Two Germans Dine Disney in Europe ... FINISHED!

[Linda67]

Woo Hoo, I am so happy to have found this thread

I love your WDW Dining Reviews and I am just planning a quick trip to DLP in January so I am very much looking forward to your reviews

I fear that I may be the bad influence that suggested 'Cocktails Around The Lake'

Sorry you are feeling poorly at the moment and hope you are feeling better soon

 

[lojo]

How can you put "bad" and "cocktails" in the same sentence - that just doesn't make sense to me

 

[annichan]

Hi everybody,

so sorry to have kept you waiting for so long - I haven't forgotten you, I was just too busy sneezing and running a fever to be on here much
Now I'm all better though, and my Blue Lagoon report will be coming up in a minute.

Oooo, that room looks lovely. I didn't know they were renovating, so thanks for the tip!

I also didn't know what salon Mickey was all about, so Thanks for that too. Seriously considering buying shares now.

Even though I know next to nothing about the stock market, I can say with all my heart that yes, it would probably be a good time to buy those shares now. After all, they have dropped in price about 65% since I bought them ...

Great report. I can't wait to read more.

But why, why, why didn't you eat a sandwich at EOS??

I would walk from Nuremberg to Paris just to have one. Or I would swim to Orlando just to have one of the best sandwiches in the whole world.
Going to EOS and having a salad is like going to DLP or WDW and not going to the parks.

By the way: The renovated SL room looks very nice.

Hi Marcus,
oh dear, now that I read from you I remember how I have been wanting to write to you and tell you how our trip was. Sorry!
But rest assured, even if I only tried the salads, DH had sandwiches every single time after the first!

What ..... and deprive us of 11 days of Magic photos? I hope not.

Looking forward to more.

Okay, I see your point.
(Note to myself: Start uploading all those photos already ...)

I'm late, I'm late.... how did that happen.... well I'm here now. Loving the extra non-dining review bits too, it's almost like a, ahem, trip report.

Looking forward to hearing about all of your restaurant choices too - two of which we have booked for Xmas, and two others which are possible contenders.

Don't worry about being late, as I'm even "later". Continuing now, though!

another update soon please x

Are you still reading along? If so, thanks so much for waiting patiently! (Or not so patiently ... )

You poor thing - not sure whether to suggest Glühwein or Jägertee, I've found both quite soothing when under the weather - perhaps I just anaethetised myself with alcohol and didn't know any better.

Hope you feel better soon - no pressure...

Sounds like a good idea! Do I dare admit that I have never ever tried Jagertee, though? Must be because I'm not a skier ... But I agree 100% about the Glühwein!

Woo Hoo, I am so happy to have found this thread

I love your WDW Dining Reviews and I am just planning a quick trip to DLP in January so I am very much looking forward to your reviews

I fear that I may be the bad influence that suggested 'Cocktails Around The Lake'

Sorry you are feeling poorly at the moment and hope you are feeling better soon

Oh that's right, YOU are the creator of "Cocktails Around The Lake"! So sorry I failed to follow your footsteps!

How can you put "bad" and "cocktails" in the same sentence - that just doesn't make sense to me

Too true.

 

[annichan]

We had first stumbled upon the Blue Lagoon almost by accident during our last trip in 2005, when we saw the restaurant sign and walked in to see if they could accommodate us without a reservation (although I guess we never even thought about reservations, just walked in and weren't surprised in the least when they had a table for us ).
Upon entering the restaurant proper, though, we were then simply blown away. ("No way! We are INSIDE Pirates of the Caribbean? WOW!")



This time, we were prepared for it – and I thought it a really good idea to request a table right by the water, as I thought this would be more romantic.

Very. Bad. Idea.

We were given the very first table with full view of the waterside when you enter the restaurant. The boats went right past us, we were the first part of the restaurant they saw, and there was at least one person in every boat who took a flash picture of us. Throughout the whole meal, flashes went off in our faces about every ten seconds – we virtually spent the meal half-blinded. And I cannot imagine how many people must now have ugly pictures of us staring into the light like deer by the roadside while shoving food into our mouths.

