be maintained. Dining in the Queen Victoria room at V&A is an exceptional experience.

The Queen Victoria Room has four tables, usually seating no more than eight diners per night. The last seating time available is 6:30pm due to the length of the dining experience.

Victoria & Albert's Queen Victoria Room:

A 10+ course tasting menu is presented to you with a list of wine pairings if you choose to add it. The cost for the Queen Victoria Room is $200 per person, with an additional $95 per person for the wine pairing. Because of this, most diners are celebrating something. The other two couples in the room were celebrating anniversaries, as was the couple that would later join us in the room as overflow from the main dining room (they did not have the expanded menu, but rather the main dining room 6-course menu). We were celebrating something else.

Tonight's menu included:

1) The Amuse Bouche. Consisting of a Soft-poached Quail Egg with Galilee Caviar, Chicken Liver Terrine, Cauliflower Panna Cotta, and a Porcini Mushroom Cappuccino. The Amuse Bouch is paired with Piper Heidsieck Cuvee 1785 NV Brut.

2) Gulf Shrimp and Heirloom Tomatoes with Charmoula Sauce, paired with Michel Redde Sancerre "Les Tuilieres", Loire 2009.

3) Bread course #1

4) Cold "Smoked" Niman Ranch Lamb with Fuji Apple and Curry Dressing, paired with Dr. ZenZen Valwiger Herrenberg Riesling Auslese, Mosel 2003.

5) Alaskan Salmon with Bamboo Rice and Soy Beans, paired with Kanbara "Bride of teh Fox" Gohyakumangoku Junmai Ginjo, Nigata.

6) Bread course #2

7) Poulet Rouge with Calamarata Pasta, Forest Mushrooms and Black Truffles. Paired with Hartfort Court Land's Edge Vineyards Pino Noir, Sonoma Coast 2007.

8) Minnesota Elk Tenderloin with Braised Red Cabbage Tart and Brussels Sprouts. Paried with Ceretto Rossana Dolcetto d'Alba, Piedmont 2010.

9) Australian Kobe-style Beef with Garlic-Potato Puree. Paired with Mollydooker The Maitre D' Cabernet Sauvignon, South Australia 2009.

10) Bread course #3

11) Selection of Cheese from the Spaulted Maple Tray. Paired with Quinta do Crasto Late Bottled Vintage Porto 2006.

12) Green Apple Baba with Sour Cream Ice Cream.

13) Peruvian Chocolate Cylinder with Elder Flower Sauce. Chocolate and Navan Bubble.

14) "Celebes" Coffee, Tea and Friandises

The tastes are phenominal, to say the least. The presentations are just as exciting.

So, let's get to the pictures and my thoughts on each course.

1) The Amuse Bouche. Consisting of a Soft-poached Quail Egg with Galilee Caviar, Chicken Liver Terrine, Cauliflower Panna Cotta, and a Porcini Mushroom Cappuccino. The Amuse Bouch is paired with Piper Heidsieck Cuvee 1785 NV Brut. The Amuse was different. Niether of us have had anything quite like it. The Quail Egg was amazing. The Chicken Liver was good for the pate that it was. The Cauliflower was flavorfull. If there was more than two bites of Cauliflower, it would have been a little too overpowering of a flavor for the rest of the dish, but it was just right. The Mushroom Cappucinno reminded me of a good French Onion Soup, but with mushroom rather than onion.
I do not have a picture of the Amuse Bouche, because my mind was elsewhere...both on the food and on the second part of the Amuse Bouche. For the second half of this course's presentation, I had the experts at V&A prepare my date something special. It paired even better with the champagne than the first half of the Amuse Bouche. In this presentation, the ring was presented inside of the slipper, the stone of the slipper matching the sapphire in the ring. The ring is not shown here, as it is already on my fiance's finger.

2) Gulf Shrimp and Heirloom Tomatoes with Charmoula Sauce, paired with Michel Redde Sancerre "Les Tuilieres", Loire 2009. Let me just start by saying that I don't like raw tomatoes. I want them cooked, and preferably in some sort of Italian-style dish. When it comes to heirloom tomatoes, I usually just pass. But, this is the Queen Victoria Room at V&A. I'm determined to try everything. I ended up becoming a member of the "clean plate club." The Gulf Shrimp are wrapped in some sort of meat..I think it was maybe a procuito. The Heirloom Tomatoes...oh my, they were good. The dish is presented with croutons cooked tableside. We were presented with three types of oils to choose from for which our croutons were to be prepared with. We both chose the Chef's choice of a rich olive oil with vanilla accent.

