Some Thoughts on Taste of De Librije

[giustot]

I just returned from the October 27th Eurodam cruise and I had the opportunity to try the Taste of De Librije menu offered in the Pinnacle Grille. Here are my thoughts with a bit of humor mixed in.

 

De Librije is a very popular three-star Michelin restaurant in the Netherlands. The Pinnacle Grill features some items from the menu much like it does with Le Cirque. They offered it once, on the last formal night. So you're giving up the lobster in the main dining room to eat here. The charge is $49 for the food and another $39 for the wine. Is it worth it? Read on and decide for yourselves.

 

A lot of time and careful preparation by trained chefs went into making this dinner. If you like foo foo food that is art on the plate, think foam on a dish is great, and you don't mind an entire dinner you can eat with a spoon, you will love this food. If you prefer substantial food you can eat with a knife and a fork, stay away.

 

The dinner ended with the single most ridiculous dessert I have ever seen, deconstructed apple pie. But we'll get to that later.

 

The menu has several choices for appetizers, soups and entrees. Unfortunately, while the food may be three-star Michelin, the waiters are not, even though they are dressed in special suits for this meal. As friendly, helpful and well-intentioned as they are, the Indonesian waiters just don't know about this type of food. So they cannot be very much help in advising you on selections.

 

The amuse bouche was a marinated raw scallop. It was OK.

 

I had the lobster appetizer, which you can see from the picture, is a few morsels of lobster on a green bean coulis with some quinoa on the side. My wife had the oysters, a creative dish where the oyster shells are made of foie gras. In our opinions, both looked better than they tasted.

 

Next was the only truly extraordinary dish, the lobster bisque. It was different and imaginative, with chunks of crab, large crunchy croutons and a dollop of cheese in the middle. It was the best lobster bisque we had ever eaten.

 

For the entrees, the turbot was a full fillet that you could actually cut with a knife, served with potatoes and mushrooms. It was good but, in my opinion, equivalent to what you could get in any good restaurant. I ordered the cod, expecting it also to be a fillet. It was a big disappointment. Four little pieces of cod topped with ham spread around the plate with a lot of foam in between. This was clearly a case where a trained waiter would have looked at a big guy like me when I ordered the cod and said, "You won't enjoy that, let me suggest something else."

 

I don't mean to suggest this was a bad experience. The quality of the food was good and the dining was very pleasant. We did this to try something different and this certainly was different.

 

It's time for dessert. The rice chocolate stones I ordered did not seem to have any rice or any chocolate in them. In fact, I really can't tell you what they were or even what was on the plate. I did recognize some strawberries and I remember the waiter saying something about ginger beer ice cream. I'm sure a lot of effort went into preparing this plate but, in my opinion, it wasn't worth it.

 

Now for the craziest dessert I have ever seen, deconstructed apple pie. In general, I am not a fan of restaurants serving "deconstructed" dishes. After all, the reason you go to a restaurant is so they can make the food. I don't know why any trained chef would ever think a deconstructed apple pie would work.

 

As you can see from the picture, the dish was a couple of teaspoons of apples sautéed in cinnamon, some flakes of crust with a tea spoon of ice cream, and a specially made cinnamon stick and a star anise. Again, a lot of time went into preparing the pieces for this dish. They could have spent one-tenth the time and baked a great apple pie.

 

This dessert is not about the taste of the food, or pleasing the customer, it's about the chef trying to show off how smart and creative he is.

 

In spite of my criticisms of most of the dishes, I was glad I had a chance to try the menu. I probably wouldn't do it again. I like the Le Cirque menu better and the regular Pinnacle Grill menu is just fine and the best value at $25.

 

Tom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[comfortcove]

Thank you for that, I would probably book that dinner if it is offered on Noordam, but I know DH will not like it from your review and pics.

[innlady1]

That is the strangest food I have ever seen! And, pardon me for saying this, but if I had that foam served to me, I'd get up and leave...it reminds me of my little dog when she has an upset tummy! If you get my drift.....;)

[CowPrincess]

innlady1, I thought the same thing!

 

giustot, thanks for posting! The pics were excellent. I agree with your assessment of "deconstructed" :D

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review and pictures. It looks and sounds interesting, we would give it a try.