Therefore, please take my advice: Never ever sit by the water here!! If you sit further from the water, or with your back to it to avoid the flashlights taking away from your experience, you will love the restaurant with its feel of a tropical night in the Caribbean. Truly magical.

Sorry about these harsh words, but I just had to get it off my chest as soon as possible – a real disappointment, even though not the restaurant’s fault at all. (I'm not even really blaming the photographers – I am sure they didn’t mean to ruin our meal, some of them even shouted "Bon appétit" at us, I might even have done the same without thinking about it, had I been in the boat instead of in the restaurant.)


Okay, rant finally over.
Moving on to what we had to eat:

We shared a one-litre bottle of San Pellegrino Sparkling Water with our meals, and both decided on the Buccaneers' Menu (at 27.90 euros per person) that included an appetizer and an entrée each.

I started my meal with the Crab Key (Crab Mold with Avocado Cream and Grapefruit):

This was actually very, very nice. I have always loved the combination of avocado creme and grapefruit, and here it went very well with the crab mousse and the fresh greens. Very nicely presented, too.
Funnily, the blandest-tasting thing of all of them was the main player the crab mousse – eaten by itself, it wouldn’t particularly have blown me away, but like I say it mixed very well with the other tastes.


Meanwhile, DH kicked off his meal with this:

Salad "Pirates of the Caribbean" with shrimp, pineapple, avocado and hearts of palm in a mango vinaigrette.
He enjoyed this very much (and so did I, because he let me have his shrimp as he didn't want to peel them )


Our server was very nice, fast and efficient – and quite soon, we moved on to our main courses:

My Fillet of Capitaine in a banana leaf, with fragrant rice and plantain.
Wow – several things I had never eaten before, all presented together on a plate .

I am still not even totally sure what kind if fish I was having, as there are several possible translations for "capitaine fish" on the internet – I guess I will go with the one naming it the Nile Perch, native to Africa. (I know, you cannot even see it in this picture because I forgot to photograph it again after I had unwrapped this neat little banana leaf package.)

Anyway, I must say that it tasted less interesting and exotic than its name suggested – maybe it was cooked a bit too long in its banana leaf, it tasted okay but not spectacular, and rather dry.

The plantain, while I hadn’t heard the name before, revealed itself to me after the first bite as what I know as "Kochbanane" or "cooking banana", a less sweet cousin of the common banana which is usually eaten cooked, not raw. The sweet, soft taste went well with the fish and the fragrant rice, but overall I would have wished for the whole dish to be spicier, and more exotic. It certainly sounded and looked interesting, but it wasn’t really an adventure in taste in the way I had hoped for.


DH, usually less of a fish lover, opted for this:

Caribbean chicken Colombo with Coconut flakes, rice pilaf and raisins. Sorry for the overexposed picture – the tomato was actually quite normal even though my picture somehow manages to make it look like it came from outer space! )

He really enjoyed this, although it also was a bit too dry for his taste. I wonder whether people have had the same experience with the Blue Lagoon's other dishes – do they tend to overcook everything, generally?


Anyway, like I said before, we did not really have a good time here and were really wanting to be out of the flashlights. So, when our server came back, we declined his offer for the dessert menu – and it was finally time for me to flash my Shareholders Club card for the first time, yay!

It was easier than I had feared – the server was totally familiar with the concept (and as it turned out, this was the case everywhere except later in the week at Walt's), and 9.11 euros were deducted from the bill since I owned a teeny-tiny-microscopic part of Disneyland Paris .


Coming up next: Tuesday, with dinner at the Yacht Club …

 

[tinks_1989]

Still reading love the update thank you!

I totally agree with you about the amount of people that took photos of you eating from the ride we have ate their twice and both times I think every boat took a photo and shouted something!

 

[Linda67]

Thanks so much for the great Blue Lagoon review

I am probably going to eat there again on my next trip as I just love the atmosphere in there; too bad about all the camera flashes

Looking forward to hearing about the Yacht Club

 

[mum2threemonsters]

Brilliant Reviews... Looking forward to anything further you have to add.

