This Gala Dinner aboard the River Princess cruise ship whilst moored in Amsterdam was a highly demanded affair, and for very good reasons.

The evening started early, as members and guests who wanted to beat the afternoon rush arrived as early as 5.30pm. The crew, however, was more than ready to welcome everyone aboard. A smooth check in and a swift walk through beautifully decorated hallways, took us to the bow of the River Princess.

There, we enjoyed a glass or two of Champagne Taittinger Brut Réserve with beautifully crafted amuse-bouches. The softly lit, beautiful bar proved to be a very difficult venue from which to “extract” the 67 attendees. We were enjoying immensely the view of the Amsterdam ports and the skyline across the river and the vibrant camaraderie.

Arriving in the dining hall at the ship’s stern, beautiful roses, wax-stamped menus and our iconic red Chaîne des Rôtisseurs flags invited us to our respective seats in beautifully placed tables facing the water. What a splendid ambience!

Welcome words, after which the Uniworld Culinary Director’s menu description was followed by one of the most beautiful surprises of the evening. The Head Sommelier was not only a master of wines, but also a poet! Listening to Laurentia Panayotov brought a smile to everybody’s face, made us all travel through the villages and vineyards and made our mouths salivate before the first sip.

To describe every beautiful memento of this evening, we would need too much of your time. Instead, let me summarise by highlighting the lobster’s delicacy, the beauty of the leek and onion soup (as close as you can get to a Japanese painting with food), the silkiness of the local fish, the perfect tenderness, rawness and taste of the lamb, finally the appropriate bitterness of our chocolate dessert.

Each of these beauties was nicely paired with:
- ChampagneVeuve Clicquot Brut
- a tasteful Austrian white
- an unforgettable Verdejo from Rueda in Spain
- a surprising Pinot Noir from South Africa
- my favourite Châteauneuf-du-Pape ‘Télégramme’ from Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe
- an intense Schloss Vollrads Riesling Auslese from Germany perfectly matched dessert.

To our hosts, Uniworld River Cruises, to their amazing crew from planning to execution, to our precious guests and members, and to Amsterdam, heartfelt thanks for a beautiful evening.

“Tot volgende kier” (English: until next time), but not without first promising to look into the possibility of arranging next time a dinner-drinks-sailing-breakfast sort of venture aboard one of Uniworld’s precious cruise ships.

Vive la Chaîne!

Elio Machillanda
Chancelier