Princess Cruises’ celebrity chef Curtis Stone is all about truffles. He loves to shave truffle onto the dishes he cooks.

That’s according to his executive chef Christian Dortch who worked with Stone in his Beverley Hills restaurant before coming on board the Sun Princess.

This week, Stone was in LA opening his second restaurant –  and Dortch was in Sydney, cooking up a storm at the newly opened SHARE by Curtis Stone on the refurbished cruise ship.

[easy-tweet tweet=”Perhaps because it was a Curtis Stone’s restaurant at sea – but truffles were in short supply.” via=”no” hashtags=”#cruise, #food” template=”light”]

There was only one dish –  the potato gratin –  which had truffle shavings, out of five savoury dishes.

Cruise Passenger was with a  select band of foodie journals to be among the first to try Stone’s shared plates.

The winner was the lightly poached shrimp with lemon gel salad boasting14 ingredients including turnip, tomato, citrus salt and herbs. It was refreshingly fresh.

But it was close.  Our second place went to his tasty roasted crab legs baked with lemongrass and sprinkled with crispy pork skin mixed with tapioca flour.  Coming along at third was a slice of turbot covered with a gruyere crumb and sitting on a bed of spinach. Plain but delicately executed.

Stone’s much talked-about beef cheek pie with porcini mushroom was interesting. The meat was soft, the pastry firm.

His salad of tomato, burrata, oregano and arugula was citrusy refreshing while his starter of cured meats including Australian-sopressata, Hungarian and Italian salami was freshly sliced and the French honey comb cheese was tasty. Stone’s potato gratin with black winter truffle and cream was wickedly delicious. For desserts, the citron tart with fresh and dried raspberry granola and meringue was lovely while his warm bread pudding with currants and toffee sauce was heart warming.

The 2000 passengers of mostly Australians and 150 New Zealanders who are cruising to Vanuatu and Fiji can experience Stone’s cooking by opting for fixed menu at $39 per person or eat a banquet and pay for each dish.

The idea is that its wholesome fare as far away from the buffet table as you can get.

As chef Dortch says: “Preparing Curtis’s dishes requires a lot of concentration and the freshest of ingredients and the dishes are to be shared with loved ones, family or friends.’’

We’re happy to come back and share, Dortch. Anytime!