CRUISE CUISINE
A DINING DELIGHT
A typical menu at The Coromandel shows pan-seared scallops topped with candied citrus and a saffron chorizo creamy risotto or home- made Salmon gravlax filled with crabmeat and a dill and cucumber salad.
This could be followed by pan-
seared Sea-bream filet served with a ginger carrot butter sauce, or oven-roasted Magret de Canard served with a lime sweet-and-sour veal jus and roasted garlic mashed potatoes. More than acceptable house wine is included at both lunch and dinner, or you can summon the Sommelier, Laurent Fourey, who will help you choose something from the ship’s comprehensive additional paid-for cellar. Lunch at Rodrigues, the grill
restaurant on deck six, is not cloaked in the same muted elegance but is well arranged and a waiter is never more than a few feet away. Crisp, comprehensive salads,
creative hot buffet items and a vibrant room, with doors folded back to allow sea air and sun to permeate the room, make the whole event work. You can eat inside or out and usually there is a barbeque grill running, with fresh fish and meats. Desserts are intense and colourful. Fortunately, there’s no limit on those either!
cross-cabin view to sea or total privacy. The beds are large and comfortable, although they tend to dominate the room. Room service is available 24 hours a day and breakfast arrived at eight o’clock sharp. With only 110 passengers on this voyage (out of a maximum of 264), we were actually outnumbered by the crew. The company state they aspired to the feel of a private yacht, and it certainly felt like it. The heart of any cruise ship – or yacht – is the galley, and most of the culinary activity aboard L’Austral is undertaken in just one kitchen, which serves The Coromandel gastronomic dining room on deck two and The Rodrigues Grill on deck six. The Coromandel is the primary dining room, quiet, elegant, softly lit and impeccably managed. The Grill, incorporating an outside dining area, is primarily for breakfast and buffet lunch, although it also provides a light supper
64 WORLD OF CRUISING I Spring 2012
facility. Both restaurants are open seating while The Grill has an outside barbecue area and seating for 80. Chef Philippe Tremel is in charge of all culinary output. With his brigade of 17 cooks and right hand man, sous chef Guillaume Guertin, Monsieur Tremel crafts a small but singular menu for The Coromandel, rooted in French provincial cooking.
pasta and vegetarian choice – and a selec- tion of desserts. The Grill has a themed menu that rotates through various moods and cultures. Tremel started the long road to finding his place at the helm of L’Austral’s kitchen at the age of 17, serving his apprenticeship in Paris at such landmark establishments as Ledoyen, Lenôtre and Julien. The next 20 years took him to the Far East, Florida
C
oromandel presents a carefully bal- anced selection of appetisers, main courses – typically a fish, meat,
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