• 4 min de lectura
• 4 min de lectura
A large crowd gathered at last week's F&B@Sea in Miami, Florida to attend a conversation between travel journalist David Yeskel of The Cruise Guru and Sami Kohen, VP of food & beverage for Princess Cruises.
A decades-long career in the industry, Kohen has brought exceptional dining experiences to Princess Cruises and that is where the talk began, with Yeskel asking about his collaborations with Italian chefs/restaurants.
Kohen spoke about The Butcher's Block, by Dario, a specialty restaurant at sea, proudly mentioning that "Dario is a seventh-generation butcher who brings the same quality and experience they bring to the family business to our restaurant. It is a great partnership," said Kohen. "Dario developed this concept with an exceptional menu that is set from start to finish and delivered family-style around a communal table."
Yeskel then shared that "the experience is participatory with the chef explaining the experience as the meal progresses."
One of their staple restaurants, Sabatini's Italian Trattoria, "is on all of our ships and a unique Tuscan experience where we have re-introduced our beautiful tasting menu," Kohen said, "which features centuries-old family recipes brought from Italy by our chefs."
Princess also brought on 13-time World Pizza Champion, pizza chef Tony Gemignani who created five specific pizzas for the cruise line. Yeskel knows Gemignani well boasting that "he serves 50 types of pies out of seven ovens in his standalone restaurant."
"Princess has always done an exceptional job executing what we have. I was in search of the best pizza maker, and I found Tony, who has two Guinness World Records. We wanted him to create signature pies, executed the same way as the other Italian offerings," said Kohen." Gemignani is very particular about sourcing the best products that means the best Italian dough and sauce and with hose ingredients in hand, our teams execute this excellence day in and out."
The conversation then moved on to sushi and the partnership with Makoto Okuwa, the James Beard award-winning chef serving his branded sushi at his restaurants all around the world. Yeskel asked "why did this menu resonate with Princess guests?"
"Makoto is a Miami staple, a high-end restaurant at the exclusive Bal Harbour Shops. Chef Makoto is very down-to-earth, and he offers very high-quality food with exceptional execution. We source the product, flying fish from all over the world, helping to deliver the same consistency you find at his restaurants," said Kohen. "Our passengers, those sushi lovers, they are there at Makoto Ocean for lunch and dinner. Makoto, his team and ours, work hand in hand in executing our food."
On the beverage side, Princess partnered with Handshake Speakeasy in Mexico City, named Best Bar in North America two consecutive years by World's 50 Best Bars, to create five specialty cocktails at sea.
"I met with the owners of Handshake Speakeasy and although they were originally hesitant, I was able to, alongside my team, convince them to collaborate with us. We sat down and created the five signature cocktails, taking our time and working with a great trainer to help our team fully understand the concept, execute, and deliver," said Kohen.
"Princess has rolled in their Celebrity-branded liquor brand and also added a new component, to create six drinks crafted with botanicals and functional ingredients to help energise, focus and invigorate the consumer," said Yeskel.
"These new zero-proof and non-alcoholic beverages are a first for us and took close to seven months to develop because we had to be very precise so the botanicals would not overpower the flavour," said Kohen. "We sat down, examined the products and reworked all of our ingredients to create this program."
These newest beverages are available in their lobby bars and lounges around the ship.
"Ultimately, with all these efforts we are looking to create connections with our cruise passengers and lifelong memories," said Kohen.
Fuente: sea-trade cruise
