Bali to Tokyo 2024 - March 22 La Dame

This post is dedicated solely to our dinner at La Dame! This is the only restaurant on the ship that you have to pay for as it is quite elevated. Much more so than the other restaurants which are very impressive in their own right. 

The experience started off with them leaving me a voicemail in the morning requesting that I review the menu and make my choices early so that the chef could prepare my selections special as to avoid any of my many dietary restrictions. This was impressive. I did have to use Google translator to figure out how to even read the menu though as the categories were listed in French and I was not familiar with how to even navigate it. 😬 Research done and decisions made, I gave them to the staff, which came to our room to get my selections. Wow, I didn't even have to go to them! 

This restaurant serves caviar, escargot, lobster, etc. and all the French foods that John and I don't necessarily enjoy. Nonetheless, we are looking forward to the experience! 

We arrive and are seated in a tiny specialty restaurant with maybe 8 tables. Very quiet and exclusive feeling. We definitely feel spoiled and very special. 

My first course is a very tender and perfectly cooked sea bass with zucchini ribbon on a bed of fennel. It was hands down, the best sea bass that I've ever eaten.

The mushroom bisque was soooo good! We both had that.🍄

My third course was the halibut and pork cheeks. John has the scallops and pork cheeks. Still can't complain🤔. We have yet to be disappointed! Oh, and my the way. The dishes arrive at the table with these fancy ceramic domes over them. The waiter then counts to three in French and lifts the dome for extra impact to the culinary adventure we are on.

John's third course was lobster. 🦞 I so wish that I could have eaten that.

Next... "Amuse bouche". This is what they called it. Did I say that right? They said it was a palate cleanser, but I searched for the direct translation and found that to mean "free appetizer". I guess the French translation for palate cleanser didn't sound quite as fancy.

My main dish was a flaky and very delicious dover sole. John's main course was a filet with some amazing sauce that really complimented it well.

My dessert was a berry crumble. It was pretty good but repetitive from last night. Same crumble, different fruit. Not that I'm complaining 😬 interestingly enough, I found that they added a bunch of this very same desserts to the breakfast buffet in the gluten free section. I'm pretty sure they made it in a bunch for efficiency. So smart!

John had crepes with passion fruit. Pretty sure they were the best crepes of his life! Who knew he likes passion fruit? 

They also brought a complimentary plate of sampler desserts. The berry jelly was so good. John tells me the cake is amazing but we'll just have to take his word for it.