I just thought Id mention (so readers may not get the wrong info) we got into Salon Mickey when we owned just 5 shares, its not a minimum of 20. Although my OH isnt fully aware but since the price has dropped since May I have been adding more to my collection along the way hehe!

Looking forward to your trip report. I would love to try Blue Lagoon, I love fish however my OH cant even stand the smell so for me its just a peep from my boat as I sail past!

 

[annichan]

Still reading love the update thank you!

I totally agree with you about the amount of people that took photos of you eating from the ride we have ate their twice and both times I think every boat took a photo and shouted something!

Yes, while I will definitely return to the Blue Lagoon when we visit DLP again, I will make sure to expressly ask for a table away from the water. I'm sure that will confuse the ladies at the podium (maybe I could explain that I am aquaphobic? )

Thanks so much for the great Blue Lagoon review

I am probably going to eat there again on my next trip as I just love the atmosphere in there; too bad about all the camera flashes

Looking forward to hearing about the Yacht Club

I haven't finished writing about the Yacht Club yet, but I have done the rest of that day - coming up in a minute.

Brilliant Reviews... Looking forward to anything further you have to add.

I just thought I'd mention (so readers may not get the wrong info) we got into Salon Mickey when we owned just 5 shares, its not a minimum of 20. Although my OH isnt fully aware but since the price has dropped since May I have been adding more to my collection along the way hehe!

Too right, the price has dropped since May ... that was when I bought my shares
If I had waited until now, I could have got almost 60 shares for the same amount of money I got my 20 for. Oh well, the joys of the stock-market

 

[annichan]

Once again, I sadly failed to take many food pictures before dinner, so the first part of the day will be a bit boring to all you food porn lovers, I'm afraid.
Anyway, the one thing I'm glad I did NOT take any pictures of was breakfast at the Sequoia Lodge: It was awful!

I know, this is the second installment in a row that has me complaining about our dining experiences and I am starting to worry I might come across as a bit of a whinger .
And I do admit we may well be a bit spoiled by all the wonderful hotel breakfasts we have experienced over the years, as we are very fond of little weekend getaway trips to nice hotels not too far from home.
Also, we had the most spectacular hotel breakfast ever, only a few months before this, in a little boutique hotel in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter on the morning our Mediterranean cruise started .

So yeah, we may indeed be awfully spoiled here – but we didn't like the Sequoia Lodge breakfast at all.

The cheese cubes looked totally sweaty, as if they had been lying there under the lamps for at least a day. The coffee tasted mouldy (seriously, that was the yuckiest coffee I have ever tasted – there must have been something foul in that dispenser with the coffee). There was no water to be had, only overly sweet yet watered-down juices. The whole area in which we sat was filled with a totally overpowering garlic smell from the aioli they had on the buffet (and I can hardly believe I am saying this, as I normally love garlic very much).
And when we watched the grumpy-looking server at the neighbouring table grabbing cutlery by the wrong ends before plonking it down on the table (meaning, grabbing it by the ends that customers would be putting in their mouths), we decided we had enough and left for the parks, never to return to breakfast here.


Luckily, salvation was just around the corner – Starbucks in Disney Village was already open (even if nothing else was!) . It was still virtually empty, and we found a comfy corner with a sofa and an armchair to nestle into and enjoy our Lattes. Not cheap, true. But just what we needed at the moment.


A word about Salon Mickey, to explain why we didn't head straight there: They are only open from 9.00 to 12.00, and as we were usually on our way to the parks by 8.00 to catch the Early Magic Hours, this didn't help us.

We did backtrack there every day around 11-ish, however, for a second cup of coffee, a croissant and some water.

For lunch, we kind of spontaneously hit Colonel Hathi's Pizza Outpost – in our opinion, the place with the loveliest outdoor seating to be found in DLP. The day before, we had sat there on the verandah for about a half-hour without ordering any food, just to regroup and unwind. It is wonderfully empty and quiet there on a sunny day, outside of regular dining hours.

