Guest Chef Anne Thorp Highlight of Pacific Pearl Food & Wine Cruise

Maori Queen of Cuisine, Anne Thorp, features as guest chef on an upcoming P&O Cruises’ Pacific Pearl cruise from Auckland and has created an eight course degustation menu for passengers to savour.

Fresh New Zealand produce is a signature of Anne's cooking. It shines through in her special degustation menu that includes a rich broth of smoked ham, fresh watercress and sweet peas, snapper fillet with sweet chilli and garlic shoots and apples caramelised in Calvados and served with creamy blue cheese.

"I'm all about creating fresh and simple meals with the freshest New Zealand produce,” Anne said. "I rarely use sauces and let the food speak for itself using ingredients that enhance the natural flavours.”

As a 'warm up' to the January sailing, Anne is looking forward to serving her menu to her biggest group ever onboard Pacific Dawn, another superliner in the P&O Cruises’ fleet.

"It's very exciting to be involved with P&O Cruises and I'm looking forward to passengers sampling a selection of my New Zealand inspired cuisine, and with around 500 people to serve it will be a real challenge."

Pacific Pearl's three night cruise in January 2011 has a food and wine theme with Anne Thorp as a major drawcard. Not only will she oversee the galley preparation of her menu by 30 chefs, Anne will also hold a cooking demonstration for passengers.

Anne Thorp’s fresh New Zealand cuisine fits perfectly with Pacific Pearl’s menu, which features local produce and wine that has been sourced from throughout the country.

The selection process involved quality and taste tests, as well as making sure suppliers could meet the demands of regularly stocking a cruise ship that carries 1,800 passengers and 700 crew each voyage.

Up to 8,000 plates of food will be served onboard Pacific Pearl each day, so it is critically important for the food to be high quality and for suppliers to be able to keep up with demand.