April 17, 2008

World

Posh Nautical Nosh

By Janice Wald Henderson

The original rock-n-roll chef is about to switch to cruise control.

Bad-boy chef Marco Pierre White is the latest among a growing band of gastronomic giants to hit the high seas. On Saturday, the original enfant terrible of cooking (pictured) will see the opening of his White Room restaurant aboard P&O’s new Ventura superliner. The inaugural voyage of a mass-market 3,100-passenger cruiser from Southampton may not seem like the most exclusive of gigs for the first British chef to ever earn three Michelin stars (and perhaps the only chef to make Gordon Ramsay cry). But P&O may be right on the money here: a huge draw in the UK, White will soon star in his own NBC reality-TV show, and could well lure Americans to the world’s oldest cruise company.

While the Queen herself — Dame Helen Mirren — poshed up the proceedings by christening the Ventura yesterday, P&O is playing catch up with the luxury liners. Crystal Cruises first broke up the buffet line with a superstar chef in 2003, when it brought in Nobu Matsuhisa for the Serenity. Last month, the partnership extended to a new Nobu restaurant aboard Crystal’s other liner, the Symphony. The ubiquitous Todd English (who just opened Beso in L.A. with Eva Longoria), first hit the waves in 2004; in December, he unveiled his second eponymous restaurant with Cunard, on the Queen Victoria.

Silversea’s answer to all this is to show off top toques without playing the celebrity card. This week, the all-suite liner announced 14 new food-and-wine cruises with Relais & Châteaux. With degustation-only restaurants, and a legion of Michelin-starred chefs on board for tailored culinary voyages, it may be the most authentic bon gourmand experience at sea.