Eating in a box

One of the many things on my foodie bucket list was to dine at a 3 Michelin star restaurant. I had my chance a few years ago on our trip to Las Vegas but at time we only had only stumbled upon Robuchon and there was only a day left and there were no places on the reservation list. After recounting our trip to my friend, he asked "OMG did you go to Joel Robuchon? I had the brioche from the bread cart and nearly cried". Since then I had been plotted my return to Las Vegas just to try this restaurant. I had no idea what to expect out of my experience at a three star Michelin star restaurant. I only knew that the food would be top notch and I was told that the service was a completely different level of experience. We had an idea when my wife asked the maître d' "can I...." his reply before she finished was "Yes of course! we never say no!". The bread cart was quite a site. Usually you get a bread basket, if you're lucky it contained a couple o...

While shipping out to your various destination there are days that you're "At Sea". The boat is full of activities and shows to entertain the guests, plenty of bars to wet your whistle and even a casino to "win daddy a new pair shoes". Usually these are the "formal nights" where everyone gets dressed up (Yea, tuxedos preferred but they'll let you get by with suit and tie). Yes there's an option for those that don't prefer to dress up in the buffet, but usually everyone gets dressed in their finest and gets their photos taken prior to dinner and finish the evening with a wine or cocktail at the bar. I opted for the cocktail before dinner of course :). The martini bar had a nice "iced" bar top (literally a bar top kept frosted and frozen). The bartenders tossed bottles back and forth ala "Cocktail". Very entertaining show, I went with a classic Vodka martini dirty. Sorry, I'm light on the dinner pictures becau...

Without a doubt one of my favorite ways to travel is by cruise. Often times cruises get a bad rap it's either a bunch of old people, or a party boat full of kids or people getting sick. And yes those things happen but that completely overlooks the best parts of this type of vacation: Super relaxing (internet is too expensive you're forced to unplug), meeting new people, seeing a bunch of destinations without hurrying through airports, super customer service and of course let's not forget the food. This time around we're taking a cruise visiting Northern Europe and Russia. As I mentioned last post we started in Amsterdam and are currently blazing through Germany, Estonia, Russia, Finland, Sweden and Denmark. It's the longest cruise I've taken but so far the days are flying by. I'll post some highlights along the way. Day one we took advantage of the discount on the "premium" restaurant and booked a seat at the "Oceanliner". On each...

Day Three was mostly a restful and un-eventful day. We moved rooms (this would be second of our total three room changes), but this was a planned "upgrade" (re: upsell when we got here) that gave us access to the premium "Chef's Plate" restaurant. This was the restaurant that required an upcharge of $80 per person and you had to dress nice (that's what they said but it turned out some people didn't do that). With the room upgrade all reservations at this restaurant were then free so we decided to check it out, after all we'd already paid for it. I suppose since it was free for us I didn't know what to expect. The restaurant had about 12 total tables and started seating at 6:15pm with the last seating at 9:00pm in 15min increments. The restaurant was quiet, dark, and romantic. They had a maître d to greet you, two waiters serving the tables, bus boy, dedicated bartender, chef with assistant (that were visible) to provide for the experience. T...