What should you know?

What makes a great restaurant, such as Remy, different from restaurants that are simply very good, is that while very good restaurants usually have a few “signature” dishes which they do very well, virtually everything at Remy is exceptional. An appetizer of carrots – yes, the root vegetable - will be most delicious set of carrots you’ve ever had, probably in varieties and colors you didn’t know existed, and with a taste that is the pure essence of carrot-ness. Now imagine a meal of 3 to 8 courses, all equally as good, ranging from soups, seafood and beef, to side dishes, cheese courses and desserts. That’s an average evening at Remy.

Remy offers both a standard dinner menu and a chef’s tasting menu. If you’ve got the time or the inclination, order the tasting menu, since it allows you to see every bit of creativity and technical mastery the kitchen can muster.

A couple of examples from our meals, why may be different during your cruise: One course early in the tasting menu was billed as the chef’s interpretation of a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup. The entire serving consisted of one small, golden brown cube, about the size of a postage stamp on each side, designed to be eaten in one bite. The outside of the cube was a cheddar cheese, coated with seasoned bread crumbs and fried lightly. Inside was a tomato sauce, barely seasoned, and reduced to concentrate flavor. The first bite – it took maybe two to finish the entire thing – tasted of crispy, butter-fried bread and melted cheese. The second was all tomato, bright, slightly acidic and sweet at the same time, balancing out the butter and cheese from the outside coating. Remy’s chefs had both amplified up the flavors to their essence, and reduced down the size of the dish to its bare minimum. Another appetizer was the chef’s take on cheese pizza. Its base was a small, crispy wafer of baked bread, barely thicker than a sheet of paper. On top of that was a half-inch layer of white foam, about the consistency of whipped cream, but made from parmesan cheese. And on top of that were three small basil leaves.

The pizza’s tomato “sauce” was in presented in a champagne flute as a clear, intensely-flavored water. The kitchen had achieved this transparency by repeatedly filtering juice from ripe tomatoes through layers of fine cheesecloth, trapping the red bits and letting the clear juice through. We were instructed to follow a bit of the crust and cheese foam with a sip from the flute, and the flavors combined beautifully.

One last note on the tasting menu: Remy offers a wine pairing for most courses. The selections are very good, but it’s a tremendous amount of wine and could easily be split among two people. Len’s first evening at Remy began with a martini at Meridian and continued with the wine pairing for dinner. The first few courses were memorable, but by the time he realized how much alcohol was involved, it was too late. The last quarter of the meal is a hazy memory, which apparently involved Len applauding the cheese cart as it rolled by for dessert. That called for another, alcohol-free, dinner at Remy. Pity his suffering.

Note: An additional charge of around $100 per person charge will be added to your cruise bill for each brunch at Remy, and around $125 per person for each dinner. The wine pairing for dinner is around $100 per person. If you need to cancel a reservation, it must be done before 2:00 PM on the day of your reservation or the charge will be applied to your bill. Children are not permitted in Remy – guests must be 18 and up.

What’s it like inside?

Art Nouveau accents in Remy's main room.
Photo courtesy of Curtis Lannom.

Remarkably understated for a Disney restaurant, and one named after a cartoon rat at that. The most prominent features at Remy are the floor-to-ceiling windows, which look out over the ocean on the port side of the ship from high on Deck 12; and the Art Nouveau lights, which seem to spring from the floor as thick vines, branching out into yellow lights as they reach the ceiling. Besides those touches, and perhaps the oval mirrors along the wall opposite the windows, the rest is simple and elegant: oval, round and square tables, all with white linen tablecloths, and round-backed wood chairs with white upholstery. The olive carpet pattern matches the Art Nouveau décor without being distracting. A small teak deck wraps around Remy, allowing you to walk out for a quick breath of fresh air between courses.

What are the specialties?

The tasting menu may be one of the best three-hour dining experiences you’ll ever have. Order the wine pairing. If the tasting menu sounds like too much food, Remy’s beef entrees usually include Australian Wagyu beef, and pork from central France.