A little taste of the sun
Gets to the heart of the Med with a gastronomic cruise
AFTER my third limoncello, Sorrento begins to look decidedly more beautiful, and that’s a hard feat in a town whose dinky harbour and colour-washed townhouses are guaranteed to lift spirits.
I blame my hazy state on Tato Garcia, the cheery executive chef from our cruise ship, Celebrity Reflection.
On this 11-night cruise from Rome to Naples, then on to Santorini, Mykonos and Turkey, we are sampling the fleet’s first ever “Chef’s Market Discoveries” excursions – and already these tastings are proving impossible to resist.
We have a day-long gastronomic tour of this delicious Italian town and area, Chef Garcia giving us foodie shopping tips before making tasty purchases for our private dinner back on board.
“See this lemon?” he says, squeezing a gigantic citrus fruit and giving it an appreciative sniff. “These hybrids are unique to Sorrento. They’re so sweet you can even eat the peel. My wife loves them with a sprinkling of salt.” Next, Chef Garcia takes us to a tiny family-run store located in Sorrento’s historic quarter. A lemon-filled chocolate gets the thumbs up, so too a hazelnut cookie.
He moves on to find tomatoes then, in a nearby delicatessen, he picks up a plaited burrata – a mozzarella with a gooey centre. “I think I know what starter to make tonight,” he says with a smile.
We stop for coffee in Piazza Tasso, Sorrento’s main square. But Chef Garcia has to return to the ship to prepare our dinner. He also needs to check the menus throughout Celebrity Reflection’s 10 restaurants.
Our group however has more foodie treats to enjoy.
Sorrento is famous for the sweet liqueur limoncello and lemon farms with sturdy, fruit-laden trees that encircle the town.
Our next stop is Colline di Sorrento, a family-run farm that produces not only limoncello but also olive oil and mozzarella.
This farm is home to ancient olive trees, many over 400 years old. Nets carpet the ground in readiness for the September harvest when the olives drop free from gnarled branches. Nearby is an old granite millstone and photographs of the Esposito family’s grandparents hard at work, turning the grinding stone.
Later, Rosa demonstrates how mozzarella is made. She douses the solidified curds with hot water to make the cheese elastic then shapes it into a bulbous glossy white mass.
Lunch is a feast of mozzarella and cured ham, then rigatoni with tomato and homemade ricotta cheese followed by a light lemon cake.
“How will we manage chef’s dinner tonight?” asks an American woman as we board our coach for Positano. A good question, but luckily this pretty seaside town is hilly, and a maze of vine-shaded steps helps work off lunch.
Chef Garcia’s private dinner for us, at the intimate Porch restaurant on deck 15, proves the highlight of our food-themed cruise.
Kicking off with a galley tour, then that gooey mozzarella with tomatoes, we move on to a delicious seafood broth, a mushroom risotto then an enormous Kobe beef meatball with mozzarella and homemade pasta. Sleep doesn’t come easily that night but our AquaClass veranda stateroom is a tranquil space. Pale wood detailing mixes with pastel furnishings and a spacious sofa.
We also have guaranteed breakfast and dinner access to healthy-eating venue, Blu. Here, an off-white wall relief depicting a giant rosebud complements blue glassware and cream furniture.
Blu emphasises clean cuisine – no heavy sauces or rich creamy desserts.
It’s just as well because this cruise sees us sampling a handful of Celebrity Reflection’s speciality restaurants, all of which promise calorific gourmet treats.
We love Murano, the ship’s signature French restaurant. Perfectly-cooked turbot comes topped with matchstick chips. We then blow it with a series of miniature creamy puddings, best of which is a chocolate and coffee semifreddo ice cream, accompanied by spiced fig compote.
A word of warning – the 3,000passenger ship’s speciality restaurants carry a $30-45 (up to £35) surcharge per head and that can put a real dent in your