The Chefs Table and The Bionic Bar

[00:00:00] Hey, Travel First again Chris Coleman still with last edition by the way he had artwork at the background. He hasn't moved

[00:00:07] I mean Chris what do you do you sit on this ship and you like the artwork so you're sitting there again

[00:00:13] What's going on here?

[00:00:14] Would you like me know if would you like me to move hang on

[00:00:17] Oh, we'll see you do this one

[00:00:18] Let me do this one so that this around

[00:00:20] Yeah, there we go

[00:00:22] There we go we have there we go the bar

[00:00:24] How about that

[00:00:25] That is

[00:00:26] I think I prefer the art

[00:00:28] That is vintage just wine bar. Oh, is it? I'm not moving again

[00:00:32] No, no, that's fine

[00:00:33] It's one bar so there we go

[00:00:34] You're talking about food and wine, don't you? You want to talk more about the booze? You want to talk more about the food

[00:00:40] What is happening on board the evasion of the seas 19 days and I mean

[00:00:46] You're a glutton for punishment. Is that the way I should start this segment how much food are you can see

[00:00:51] Plenty

[00:00:52] And those the and and

[00:00:55] I will say this I preemptively before this cruise actually went to the gym

[00:00:59] For workouts for many many days

[00:01:03] And I actually actually lost five and a half kilos before coming on

[00:01:07] Right, because I knew that most of it would probably come back on and in deep probably all of it with the interest

[00:01:14] We'll come back on in 19 days

[00:01:16] So it's part of the joy of going to the gym that you allow yourself

[00:01:22] Extra room for the second and third helping things I get it. Okay, so no and I am I'm gonna pay for this one

[00:01:29] Again, I'm gonna be back in back into the gym almost every day

[00:01:33] But for instance today we're in well today we were in Wellington

[00:01:35] I did 25 and a half thousand steps today in Wellington walk nearly 15 kilometers

[00:01:40] You know, so you see you do get you do get the chance to get exercise

[00:01:43] But you do also get the chance to go

[00:01:45] High calorie and you also get the chance to go fancy

[00:01:49] Now I know you like fancy. Yes, so we're talking chef table. Oh

[00:01:54] We are talking chef table

[00:01:56] In fact what you're wearing right now you'd be right at home

[00:01:59] That's just table it's greasy

[00:02:01] It is it is Thai color it is jacket and so you've actually brought a suit have you have a board on board

[00:02:07] I have I have a suit if you're really lucky if you're really lucky in behind yourself

[00:02:11] We're for the next one. Okay, but that that will depend on your availability

[00:02:19] You book chefs type when you can you can pre-book this before you come on the cruise you can beat the day

[00:02:23] That the cruise you want to do it for you. You know bucks you what is something or what are we talking

[00:02:29] About 110 I think it was a US maybe a little bit more but this is this is the fancies meal on the ship

[00:02:35] Let me let me share them menu with you because that'll give you some idea now

[00:02:39] When you make you booking

[00:02:41] You see you you get your signed date on the day of your

[00:02:45] Chef table and invitation actually arrives at your state room nice

[00:02:50] Which will then remind you that you have to get dressed up

[00:02:54] And you want to read up I mean exam struggling to see that scallop something

[00:02:59] Scallop cup hatch here for the first course paired with in in now this menu will change and does change

[00:03:06] It can change over the course of it over the cruise and it will change over the course of a season

[00:03:11] But for our night six courses

[00:03:12] Scallop cup hatch you appeared with a linderman's Plino Grigio a smoke tomato soup

[00:03:17] paired with one of the most interesting ones over there had a California

[00:03:21] White blend called conundrum which has shot no saffron can semi on in there

[00:03:26] Third course was a main Lobster salad. Let's divert for a second because it's an interesting definition of salad

[00:03:31] It was paired with by the way a Kim Crawford saw on your own block from Malbra which is we're going to be right

[00:03:36] That's that's a Lobster salad

[00:03:38] Wow, okay and when you say so

[00:03:41] Where's that so those yellow lemon is a salad are they?

[00:03:46] Well, that's part of the eggy

[00:03:49] Figgy thing right so where's the seller?

[00:03:52] No, that's not eggy. That's actually that that I think that's out of show cards in there

[00:03:56] I don't take hearts and and something's sliced underneath and then you've got carrots and capsicum and cucumber

[00:04:04] And dressing over the top of the of the lobster so

[00:04:08] I'm a bit of a lobster fan. Yeah, that's good. Why does this not surprise me?

