I finally get a chance to chat with Sebastian when he has a quiet moment in the kitchen. He is so young, but undeniably gifted. His full name is Sebastian Amberville, he’s English and he has very good culinary chops. He has apprenticed with Gordon Ramsay –“That was hell”, he explains. “They spent the first half of the time tearing you down, destroying your confidence, making you feel useless. Then they start building you back up. Pure hell, but I learned so much!”
He has worked in Michelin Starred restaurants, cooked with many well known chefs and seems to have acquired a real facility for creating imaginative, delicious and beautiful dishes. I suspect he has the secret soul of an artist, as his plates are so well presented. Even a simple cold composed salad, or a warm fruit crumble, appears beautifully staged on our table.
He loves using fresh and local ingredients, and he seems to be genuinely happy doing what he is doing.
Each meal, he appears tableside to explain the ingredients and character of the dishes to be served.
Conveniently, the head cabin stewardess, Amy, is his girlfriend, and they have plans to work together on a yacht in the Caribbean in the future.
For now, he is the star of the Le Panache show, and we all look forward to each meal and are never, during this voyage, disappointed.
Heidi, Editor-In-Chief