The actual food they serve is nothing to write home about (or, apparently, to remember taking pictures of ), especially considering the prices. But I guess that when at DLP, you should never worry too much about food prices and value for money, as you would almost always end up depressed. So I chose just not to think about it too much – whenever I am listing prices here, it is just for those of you who may be after that information.

We shared one Pizza Royale (with ham, cheese and tomato) priced at 8.99 EUR, and one menu (at 12.99 EUR) consisting of a Four Cheese Pizza, a bottle of water and some prepackaged chocolate yoghurt dessert. Quite okay for theme park food, just nothing special.


At Parade time, we found ourselves a nice outdoor table on the patio at the end of Main Street opposite Victoria's, armed ourselves with water and cappuccino, and enjoyed the parade.

(Yup, my camera has so much zoom that the result is quite scary )


On our way back to the hotel, not surprisingly, we walked past Annette's again – so obviously, we could not help it but order another couple of strawberry and coffee milkshakes to take with us.


Coming up next: Dinner at Yacht Club Restaurant ...

 

[Linda67]

Another great update

May I ask a quick question about your room at the SL?

Was it in the Main Building? It looks lovely

I am thinking of staying there in the summer but I would much prefer to be in the main building and I'm not sure if those rooms have been refurbished

 

[annichan]

Another great update

May I ask a quick question about your room at the SL?

Was it in the Main Building? It looks lovely

I am thinking of staying there in the summer but I would much prefer to be in the main building and I'm not sure if those rooms have been refurbished

Yes, it was in the main building - notorious over-planner that I am, I e-mailed the hotel in advance to let them know I expressly wished a refurbished room .
That way I found out that the two lowest floors of the main building are already done - they are still working on the higher floors, but that wasn't noticeable at all (no hammering noise from above, or anything).

 

[princessmummy]

Thank you for taking the time to write a foody TR. I am in the final stages of meal planning for our trip in 2 1/2 weeks! I am SO looking forward to my salad at the Blue Lagoon now I've seen your pic! Plus now considering Colonel Hathis as a lunch stop before Innovations in the evening (my little treat on THIS visit!) looking forward to the next installment......

PS love the pic of you in Salon Mickey with a mickey head (I will try and replicate that with my DDs when I'm there!)

 

[tinks_1989]

Thanks for the update another one any time soon I am really enjoying it! x

 

[annichan]

Thank you for taking the time to write a foody TR. I am in the final stages of meal planning for our trip in 2 1/2 weeks! I am SO looking forward to my salad at the Blue Lagoon now I've seen your pic! Plus now considering Colonel Hathis as a lunch stop before Innovations in the evening (my little treat on THIS visit!) looking forward to the next installment......

PS love the pic of you in Salon Mickey with a mickey head (I will try and replicate that with my DDs when I'm there!)

Thank you for reading along - and have fun on your upcoming trip, I wish I could go back again already too!

Thanks for the update another one any time soon I am really enjoying it! x

Coming right up!

 

[annichan]

Now, finally, the time for taking pictures had finally come (yes, wake up everybody ) – with our long-awaited dinner at Yacht Club Restaurant at the Newport Bay Club.

This was only a short stroll away from our hotel along the lakeside promenade:

I loved the bright fall colours of the foliage – back home in Germany, the leaves were still mostly all green.

Checking in at the podium I asked for a window seat (which immediately sent DH rolling his eyes – he hates the many things I always do to delay his getting dinner ) and was told that this would mean about ten minutes' additional wait.
We used the time to have a bit of a look around the hotel, then returned and were promptly seated at a window table (a really small one, though – I suspect they didn't manage to free a table in time so they just carried this one over and crammed it in the corner. Not a problem at all, though – I really appreciated their doing everything to fulfill our wishes).


We started by ordering our drinks – again, a one-litre bottle of San Pellegrino sparkling water, and a half-bottle of not fancy, but very pleasant St. Èmilion Bordeaux wine.

