Dear Reader, I have to make a bit of a confession of a fear of mine. Do you know how people find ocean views quite soothing? I’m afraid I’m a little of the opposite and have a fear of open water. So cruises and things like that have really sort of passed me by. I know people that are addicted to cruising and I get it. I understand the idea of being able to visit lots of countries without having to unpack your bag is appealing to me too. But this is somewhat tempered by my image of food served on cruises-I’d imagine that it’s sort of like eating buffet food a lot of the time. P&O’s Executive Chef Ian Summers tells us that people on cruises often eat up to a whopping twenty two plates of food a person a day.

The image of a buffet on water is something that some cruise lines are aware of and it is now common to have restaurants by celebrity chefs as an upgradable option on cruises with each of these restaurants having a surcharge. To dine at Ocean Grill, acclaimed chef Marco Pierre White’s restaurant on the P&O Aracadia, it costs £12.75 or around $19AUD/$19USD while dining at Luke Mangan’s Salt Grill is around $40AUD/$40USD per person. The restaurants are relatively quite small, Marco’s fits around 80-90 diners over the course of one evening. It is one of the 29 restaurants and franchises that he is involved with around the world and they have opened six Marco Pierre White restaurants on P&O’s seven ships.

Marco is contracted to travel with the ships thirty days out of the year and this is mainly around the British or European areas. But in this case, whilst the galleys for the other restaurants prepare food in lots of thirty to handle the crowds, the kitchen for Ocean Grill is a smaller affair, around 80 square metres where all of the food is prepared to order. There was an attempt to open the Ocean Grill for breakfast as well as lunch and dinner but passengers preferred the idea of having something familiar at breakfast (and apparently, they need to stock certain English breakfast cereals and brands of British tea or there may be a mini riot! ).

The kitchen for Ocean Grill

Tonight, the Arcadia is docked at Sydney’s Overseas Passenger Terminal and we hand over our driver’s licenses to security to board the ship (I guess in case we decide to stow away!). The Arcadia is on a 100 day world cruise and is an adult’s only cruise. Because P&O is a British cruise line and starts at Southampton the passengers are generally older and British. The Ocean Grill’s cuisine is in classic grill style with British classics like lamb rack and trifle and reflects the clientele. The decor is still very much in the vein of a cruise ship although Marco had a say in the decor of The White Room on the Ventura as that was a newly built ship. However, he chooses cutlery, glassware and tableware across all of the restaurants.

The rolls were very light, almost like airline bread, and served with unsalted butter.

Crayfish cocktail with home made Marie Rose dressing and wholemeal bread

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Peggy Porschen

In the cake world, and actually in my world too, there are few that are bigger than Peggy Porschen. She is the queen of cake  and cookie decorating, a woman that gets respectfully mobbed at cake shows by cake decorating enthusiasts around the world. With three successful books published on cake decorating, she has a fourth coming out in May. Peggy doesn’t follow trends, she starts cookie and cake trends and her incredible iced cookies were what started me onto my iced cookie obsession. And somehow she knows my blog? Oh my, how surreal a moment that was!

Peggy’s Fondant Fancies. Credit: Georgia Glynn Smith, for Peggy Porschen Cakes www.peggyporschen.com

When my friends Linda and Guy at Whimsical Cakehouse told me that German born and London based Peggy was on her way to Sydney and asked if I wanted to interview I stood up straight and said something quite incomprehensible but along the lines of “oh yes please!” And a couple of months later, there she was, showing people how to decorate a cake Peggy Porschen style with delicate lace imprints and airy light touches that you’d swear were painted on by gossamer winged fairies.

She has three parts to her business set in fashionable Belgravia in London: the academy where students enrol in a one month course to gain a diploma, the parlour which is a feminine space where people can sit down and try some of her cakes and cookies. And lastly, there is the bespoke cake making business where she makes cakes for wedding and special celebrations – a recent order was for Kate Moss and Jamie Hince’s wedding cake. Her husband New Zealand born and Australian raised Bryn Morrow, runs the business side.

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Rene Rezdepi: the “world’s best chef”

The man to my left getting snapped talking to people looks tired, very tried but deep in concentration when he speaks. He’s smaller than I imagined and some around me are whispering how different he looks with his beard. He is wearing a jacket, a linen shirt untucked and exposing dark chest hair, jeans and sneakers. Rene Redzepi is the chef at the best restaurant in the world Noma, in Copenhagen.

I count at least four newsreaders and there is the Masterchef alumni Matt Preston, Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris there for good measure too. I see many of the editors of food magazines and newspapers-there are at least three tables of media there. Yet this is not just an industry event because 140 diners have paid $395 for the privilege of dining with and listening to the world’s best chef speak. They’re Qantas frequent flyers-Rockpool’s Neil Perry is a Qantas ambassador and this is the inaugural event for the launch of “epiQure” the new Qantas food and wine online community. Apart from being able to buy wine with free delivery and earn 3 points per dollar spent they also get access to events like this. Marco Pierre White was also rumoured to be coming although we are told that he wasn’t able to come.

Neil Perry and Rene Redzepi

Matt Preston is standing on the illuminated stage and a large spotlight casts on him and he introduces everyone to the proceedings of the night. The menu tonight is mostly made up of dishes served here at Rockpool Bar & Grill.

Baby beetroot salad roasted, helly, raw with barrel aged feta dressing served with 2010 Penfolds Autumn Riesling and 2005 Penfolds Bin Aged Released Riesling

There is a flurry of efficient waitstaff and before we know it, we have our first course. This was such a pretty dish with beetroot done three ways with a creamy rich aged feta dressing. Simple but effective and the sweet beetroot contrasted well with the occasional burst of richness from the cheese.

Blue fin tuna tartare, Moroccan eggplant, cumin mayonnaise and harissa served with 2010 Penfolds Bin 311 Chardonnay and 2007 Penfolds Reserve Bin A Chardonnay

This dish was s surprise in that we usually see tuna tartare with Asian herbs and spices. This was most definitely Moroccan themed and worked beautifully the creamy textured tuna cubes were sublimely soft and sat on a bed of Moroccan spiced softer than soft eggplant. There was a small dollop of cumin mayonnaise and harissa to also bring home the Moroccan theme. This was a dish that stirred a lot of controversy for one guest who was angry about using blue fin tuna given that the restaurant is one that is conscious of sustainability issues. Neil gets up and explains that he uses sustainably farmed Southern Blue Fin tuna.

Rich and noble prawn congee, star anise scented peanuts, Chinese fried bread and chilli oil served with 2010 Penfolds Bin 23 Pinot Noir and 2008 Penfolds Cellar Release Tempranillo

Still standing on the stage, with a tea towel tucked in the back of his apron, Neil explains that the congee that we are about to eat is a “rich and noble congee”. Traditionally congee is made with leftover rice to stretch it out but this one isn’t and it would be closer to what the aristocracy would eat. The prawns are served whole and tail-less and are beautifully succulent and sit on a shallow layer of twice cooked rice porridge. The is crunch and chew value from the crunchy star anise scented peanuts and little cubes of Chinese fried bread and a drizzle of chilli oil comes to the fore right at the end deep in the throat and mouth.

Rene Redzepi and Matt Preston

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