At Bucuti and Tara Beach Resort, there is a very special, fine dining restaurant called Carte Blanche. Seating only 14 guests per evening, the reservations must be made well in advance and re-confirmed 24 hours prior to dining. We were celebrating my 60th birthday on this trip and I’m such a foodie that when I was able to secure reservations, I did so.
Promptly at 7:00 p.m., the doors open and the guests are ushered in.
Just a coincidence, when we sat down at the semi-circle, granite topped dining area, I’d chosen seats where the chef would be prepping and cooking right in front of us. Once we were seated Dennis and Glen, our chef, introduced themselves. Dennis would handle the adult beverages, offering a wine pairing with each of the chef’s special courses to come though diners could have anything they preferred. If you’ve visited this blog before, you may have guessed that we chose the wine pairing. Since we’d all be together for the next few hours they asked that we introduce ourselves, where we were from and if we were celebrating anything special. Not surprisingly, we had anniversaries, newlyweds and birthdays.
The Amuse Bouche was Grouper Ceviche, one of my favorite things in the world. Dennis paired the Ceviche with a Reisling from Germany, Spence’s favorite wine.
Glen prepared the appetizer next and to my delight it was a Seared Sea Scallop, wrapped in bacon and served over a Dutch-style potato salad with basil, capers, micro-greens, a dollop of creme fraiche, salsa verde and baby spinach. Dennis paired this with a lovely Vin D’Alsace, French Pinot Gris.
The next course featured white aspargus, finely chopped hard-boiled egg with ham and a white wine hollandaise with minced parsley and chives served with a Gruner Veltliner Terrassen, an Austrian white wine – perfect!
Glen’s next creation was Red Snapper, Shrimp and Fennel with Carrot and Micro Mustard Greens plated over a Lobster Bisque cream sauce; Dennis paired this with Stag’s Leap Chardonnay.
Next up I saw the most succulent lollipop lamb chops that Glen was prepping.
The lamb chops were served with eggplant and basil roasted with tomatoes and spinach and paired with Malbec.
Around this time, Spence was nodding off a bit and I glanced at my watch – it was 10:30 and Glen was telling us that dessert was either a cheesecake or a chocolate choice, recommending we each try one and share. As delicious as we knew they’d be, we were so stuffed, we opted to skip dessert and that last glass of wine.
All in all, a fabulous evening and a meal I won’t soon forget.
Everything looks amazing with such beautiful presentation! What a special and rare experience…yum!
It was amazing! 😊