Costa: Culinary Experiences for All Tastes
Costa Cruises offers a wide range of culinary experiences, which include not only main restaurants and buffets but also exclusive experiences in specialty restaurants that offer formal, casual, and “quick” options to satisfy the needs of all guests.
From Sushino to the onboard pizzeria, from Salty Beach to Pokè (available only on some ships), the options for quick lunches or dinners are diverse. However, two particularly unique experiences are certainly a dinner at Archipelago and one at Teppanyaki, two experiences we could define as opposite: one elegant and refined, the other more casual and entertaining.
The Archipelago Restaurant is intriguing from both a sustainability perspective and an experiential standpoint, offering a completely different dinner from the usual themed restaurant. The restaurant is extremely elegant with soft lighting that immediately conveys a relaxing atmosphere where the main theme is sustainability. In fact, one of the first things you encounter are logs set up as “works of art” that once floated in the sea and now are found in a Michelin-starred restaurant on a cruise ship, representing the theme of sustainability and the importance of cleaning our seas. These logs were recovered during marine conservation operations made possible by the Costa Crociere Foundation.
Archipelago
Archipelago Costa Fascinosa
Costa Toscana Archipelago Restaurant
Once escorted to your table by the staff, the waiter, who will be your personal waiter for the entire dinner, explains the course of the meal starting from a selection of wines to a detailed explanation of each dish. The three world-renowned chefs presenting their menus at the Archipelago restaurant are Bruno Barbieri, Àngel Leòn, and Hélène Darroze. Bruno Barbieri offers a simple yet innovative menu, Àngel Leòn focuses more on fish dishes, while Hélène Darroze bases her creations more on vegetables.
Inspired by the sea, Archipelago offers three five-course menus plus a special molecular cuisine dish, a bubble containing nitrogen. Once the bubble is broken, the white smoke will dissipate, leaving a surprise for the eyes: small flavor spheres in a pink-flavored water. The goal is to amaze by creating creams from solid ingredients or solidifying soft ones. The courses will literally be a “journey in taste” around the Mediterranean or in the destination where you are. To complete the experience, at the end of the dinner, each guest will receive a small portfolio representing the journey of flavors made with the menu and the signature of the chosen chef. The dinner lasts just over two hours, precisely to savor each dish slowly and live every sensation. Finally, it will be explained that part of the proceeds will be voluntarily donated by Costa to support the Foundation’s projects.
Chef Barbieri – Costa Crociere
Chef Leon – Costa Crociere
Starred Menu
For those who prefer a more dynamic, energetic, and engaging dinner from another perspective, the Teppanyaki restaurant is the perfect choice! As soon as seated, the dining room staff presents the menu so you can inform the cook of the amount of food to place on the grill, which is an integral part of the table. Like at Archipelago, at Teppanyaki, some dishes that open the menu are included for everyone, with a variety to choose from including meat, fish, and desserts, as well as a vegetarian option.
Seated at a station with about 12 seats, shortly after choosing the menu, the real fun begins. With the grill heated to around 250 degrees, the “teppanyaki master” equipped with two spatulas begins to cook the dishes, including a fun show. It starts with an omelet; the eggs fly like a master bartender would do with drink bottles, landing exactly on the vertically turned spatula. The egg, impaled, starts to drip, allowing the cook to draw on the grill. Finally, after many acrobatics and laughs, the large omelet will be rolled up and transformed into a cute snake that will greet the guests at the table and then be sliced into bites that will be thrown to the passengers, who will have three attempts to catch them on the fly.
Teppanyaki
teppanyaki costa smeralda
Costa toscana Teppanyaki
The dinner continues with deconstructed onions forming a volcano that will erupt steam made from water and lava made from soy sauce; elegant and abundant courses including snapper, salmon, beef, lamb, or a tasty vegetarian alternative represented by a completely vegetable-based hamburger, and finally, to end the evening in style, a delicious fresh and Instagrammable dessert to remember the evening and make friends envious once back home.
Different but equally immersive experiences that add an extra touch to the cruise vacation, but above all, are worth trying at least once in a lifetime.
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