With the upheaval of moving house I realised that I had forgotten to take my wife out for the much promised birthday dinner.

So, two weeks ago we finally called the babysitter, booked our favourite restaurant and went up to central London with much anticipation.

We arrived just before 8 o’clock on a Thursday evening and were greeted by…silence… Where was the buzz and chatter and the chink of cocktail glasses we were used to, where was the laughter of the groups having “just a quick one” after work?
In their place were three suited businessmen speaking in hushed tones by the bar and two couples having dinner. It was eerily quiet and distinctly lacking in atmosphere.

After a very pleasant dinner – the usual excellent food and attentive service – we didn’t hang around as we normally would have done.

There was no lingering over one last espresso, one last glass of wine taking advantage of a child-free evening. The other diners had left and while it was still only just after 10pm we were alone in the restaurant knowing that the waiters were keen to lock up and head home.

When the bill arrived for £140 for two courses and an inexpensive bottle of wine, I added in my head… “cost of babysitter, cost of train tickets” and when it got to over £200 I stopped, annoyed with myself for letting my disgruntled feelings spoil what should have been a special night out.

As the godfather of British cooking Marco Pierre White has been quoted as saying: “The perfect evening is a jigsaw of lots of little things done well… It’s not just about the food – the environment in which you sit is key”.

This rather average night out was in marked contrast to the last few times I have eaten in the restaurants of celebrity chefs on cruise ships.

Each time the atmosphere was buzzing with the anticipation of a first class night out. From Nobu to James Martin, Marco to Gary Rhodes, Atul Kochhar to Aldo Zilli most ships from the mainstream to the six star luxury fleets have signed up a celebrity chef.
And as it is their name above the door these are not just slap-on labels.

The chefs visit the ships around six times a year and are exacting in their standards.

This quality, combined with the service for which the ships are renowned, is certainly a recipe for success on a balmy evening in the Med or the Caribbean.

And when you consider that you pay on average between £10 and £20 per person cover charge, which includes three courses (usually accompanied by amuse-bouche, coffee and chocolates), it compares more than favourably with their top London equivalents.

And most cruise line promote in brochures which cruises the chefs will be on board, providing additional opportunities to see cooking demonstrations, have small group lessons, and meet the heart throsb behind the stoves in person.

I gather that there is even talk of shore excursions to local markets and restaurants hosted by top chefs.

It’s just a shame that no cruise line has signed up Nigella yet – the idea of chocolate tasting with her in Bruges would have me queuing to get on board.

Phil Davies

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