[00:04:15] I haven't had lobster all that many times but I mean I like prawns and I like lobster

[00:04:21] Obviously you eat prawns more regularly than you eat lobster. So it's one of those things okay, so hey

[00:04:26] Are you sent six courses you've gone through three courses?

[00:04:30] There's the other side of the menu. Oh, the fourth course was

[00:04:36] Roasted brands in our brand Zeno as a Mediterranean fish always

[00:04:39] So with yeah grilled zucchini peppers and

[00:04:44] served with a California shadanae and again each course by the way is introduced

[00:04:50] by your made a do there's only a maximum of 16 people in in the dining room for this and each courses

[00:04:57] introduced where the chef will tell you or the other made a do what is coming up and how

[00:05:01] the wine to go to the five I mean we're Francis Ford Coppola and it is the fry

[00:05:08] Yes, yes that is indeed Francis Ford Coppola who has now branched out to making wine is that right

[00:05:15] Wow, I'm really very I saw the bottle when we first walked in I saw a little

[00:05:22] French couple I thought looks really like they couldn't possibly be they couldn't possibly be

[00:05:28] another Francis Coppola well I mean Sophia making these good movies as well so you know

[00:05:33] Yes, it's the family okay, so but it's quite an elegant

[00:05:37] Yeah

[00:05:39] You're born with the not bad not bad especially with the with the grilled filet minion

[00:05:44] He has the dessert that's it. Sorry we've got to do get the world what peanut butter is that ganache

[00:05:54] Peanut butter ganache a chocolate mousse a salted caramel gelato

[00:05:59] which was served with a salted caramel

[00:06:01] espresso martini and I don't have a photo of it yeah but you you make that that by the way

[00:06:08] that is that is the filet minion that came with the with the the the couple of

[00:06:12] Clare it in there but but you may have already seen the world on a previous edition of travel first it may be a

[00:06:20] shared dish with them with another place it may be round and chocolate e-allix so

[00:06:26] Again, right I'm trying not to give too much your way here

[00:06:33] So but that's actually the each each course is paired with is paired with an accompanying beverage

[00:06:42] It is just fancy it is it is it is it is the top shelf. It's tucked away

[00:06:47] On over the years it's a time period

[00:06:49] It's a mint you know

[00:06:51] Is it something that absolutely yeah, it did okay so in other words this would be you do this is a treat once or would you do it more than once on board

[00:07:00] Say you're taking you virtually three weeks. You would do it once on a cruise

[00:07:06] This is I've been on I've been on several cruisers now and I have only

[00:07:13] omitted the chef's table or equivalent experience I should say that most other cruise lines

[00:07:18] Have something similar for instance playing I have Luke Mangan

[00:07:24] Do he's there was a chef's table on Norwegian cruise lines as well, but the chef's table here on on rock

[00:07:29] Arabine is it is it is just that little bit more polish nice

[00:07:34] But I mean it means that you've got to make sure that you the egg on board

[00:07:40] Something something elegant to wear that's the other thing. I mean not necessarily a suit not there's another

[00:07:46] Like Synaj you do it all shut having said that most

[00:07:52] Most cruisers and most cruisers will still have have a night or two

[00:07:56] Where it's dressy

[00:07:58] All nights

[00:08:00] I'll be coming

[00:08:02] Tell me if you don't have it on board, don't Chris can you

[00:08:05] I presume there's shops on board that you can buy gear as well. I don't be cheap but you can you can buy no

[00:08:11] Are the

[00:08:14] You can buy you can buy that there's no rocket bias suit on board here, but there's only places like I can buy

[00:08:21] Close and look quite sharp. Yeah, okay cool now listen we've got to go shortly

[00:08:25] But you want to play a video a couple of couple of minute video if you've got that lined up

[00:08:30] Something with robots and I'm not sure what that's all about

[00:08:34] Yeah, well let's let's let's go to hang on let's go to that and we'll talk about this while

[00:08:43] We'll talk while this is playing because this is largely this is largely self-explanatory

[00:08:48] Okay once it gets it gets up and running

[00:08:51] This is the bionic bar I think I've mentioned this

[00:08:55] Have you mind on it? So this is so is this other this?