Next came the bread and butter:

Our first encounter with the "Disney butter" (since it is called D'Isigny) that I had seen here on the boards, and they even gave us one salted and one unsalted portion so both of us got their preference (we were served the same sort of butter again at other restaurants, but unfortunately never again the salted variety).

I ordered the three-course Regatta Menu at 35.00 euros, while DH did not see any desserts that took his fancy and so ordered his appetizer (9.50 EUR) and entrée (28.50 EUR) individually.


I couldn't really make up my mind on what to get for starters, so I ordered the appetizer sample (always a good choice for the indecisive):

"The Traveler's Plate", with house-made Foie Gras, salmon tartar and Chinese cabbage salad. (Please excuse the blurred photo!)

This was a very pleasant choice: The Foie Gras was rich, tasty and well set off by the rye bread and coarsely ground sea salt. (Actually far too big a portion of foie gras to finish alone, they could really have made this a bit smaller. I could not give any to DH either because he detests it, and from a moral standpoint he may well be right. I only eat it when I'm in France! )

The cabbage salad was very refreshing, and the salmon tartar was my favourite of all of them – very fresh and clean-tasting with the crunchy cucumber slices and peppercorns (and, if I am not mistaken, sesame seeds).

I am a bit confused by my own picture now since I cannot really identify the herb on top, but I do think that it was cilantro, which I love. (I may be mistaken though, it may have been wishful thinking as to my taste, pretty much every dish would benefit from a bit of cilantro on top )


DH, ever so health-consciously, had opted for a salad:

"Mekong Salad" with cress, fried tofu, wakame, crunchy vegetable and mango chutney in a sesame vinaigrette.

I really don’t know how I managed to mess up all my photos that evening, I am really sorry! Anyway, I didn't try any of his salad, but he said it was very good even though there was tofu in it .


There was a nice little break after our appetizers where we could just comfortably sit, have conversation and sip our wine, which I really liked. From (at least non-signature) restaurants in WDW we are used to be a bit rushed, but here they spaced the courses very nicely.

Eventually, though, our main courses arrived, and mine was this:

Beef in teriyaki sauce with stir-fried wok vegetables and combava rice.
It was heaven on a plate! The best dish I had during this whole trip. The beef – done medium just as requested -, was tender, juicy and wonderful , the teriyaki was nicely spicy and the veggies were plentiful and fried just as I love them: so hard as to seem almost raw. Couldn't go wrong with the rice either as it had some shredded cilantro on top .
I had to look up the combava part, though, and found out that this is caffir lime and was the reason for the rice's very slightly lemony taste.


Meanwhile, DH was enjoying his main course, which he had to order separately since it was not available in any of the fixed-price menus:

Fillet of beet with Szechuan pepper, roast potatoes and green beans.
The perfect kind of meal to make my husband happy - he later said it was by far the best he had during the entire trip.

For him, it was also the end of the meal as he had only ordered the two courses – I, on the other hand, having ordered the Regatta Menu, still had this little beauty to look forward to:

Honeyed pineapple and coconut Crème brulée.
It was very nice – and it even had a face and an Elvis style hairdo!

All in all, we were more than happy with our meal: Nice setting, attentive server, wonderful food, good wine. Therefore, we heartily recommend the Yacht Club Restaurant!
Oh, and we also once again recommend the Shareholders Club card: saved us 14.09 here.

After our meal, we walked the few steps out to the lake and were able to enjoy this beautiful view:

Coming up next: Lunch at Walt's …

 

[tinks_1989]

Another great review that beef looks so good! X

 

[lojo]

Really enjoying this. Only trouble is I'm starting to doubt my choices for our upcoming trip - I hadn't even considered the Yacht Club, but now....

Actually, thought of another problem - your trip wasn't long enough!

I know what you mean about American restaurants sometimes feeling rushed - on holiday especially we enjoy lingering over a meal, and savouring not only the meal but the ambiance and surroundings.

