This was published 6 years ago
Gourmet food and wine cruises: Six of the best
A Hurtigruten ship in the north Atlantic.
PRODUCE: HURTIGRUTEN, ICELAND
Unless extremely far north or south, Hurtigruten ships collect fresh produce on-the-go to both support whatever area they're exploring and allow passengers to literally eat the coast they're sailing. When MS Fram embarked on a 15-day Arctic fiord expedition from Reykjavik earlier this year, the head chef phoned ahead to fishermen in the next Icelandic port of call and asked what they'd just caught and how much they could spare. He then bought cucumbers, sour cream and potatoes in Reykjavik and, as Fram sailed towards Greenland, served up Icelandic lamb soup, baked wild Atlantic salmon fillets and a Nordic poached fish dish using that flounder from Isafjordur. See hurtigruten.com
WINE: DOURO VALLEY, PORTUGAL, APT
Sail off on APT's 15-day Southern European Sojourn small-ship cruise between London and Barcelona and you're in for many a varied food treat, not least at your first port of call in Portugal, Leixoes (Porto), from which a shore excursion will take you deep into the vineyard-draped Douro Valley. Lunch at wine estate Casa dos Viscondes da Varzea allows you to sample local cuisine and wine in the company of its vivacious owner Maria Manuel, who has quite the entertaining tale to tell about the fall and rise of her family fortunes. See aptouring.com
RESTAURANTS: SILVER MUSE, SILVERSEA
With eight restaurant options, there are more choices of where to eat on Silversea's new ship Silver Muse than on any other luxury vessel. You can enjoy a week of fine dining and never have the same type of meal, never mind the same dish: teppanyaki cuisine, Italian, posh French, Asian, Peruvian fusion tapas, or upmarket seafood and steaks at perhaps the ship's best restaurant, suave Atlantide. If that isn't enough, the room-service menu is seven pages long and allows you to create your personalised three-course meal, served up by your own cabin butler. See silversea.com
DISH: BISTECCA FIORENTINA, MANFREDI'S, VIKING OCEAN CRUISES
If you've come back from an energetic day's sightseeing with a hearty appetite then don't mess around: order the signature bistecca fiorentina at specialty (but inclusive) restaurant Manfredi's, certainly the best Italian restaurant on any cruise ship. The thick-cut ribeye, which looks like it has been hacked off the side of a woolly mammoth, is coated in garlic oil and porcini mushroom powder and comes accompanied by blistered cherry tomatoes, creamed spinach and truffle-roasted fingerling potatoes. You won't have room for the tiramisu – but what the heck, eat one anyway. See vikingcruises.com.au
FINE DINING: MARIA THERESA, UNIWORLD
Uniworld consistently delivers the best all-round dining on rivers, never stinting on quality ingredients in its enticing fine-dining dishes, matched by well-chosen complementary wines. Maria Theresa is no exception, from the homemade bagels, muesli and loose-leaf tea at breakfast to crisp lunchtime salads. Four-course evening menus take you from plump tortellini to slow-roast beef to oozing hazelnut-chocolate pudding. Thumbs up, too, for the selection of regional food which, since Maria Theresa plies the Danube, ranges from Austrian cheeses to German sausages and enough cream-slathered Hungarian desserts to send you smiling until meal's end. See uniworld.com
DINING ROOM: GRAND CUVEE, CELEBRITY SILHOUETTE, CELEBRITY CRUISES
Despite its cavernous size, Grand Cuvee is possibly the best main dining room at sea, not just for its excellent service and knowledgeable sommeliers, but for dishing up evening meals that run through international standards of consistently high-quality, and also venture into more interesting alternatives such as sweet spiced potato soup, blackened Cajun fish, gorgonzola pasta, and coconut-lemongrass sorbet. Even the "always available" staples go beyond most ships with the likes of lobster bisque, escargots and an irresistible French onion soup. A decent choice of vegetarian, low-calorie and sugar-free options feature too. See celebritycruises.com.au
CONTRIBUTORS: Andrew Bain, Elspeth Callender, Ben Groundwater, Julietta Jameson, Brian Johnston, Ute Junker, Nina Karnikowski, Katrina Lobley, Rob McFarland, Craig Tansley, Larissa Dubecki, Belinda Jackson, Keith Austin.
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