3) Bread course #1. This bread course was a fresh baked baguette served with a salted butter. Sorry, no picture.

4) Cold "Smoked" Niman Ranch Lamb with Fuji Apple and Curry Dressing, paired with Dr. ZenZen Valwiger Herrenberg Riesling Auslese, Mosel 2003. This course was the most exciting of the tableside presentations, aside from my proposal. The lamb was seared to a rare perfection. The Fuji Apples were delicate and the Curry Dressing, the perfect choice of sauce. There was also a bit of radish to add a flavorfull kick. The dish is served, and then the fun begins. A pouring of liquid nitrogen quick-chills the course.

 

[Soundstage'95CP]

5) Alaskan Salmon with Bamboo Rice and Soy Beans, paired with Kanbara "Bride of teh Fox" Gohyakumangoku Junmai Ginjo, Nigata. The Salmon was, once again, amazing. It is served with shavings of a smoked, dried salmon. The shavings are done tableside and then sprinked along the edge of your dish. You then can incorporate as much or as little of the shavings as desired as they have such a strong, smokey flavor. I would go back to V&A for this dish alone. It is that good. That's fresh grated wasabi on the side. It tastes much different, and better, than the artificially colored stuff you normally see.

6) Bread course #2. This course is a brioche served with a black truffle butter. I need this recipie. Please help me obtain it....I'm begging. Words cannot express how good this was. Sorry, no picture. I was enjoying this too much to remember to take one.

7) Poulet Rouge with Calamarata Pasta, Forest Mushrooms and Black Truffles. Paired with Hartfort Court Land's Edge Vineyards Pino Noir, Sonoma Coast 2007.
Poulet Rouge was described to us as a type of chicken. It tasted like chicken...good chicken. I'm a fan of mushrooms and also black truffles. This course therefore, is perfection.

8) Minnesota Elk Tenderloin with Braised Red Cabbage Tart and Brussels Sprouts. Paried with Ceretto Rossana Dolcetto d'Alba, Piedmont 2010.
I've not had elk before. I'll have it again. It was cooked to a medium rare, and just melted in your mouth. The braised red cabbage gave this dish a German flavor, very rich. I enjoyed this course so much, that there is not a picture available.

 

[Soundstage'95CP]

9) Australian Kobe-style Beef with Garlic-Potato Puree. Paired with Mollydooker The Maitre D' Cabernet Sauvignon, South Australia 2009. Okay, so there is something better than the Elk. This was it. This is the classic meat and potato dish. Paired with a Cabernet that was almost too rich for the dish. It was here that I stopped finishing each wine with each course. I needed to in order to remember how good the courses to come would be.

10) Bread course #3. Multi-grain bread. I don't remember what butter went with it. After trying what was presented with it, I used the remainder of the truffle butter from the last bread course on this one.

11) Selection of Cheese from the Spaulted Maple Tray. Paired with Quinta do Crasto Late Bottled Vintage Porto 2006. Decision time: Choose four of the six cheeses presented. Or a smaller portion of each of the six.
My plate therefore consists of each of the six cheeses. Not really a fan of specialty cheeses, but it did help to transition the pallet for the remainder of the meal and it balanced with the Porto perfectly.

 

[Cactusspade]

Looks incredible.

 

[CnoteBflat]

Looks and sounds delicious! I'm jealous. Also, congrats! Hope you live a long and happy life together:sohappy:

 

[Trouble]

Commenting so I can get updates when posted! Om nom nom nom nom

 

[travelgip]

Congratulations! I just LOVE V&A's. It's the kind of place once you go you're hooked!:slurp:

 

[Ariel484]

Wow, thanks so much for sharing this with us! The beef/potatoes portion looks especially amazing...I have got to get to this place someday. :slurp:

And a huge congratulations on your engagement! :sohappy: Yay!

 

[Phonedave]

Was the menu you were given fixed as listed, or did you have a choice of each course, as done in the regular V&A dining room.

They use poulet rouge a lot at V&A. And yes, it is a lot of wine. Thats not a bad thing by the way

-dave

 

[Pioneer Hall]

I really want to go to the Chef's Table there one day. Just need to find the right woman and the right occasion first :lol:

 

[Soundstage'95CP]

Was the menu you were given fixed as listed, or did you have a choice of each course, as done in the regular V&A dining room.