[RuthC]

Thanks so much for your descriptions and pics. They really showed the story of all you said. Sure convinced me that I can save my money, if I'm ever on a ship where this is offered.

Why do chefs these days think they have to be "artists" instead of "cooks"??? It's about the one who eats the food, not the one who prepares it.

[aliaschief]

Always subjective but we really enjoyed the food and presentations.

[rkacruiser]

The Taste of De Librije was offered on the Eurodam, the evening of my birthday. I passed on the Lobster in the Rembrandt Dining Room and the Indonesian Stewards singing the Happy Birthday song to experience this dinner. I did so because of the reputation of the restaurant and the Chef.

 

The dinner was unique. Agree, the Lobster Bisque was a hit. I had the turbot and enjoyed it. Our service was excellent; did not expect black dinnerware and Stewards in black uniforms.

 

We ordered the wines that went along with the dinner and found that to be the most disappointing. Different wines with the different courses, but we had difficulty getting one wine drunk before another one arrived. And, in my opinion, most of what we were served were not to my taste. I would recommend one order a wine that one enjoys and drink that during the dining experience rather than the wine "package" with the dinner.

 

I had planned on ordering the deconstructed apple pie out of curiosity, if nothing else. By dessert time, my traveling companion and I were too full. So, we both ordered the sherbet option which was a good way to end our dinner.

 

The staff did recognize my birthday by presenting me with a lovely Chocolate Mousse Cake. But, no singing.

 

I am glad that I experienced it. Once, however, is enough. At least for my traveling companion and me.

[hrhdhd]

Hi Tom,

 

I am sorry we didn't have any foam for you Monday night! ;)

 

Thanks for sharing!

[innlady1]

innlady1, I thought the same thing!

 

giustot, thanks for posting! The pics were excellent. I agree with your assessment of "deconstructed" :D

 

The deconstructed pie "takes the cake"...no pun intended! :p

[TracieABD]

As I looked at your photos, I was reminded of one of my favorite writing critiques ever, "All Jello, no meat".:)

Edited November 8, 2013 by TracieABD

[PASSENGERES]

That is the strangest food I have ever seen! And, pardon me for saying this, but if I had that foam served to me, I'd get up and leave...

 

I couldn't agree with you more. Yuck! It seems to me that this would be money well saved, or certainly better spent at the Pinnacle.

[startwin]

There were several things in the photos that look like something my dog would regurgitate. I would be walking out, real fast, if those things were served up to me.:eek:

[kazu]

That is the strangest food I have ever seen! And, pardon me for saying this, but if I had that foam served to me, I'd get up and leave...it reminds me of my little dog when she has an upset tummy! If you get my drift.....;)

 

I certainly do and it reminds me of the same thing:rolleyes:

 

I don't know if I could handle the foam - take that away and the presentation looks quite nice.

 

thanks for the pics and the review - very interesting:D

[innlady1]

There were several things in the photos that look like something my dog would regurgitate. I would be walking out, real fast, if those things were served up to me.:eek:

 

We won't be going there anytime soon!

[kakalina]

What bothers me about these "special presentations" is that the PG won't serve their regular menu on those nights. If we could get the regular menu we would be there in a heartbeat.

 

I wouldn't eat most of that stuff on a bet.

[Alphen]

No disrespect intended, but having done the Librije experience myself, I think that this menu will be appreciated more by European guests, opposed to guests from North-America.

 

Especially if you look at the actual prices at the real Librije, this is an absolute steal!

 

Having sad this, taste or appreciation of food in general is very personal indeed and I will not judge your review of the diner in any way, but would like to add that the dishes offered in the Librije experience, reflect European style restaurants and the mentioned style of dishes are quite often found in many high end restaurants on this side of the pond and appreciated by many.

Edited November 9, 2013 by Alphen

[Thebes]

This is like eating a nice painted picture of something NOT delicious looking but artsy. They should call it " artists night out ".

 

 

Sent from my iPhone.

[BellBoys]

Guistot: I think you are right on the money with your review especially about the service. We love dining at the Pinnacle grill however we have experienced superlative service (Eurodam and Westerdam) and mediocre service (N. Amsterdam). Depending on the level of service we will book a Le Cirque dinner or cancel if the service is not up to par.

