On our recent Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Fantasy (trip report here), we attended Pompidou’s Dessert Experience in Remy. For those of you that are not familiar with Remy, it is a fine dining, adult-only restaurant on both the Dream and Fantasy. They serve brunch (review here), dinner (review here), something called Petites Assiettes de Remy (details here), and the afternoon dessert experience.
Pompidou’s Dessert Experience is an upcharge of $55 per person, plus gratuity, plus the option to add on a wine pairing (consisting of 3 glasses) for another $25 per person. You can reserve it online once your booking window opens (more details on that here). There is a dress code, which they absolutely enforce, and you can read about here.
The Dessert Experience as described on the DCL website:
“Treat your taste buds to a sweet selection of delectable desserts. “Remy Featuring Pompidou’s Patisseries Dessert Experience” is an adults-only dining event named after the dessert chef from the film Ratatouille. Enjoy a 5-course dessert menu, coffee and an in-depth discussion with the Executive Chef and Executive Pastry Chef of Remy. As each dessert is presented, they’ll explain its history and evolution.”
Interestingly, the above description says it is 5 courses, but ours was 6.
We arrived a few minutes before our reservation time (3:15) and waited in the Meridian Lounge. There were about 10-12 other people waiting as well. At 3:15, Manon (our server from brunch) came to greet us and show us to our table. We sat at the same table we had for brunch, right next to the glass. But, because it was a sunny afternoon, the sun was blinding and it was hot in the room. Manon lowered the shades next to our table, which made for a more comfortable experience, but no ocean views and poor lighting for photographs.
After everyone was seated, the maitre’d, sommelier, and pastry chef came out and gave a detailed explanation of everything we were about to experience. They explained each course, as well as the wine pairing option, which we chose to do.
Soon, the first course arrived. I didn’t take notes, and the menu does not give descriptions, so I’m afraid my descriptions are going to be vague as I am just relying on my (terrible) memory. This was called Pomme, and it was a type of apple tart with vanilla ice cream. Each course was delicious, so I won’t comment about the taste of every one.
The next course was called Eclair, and it was similar, but not identical, to what Americans think of as an eclair. There was a cream in the center of the pastry, with a vanilla paste and toasted peanuts on top. The cream inside had peanuts as well, so this one tasted a lot like peanut butter.
The next course was called Noisette, which in French means chocolate made with hazelnuts. It had a pudding consistency and tasted like Nutella.
The inside contained a chocolate filling.
By this time, the sun had gotten lower so Manon had to lower the shades even more, which made for even darker photos.
The next course was called Foret Niore, which is French for black forest cake. It was very rich chocolate with a nice cherry flavor. I especially liked the presentation of this one.
Next up was Chocolat Craquant. Craquant means crisp or crunchy, and this was very thin strips of crunchy chocolate with a chocolate sauce and peanut garnish.
The final course was called Citron. It was a perfectly-formed lemon with a citrus filling. This was definitely the most impressive presentation and since I love all things lemon, was one of my favorites.
To end the experience, Manon brought us these macarons to go. We took them to the girls.
Overall thoughts:
All of the courses were delicious, and I would do this again. However, I was uncomfortably full when we left, so in the future I would only eat half of each course. It is a lot of food, and a lot of sugar to consume in one sitting. I think the wine pairing only added to the issue, as dessert wines are very sweet. If you plan on doing the wine pairing, then I definitely recommend only eating half of each course. I was really glad we had late dining so that I was at least somewhat hungry again by 8:15. I would not have eaten much for dinner that night if we had early dining.
Overall, I think this is a unique experience worth doing at least once, and I would encourage anyone interested to give it a shot.
Do you think you could pay for one person and split the desserts? That does seem like a lot of dessert!
Hi Stephanie! I don’t know if they will allow this or not, but my guess would be no. I imagine they have to stick with the “per person” method of payment or else everyone would be trying to do this at both Palo and Remy and their revenue would take a hit. You can always try and ask though. I personally would love it as I never enjoy eating large amounts/portions of anything.
Do you think this Remy desserts experience has an exception for those who are diabetics type 2 so they can enjoy it if we let them know in advance?
Yohandy –
We just did this on our DCL trip and my hubby is Type-2. There are not substitutions for someone with diabetes. My husband did okay with it, eating what he wanted. We took several good walks afterward and his BGL was actually lower the next morning than the day before. Go figure.
Hi there,
We did the dessert experience when we went in July of 2019. It was absolutely wonderful! I read the reviews that said you have to give it a try at least once, and we did. I would have to agree with you, my favorite was absolutely the Citron! Thank you for the wonderful reviews, I would love to be able to find out more about each dessert.