[00:08:57] I'm telling you bionic bar

[00:08:59] Oh wow

[00:09:02] No, no, this is this is this is this is robots and you tell them what to do right in this case. It's you order a drink

[00:09:08] Oh

[00:09:09] Multiple people

[00:09:11] Is it voice and they go berserk and that's a good relationship? I mean does everybody what about different x and no

[00:09:20] Now now you you tap your your your C pass card on the terminal right and then on the on the screen in the forefront there

[00:09:29] And then you you have to verify that you are who you say you are and then you create your drink either from a preset menu or you can

[00:09:35] Can make sure own with whatever you're not talking and this is making you're not actually talking to it

[00:09:42] You're actually selecting it

[00:09:44] Manually

[00:09:45] Is that what you selected by a keypad? Yeah, by a via via a touch screen. Yes

[00:09:51] Yeah, yeah, and then there are there are very large mirrors that have screens that sort of come through

[00:09:56] They're very hard to film by the way, but they show you how long it's gonna be before your drink is ready

[00:10:00] And it tells you what the what the machines are doing

[00:10:03] And so on as well. So that's is that is quite a bit of fun

[00:10:07] We'll let this keep going because they're gonna shake the drinks in a minute, and that's quite fun to what's there we go

[00:10:11] There's one on the shaking your drink now

[00:10:13] So you can have your drink and not stirred had to say it sorry

[00:10:17] In there now that one will go and put some more stuff into that drink now

[00:10:23] It is this included you know, it's not it you have to pay for the separately

[00:10:28] This is this is no no yakin I can well I can't now because it's closed

[00:10:33] But I can order almost any drink on there as part of the drinks package

[00:10:40] You can you can if you don't have the drinks package you can

[00:10:44] Order a drink and add it to your your account for the course of the

[00:10:51] There is something I will drink package you've been totally lost on me

[00:10:54] It would be totally wasted on someone like you

[00:10:59] Okay, he's he's he's held up the drink. So that's okay

[00:11:02] So the drink gets served up so you tap your tap your card at that point and the drinks slides out to you. You'll see

[00:11:07] This one you see a bit better

[00:11:09] Tap with the card and and add it comes

[00:11:11] Now I will say this the robots aren't much for conversation so

[00:11:17] If if you're the kind of person who wants to go and you know

[00:11:21] Pour your heart out to your bartender the robots aren't good

[00:11:24] So they're not like your legal hairdresser. That's what you're telling me. I accept that okay

[00:11:28] That's fair and reasonable so it's good now it's good by the way

[00:11:32] I've noticed that you're talking about here when we when we started this before you set sail

[00:11:36] G your hair grows quickly

[00:11:39] I'm really not that it's long, but it was was you know

[00:11:43] You got a number one buzz cut before you left

[00:11:46] And yeah, you're recently here so you now which is very good talking about that I think it's time for us to leave and

[00:11:53] We will just

[00:11:55] Before we go before we go. Can I throw one of these? I haven't I haven't taken photos

[00:11:59] This one so I didn't think it was appropriate to share photos

[00:12:00] But you can also pay

[00:12:02] To do

[00:12:03] Behind the scenes tours and one of the places with the behind the scenes tour of was was the galley

[00:12:09] So we actually got to go through multiple kitchens

[00:12:12] In here and see what goes on behind the scenes

[00:12:15] Anyone you want to see?

[00:12:17] doing their background

[00:12:19] for the next meal. I think

[00:12:21] Yeah and and gee, you know that there's 3,100 passengers out of a possible 4,000 on this cruise is another 1200 crew

[00:12:29] To see that kind of an operation it runs 24 hours a day. I've always to go down there now

[00:12:34] They would be baking bread right now and it is local time at about 10 past one in the morning

[00:12:38] They would be baking bread now and they would be preparing for breakfast already

[00:12:42] It's a 24-7 operation on an industrial scale if you get the chance to do that. Don't don't offer that on every cruise

[00:12:48] If you get the chance

[00:12:50] Jump on it

[00:12:52] Also because afterwards they then serve you an exclusive brunch and it's the end of some of the dishes on that

[00:12:56] It's the only time they serve them up is at that one and the champagne they served with that was particularly nice

[00:13:01] Anyway Alex it is very late for me. It is time for me to go to bed

[00:13:03] I think thanks for the

[00:13:06] really appreciated

[00:13:08] We've got to thank them as well for the room internet the fastest internet at sea

[00:13:13] That's how we're doing this and again, it seems to be working very nicely

[00:13:16] Maybe that's because one of the things that they'll see before it does and this is a

[00:13:21] Vational of the seas that Chris is on and it is a night in day cruise

[00:13:25] We are going to hear more from Chris in coming days as we continue

[00:13:30] Cruising around the French Polynesia. I believe is the best description

[00:13:34] So let's speak again in the next few days catch you then on travel first. You'll be listening to travel first