 

Its just not worth spending the extra money when the level of service does not meet the imagination or quality of the food. The food definitely looks imaginative and given that the original De Librje is a Michelin 3 star and one of the top 50 restaurants in the world we will give it a try when its available on HAL if the Pinnacle staff service is up to par on that sailing.

[Freckles83]

i am interested in trying this dinner as i doubt i will ever have the chance to eat at a three start michelin restaurant. and i know this may sound crazy but that deconstructed apple pie looks delish to me :D i noticed the OP said that the dinner was $49 for the dinner and $39 for the food, however on the HAL website to book this dinner ahead of time it is $69pp. Can anyone explain that discrepency? i would love to try this dinner but dont really care for wine so if i can save a bit of money by waiting to go on the ship to book it i will do that. thanks in advance for any input.

[Alphen]

i am interested in trying this dinner as i doubt i will ever have the chance to eat at a three start michelin restaurant. and i know this may sound crazy but that deconstructed apple pie looks delish to me :D i noticed the OP said that the dinner was $49 for the dinner and $39 for the food, however on the HAL website to book this dinner ahead of time it is $69pp. Can anyone explain that discrepency? i would love to try this dinner but dont really care for wine so if i can save a bit of money by waiting to go on the ship to book it i will do that. thanks in advance for any input.

 

The difference is in the wine, the $49 is without the wine, the $69 is with wine samplers, with every course a different small amount of wine in a glass, not a full glass, which is more.

[Buffalo Man]

Just curious, was the menu all seafood or did they have some meat dishes. Thanks for taking the time to write a review and provide pictures.

[giustot]

Thanks for your comments everyone. I'd like to answer some questions and clarify some points.

 

Alphen, your observation about Europeans is absolutely correct and no disrespect was taken. In fact, the PG dining room manager mentioned to me that the dinner had been very popular when the Eurodam was in the Med. That type of food tends to be appreciated more by Europeans, although many Americans like it too. And the Europeans may have been more eager to pay the $49 plus wine than some American cruisers will be.

 

Whether the Eurodam continues this menu in the Caribbean depends on how popular it is. The PG only serves this menu on the selected night so they need enough diners to make it worthwhile.

 

Buffalo Man, there is no meat on the menu until you get to the entrees. There is a beef tenderloin and a lamb dish that includes lamb neck. I didn't see anyone order them so I don't know how they were prepared. If you like the general style of this food and you wanted meat for your entree, I'm sure they would be good. If you want traditional knife and fork beef, my recommendation is the Chateaubriand at Le Cirque.

 

The price of the food was $49. A half wine tasting was $18.50 and a full wine tasting was $38.50, plus service charges on the wine.

 

I agree with the poster who said the full wine tasting is served to quickly to drink it. It's four full glasses served in an hour and 15 minutes. If that too much for you, do the half tasting or, as the poster suggested, get a bottle you like and drink the bottle.

 

On the service, I never meant to suggest the service was bad, only that the Indonesian waiters were serving food they knew nothing about. When you're dealing with food at this level and dishes of this complexity it's important for the waiter to understand them and communicate them to you. In our case, the waiter neither understood the food nor could he communicate what it was in decent, understandable English.

 

Again, I want to say that I'm glad I had this experience and I'm not at all sorry that I spent the money. The quality of the food was very good even if some of it was not to my liking. My review is subjective to my tastes. I think what's more important is that diners try something a little different every now and then.

 

There is no doubt this chef is talented and creative, perhaps a bit too much for me. But if I ever find the chef who invented "foam" I won't be so kind.

 

Tom.

[rkacruiser]

i am interested in trying this dinner as i doubt i will ever have the chance to eat at a three start michelin restaurant. and i know this may sound crazy but that deconstructed apple pie looks delish to me :D i noticed the OP said that the dinner was $49 for the dinner and $39 for the food, however on the HAL website to book this dinner ahead of time it is $69pp. Can anyone explain that discrepency? i would love to try this dinner but dont really care for wine so if i can save a bit of money by waiting to go on the ship to book it i will do that. thanks in advance for any input.

 

You can order the dinner without the wine. The dinner itself was $49; $69 if the wine was ordered, as I recall.

[Alphen]

Just curious, was the menu all seafood or did they have some meat dishes. Thanks for taking the time to write a review and provide pictures.

 

Here is a menu of "De Librije"

Holland-America-cruises-DeLibrije_menu_101512.pdf