So Many Dishes

On our previous river cruises, we’ve sailed on one river. Our first trip was on the Rhine, and last year we travelled down the Danube. Cruising in Bordeaux is a bit different. The city of Bordeaux sits on the Garonne River, and just north of the city, the Garonne meets the Dordogne River. Together, they form the Gironde estuary. We sailed on all three, although the tides prevented us from going down the Garonne as far as planned.

It didn’t matter which river the ship was on, or whether it was in the estuary; the food aboard was wonderful. This post is just going to hit the highlights, but truly every dish was worthy of mention.

Our first dinner started off with a bang: escargot as an appetizer choice. They were served without shells and with enough garlic in the butter sauce to repel all vampires 😄 Absolutely delicious!

There is always a fish/seafood entree among the choices, and we enjoyed delicious fish dishes. We both chose the steamed cod in a champagne sauce on our first evening and roasted sea bass with a Provençal sauce the next night.

There were delicious meat and poultry dishes, too. One of my favorite dinners was a lamb shoulder roast. Each evening the menu includes regional dishes that the chef usually recommended. I don’t remember what the recommendation was that evening, but it couldn’t have been any better than the lamb.

I can’t ignore the starters. I had the best onion soup I’ve ever tasted, and I would sell state secrets for the goat cheese souffle.

Ken and I often opt for ice cream for dessert, but there were so many interesting choices that I couldn’t resist. I can’t resist anything with apricots, and the apricot tart was a delight.

The best dessert was actually the only one I didn’t photograph, because it wasn’t something either of us ordered. We enjoyed spending time with Dan and Tammy, a couple from New Orleans that we met early in the week. We were sitting at the same table the evening that the dining room staff brought a special treat to celebrate Dan and Tammy’s anniversary, and they invited us to share the passion fruit cheesecake.

I mentioned in my previous post that we had dinner at Chateau Kirwan one evening. Dinner was prepared and served by the ship staff. I can’t imagine the logistics involved! There were no choices that night, but every course was perfection, from lobster bisque to duck and pork pâtés, one en croutes, a mini vegetable quiche, to filet mignon bordelaise to the decadent chocolate cake dessert.

I haven’t mentioned lunches or breakfasts, but this post is already approaching the length of Ken’s dissertation. Let’s just say that we didn’t starve!