Dream Beauty Dining Experience
The Concept
The food and drink on any vacation are key to the experience and on Dream Beauty we are well aware of this.
The menu does and will change from week to week as do the chefs but you will be guaranteed a great chef for your charter.
So rather than go on and on, how about we take you through an actual week with Gautier as our guest chef!
Day 1
Arrive at Palm Cay to a beautifully prepared charcuterie board. For dinner the choice is to either go to the Pink Octopus restaurant in Palm Cay of have Chef whip you up something...we opted for the latter and had a Shrimp rigatone diavola with a cream and Ricard flambe sauce followed by a made from scratch lemon merangue pie........coffee to finish and maybe a glass of wine or two!
Day 2
Wake up to the smell of freshly ground coffee as Gautier prepares breakfast. Arrive at Highbourne Cay and immediately get presented with a huge lunch serving of Tricolor salad accompanied by freshly made and baked Focaccia bread.
Xuma's for dinner and it's good but I can't help feel I missed out on something special from Gautier........
Day 3
Wake up to silence as Captain Yves and Gautier have gone Lobster hunting. Yves returns with 2 lobster and a few crabs and a great story about the 'one that got away'. Go upstairs and within a few minutes am presented with a cup of tea and my request for breakfast. I choose the healthy option of yogurt with fruit and granola bowl.....absolutely perfect.
After a quick fishing trip round to Lobster cay, a lunch of Chicken Caesar salad with freshly baked Fouguass bread (French from Marsaille) is served.
Dinner is the Lobster that Yves caught earlier, prepared on the BBQ and served on the half-shell with Pilaf rice with Kimchee and Endive and Orange salad. Everything is cooked to perfection......and just as we're about to burst, out comes the Pineapple flambe with dark rum served with caramel ice cream for dessert.
Day 4
Awaken to gentle rocking and make my way upstairs to find Gautier in his natural habitat, the kitchen!
I help myself to a freshly ground coffee before venturing outside to the beautiful sunrise and sitting down to a cooked breakfast with freshly baked Focaccia...and tea of course.
Gautier made us a packed lunch for us to take to the stunning Shroud Cay beach.....a picnic lunch with nobody around for miles. He made enough for us, 11 Black headed seagulls and a lemon shark - we all agreed it was delicious! I forgot to take a photo of the food as I was too busy enjoying the beach......but it was very good!
Dinner was served to a backdrop of lightning as a storm passed to the North. Pork medallions in a mascarpone sauce accompanied by Moroccan cauliflower and pan-fried purple potatoes....fantastic. Dessert was Gautiers first try at a Keto pavlova using a sweetener rather than sugar - the texture was a little crumbly due to the lack of sugar and there was a 'cool' sensation when eating due to the sweetener but pretty damn good!
Day 5
Another beautiful morning in the Exumas......Gautier has my breakfast waiting for me....Toasted Bagel with cream cheese, smoked salmon and capers....so simple, so good.
As we travel down to Bells Cay, lunch is served - a large tomato stuffed with feta cheese and lobster sitting on an orzo, tomato, raisin and walnut salad with a grapefruit vinaigrette dressing. Tastes incredible and perfect for the hot day.
After a well needed swim at Bells Cay we sit down to a fantastic Paella misto with chicken, mixed seafood and the crab that Yves caught 2 days ago. Perfectly cooked everything, the paella tastes great.
To finish off a delicious creme brulee......yum again!
Day 6
It sounds cliche to keep saying 'another beautiful day'.....but it is!! We awake to the view of the Aga Khans private island and a breakfast of 'cocot eggs' with mini croissants, thinly sliced ham and a wedge of gouda cheese.....with tea! Off to the aquarium we go!
When we get back from the fishes, Gautier has made Flammekueche for lunch...a French/Alsace crispy thin crust pizza with cream, bacon and onion topping.
Feeling very full, I snooze as we sail North to Danger Point to visit with the reef sharks.....
Apres-shark, Gautier Salmon with Crispy skin in 'Gautiers special sauce'' accompanied by cheese stuffed potato and oven roasted cherry tomatoes -delicious!
Dessert is an awesome take on bread pudding, fruit and Bahamian chocolate wrapped in freshly made dough and baked until crisp.
Day 7
Awakening to our last day in the Exumas we start with pancakes and bacon.....once again, simple and delicious.
After an incredible adventure in the mangroves leading to the Atlantic Ocean we return to a lunch of prosciutto, melone and cheese which lulls me nicely into an afternoon snooze as we make the crossing back to Nassau.
Dinner was a Gautier take on an American classic, Chicken wings sitting on a bed of israeli cous-cous with tomato and mango with crispy brussel sprouts.
Dessert was an excellent strawberry sabayon.
Final farewells to the team for a trip of a lifetime and then off to bed for a 7.30am flight to Miami in the morning!
The Verdict
Our guest chef Gautier was not only excellent for our paletes with his expertly prepared dishes, he was also a pleasure to be with.
In addition to the 3 set meals per day, Dream Beauty also has a selection of wines and top shelf spirits for making cocktails or enjoying neat. As both of us on this trip were not supposed to be drinking we didn't get to experience Gautiers cocktail skills but we've heard that they're pretty good from previous clients.
Dream Beauty also carries extensive supplies of snacks from cookies to energy bars, chips, nuts, fruits, smoothies, juices, dried fruits and so on, but due to the excellent cooking from Gautier we hardly touched anything. Just about the only thing that we endulged in outside of mealtimes were the endless supplies of cold drinks filled with ice.....lots and lots of ice!!!!
In summary, excellent food and service and a very memorable part of the trip......this is NOT your typical 'Boat food'!
Contact Us For a Quote!
Palm Cay Marina, Yamacraw Hill Rd, Nassau, The Bahamas
+1.305.587.8135