They use poulet rouge a lot at V&A. And yes, it is a lot of wine. Thats not a bad thing by the way

-dave

The menu was given to us with the option of adding extras, like a 2oz. Wagyu beef course or a caviar course. If there was anything that we saw that we were opposed to when first going over the menu, they would have prepared something different. In my opinion, if Executive Chef Scott Hunnel chose this menu to prepare, I should not deviate from it. Always trust Chef Hunnel.

There was a lot of wine, but well worth it. My fiance isn't a huge fan of reds, so after the first red, she switched to all whites. We were both glad we chose to each get a wine pairing rather than split the pours.

 

[Soundstage'95CP]

After the cheese course is presented, you are asked if you would like coffee prepared for your dessert courses. I love coffee. It probably has something to do with having a 3am work day back in the real world. I figured, if V&A offers coffee, it has to be some of the best.

This is what is brought out to the table:

It's coffee...powered by science.
The burner placed below the water bowl heats up, causing the water level to rise and mix with the coffee grounds in the upper coffee bowl. When all of the water is mixed with the coffee grounds, the coffee drops back down into the lower bowl and is magically filtered in the process. Honestly, I had too much wine to really grasp how it works, but it was pretty darn neat to watch. I want one of these now, just for the "cool factor" of it.

More coffee:

It's also at this point where the meal sees a transfer of powers, so to speak. Scott Hunnel's portion is completed, so he comes out to your table to talk, answer any questions, and listen to me explain how much I've enjoyed everything. It's exciting to meet such a master chef. But now it's on to the dessert courses.

12) Green Apple Baba with Sour Cream Ice Cream. The green apple is presented in a sugar nest, with the sour cream ice cream and apple slices on the side. The two flavors work well together, capturing the sweet and tart of the apple with the hint of sour of ice cream. The ice cream adds temperature to the dish more than anything, and the flavors really help to re-awaken the pallet after the heavier meat courses. The Green Apple Baba looks so good, it's hard to resist cutting into for this picture:

But once the Apple Baba is cut into, surprise...it's a light apple flavor cake inside.

It's a good thing that the coffee is almost ready, because the Porto that remains after the cheese course is just too sweet to pair with the Apple Baba.

And, of course, nothing goes better with coffee than chocolate!

13) Peruvian Chocolate Cylinder with Elder Flower Sauce. Chocolate and Navan Bubble.
The Peruvian Chocolate Cylinder is essentially a sponge cake within the dark chocolate wrap. I forgot what the red accents were...possibly red currant. The glistening beads on the plate are described to us as being akin to a caramel caviar. Phenominal is the only word to describe these little caramel morsels. The Elder Flower sauce has a floral fragence and is mixed with gold dust. I chose to dip the chocolate cylinder in it as the cylinder is rich dark chocolate...so good, but not the best part of the course. The best part of this course is off to the side on the spoon. It's the Navan Bubble. Think of it as an egg yolk, with very similar texture and properties. The skin of the yolk is a milky chocolate, the inside yolk is a blend of caramel and liquor. The Bubble stays intact until you slide it into your mouth at which point, the bubble pops and releases it's flavor. There isn't a Dole Whip in the wolrd that I wouldn't trade for this. It is the perfect ending to the meal.

14) "Celebes" Coffee, Tea and Friandises. It's listed as the last course even though the coffee was presented with the Apple Baba.

 

[Soundstage'95CP]

But wait! There's more!

What better way to celebrate this meal than with gifts! And V&A's team are a very giving bunch.
The gifts start with a selection of chocolates to take home. Some have liquor in them, some do not. We were asked to choose five and if we wanted the non-alcoholic ones to take home to our children. To that we say "NO!" They'll get their pre-boxed Mickey-branded items from a gift shop, not here.

Our chocolate choices are then boxed up, each of us receiving our custom-created box of chocolates.

Next we are given a small loaf of bread to enjoy the next morning. It was some sort of an Orange Date-Nut bread.

And finally, each lady receives a single long-stem rose.

You can read about the rest of our trip over here: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=830420

 

[GHOST1000]

thanks for posting all of this... the pics are worth a thousand words for someone trying to discribe all the foods. I know i will definetely try this for our anniversary next year. congradulations to you also!

 

[durangojim]

Congratulations! I proposed to my wife 10 years ago and we dined at V&A's that evening. It was an experience we will never forget. Ee're going back in May to celebrate pur 10th anniversary.

 

[Yanks07]

Great report! Thanks for sharing and Congrats on your upcoming nuptials