 

[Linda67]

What a great review of the Yacht Club, I'm off to check the menu right now as I might try and squeeze it in on my next trip

 

[annichan]

Hi everybody,

these last weeks before christmas have turned out to be as hectic and stressful as every year trying to get everything done in time for the holidays, and of course I have fallen behind on my dining report. I will try to get another couple of installments done before christmas, though!

Another great review that beef looks so good! X

Thank you!

Really enjoying this. Only trouble is I'm starting to doubt my choices for our upcoming trip - I hadn't even considered the Yacht Club, but now....

Actually, thought of another problem - your trip wasn't long enough!

I know what you mean about American restaurants sometimes feeling rushed - on holiday especially we enjoy lingering over a meal, and savouring not only the meal but the ambiance and surroundings.

Aboslutely right about our trip not having been long enough!
And yes, do consider the Yacht Club, I think you won't regret it - we will definitely be back there next time we are at DLP.

What a great review of the Yacht Club, I'm off to check the menu right now as I might try and squeeze it in on my next trip

Yes, do that! And until then, I have a Walt's review coming up (but I guess you have Walt's already scheduled for your next trip anyway, right?)

 

[annichan]

Once again, we skipped the hotel breakfast and headed straight to Starbucks for Lattes (and even a croissant, as it was still an hour until Salon Mickey opened and I was so hungry ).


As it turned out, however, by the time 9.00 am rolled around we did not feel so much like having croissants but wanted something a bit more substantial instead. So this is where we went:

The Market House Deli. The picture I took inside somehow didn't turn out at all since it was quite dark inside and we sat by the bright window – bit we each had a sandwich with grilled vegetables and really enjoyed them.


At 1.15 pm, the time had come for our much-awaited lunch at Walt's – An American Restaurant. Most of the restaurant's front was still covered in a painted tarpaulin since they were renovating, but we were lucky enough to be seated in the Fantasyland room, where the windows were already free.

Not directly by the window, but that was okay – the room was nice and bright, and when I later had a way around at the other rooms, I found those with the covered windows a bit dark.


We started our meal with the by now almost obligatory one-litre bottle of San Pellegrino sparkling water, and I also had a 0.25 litre glass of beer. It actually really came in a beer stein – the tiniest stein I have ever seen, absolutely cute. Unfortunately I have the stupidest facial expression ever seen in history on that picture where I'm holding the stein, so I won't be showing it to you and you'll have to resort to your imagination. (Only regarding the beer stein, of course. Don't even start thinking about me wearing the stupidest facial expression ever seen in history! )

Oh no wait, I just realized I do have a picture of the stein sans me, but with the bread and butter we were then served:

Hmmmh, Disney butter again. Only the unsalted variety, though …


After taking a good look at the menus, DH and I both decided on the Set Price Menu with Starter and Main Course (at EUR 27.50 each).

My starter was this:

Anaheim Asparagus (green asparagus with goats’ cheese and chorizo and tarragon vinaigrette).
Now, I admit I am not absolutely sure if I have that description right (had to look up the menu later on the internet as I failed to take a photo if it). I do not believe I tasted any chorizo in that vinaigrette … but anyway, the asparagus was very nice, both in taste and in presentation.


DH was being admirably healthy again, and picked this:

A big bowl of Caesar Salad (Romaine Lettuce with grilled chicken and Parmigiano Reggiano, with Caesar dressing and anchovies).
There were lots of it, and he really liked it.


Our main course was the same for both of us:

The Faux Filet "Main Street" (Grilled Sirloin Steak with Grenaille potatoes, mixed salad and Bearnaise sauce).
This was very nice, apart from one important point: The meat really was a rather poor cut, thin yet fatty. Those parts that I could eat (and I do admit I'm a bit picky with meat) were very nicely seasoned, and I also very much enjoyed the potatoes, salad and sauce – butI had to leave lots of meat on the plate as it was either fatty, gristly or quite tough.

I wish I had realized that "faux fillet" really meins "false fillet", and rather paid more for a better piece of meat. (Incidentally DH, a huge lover of meat, completely agreed with me there.)


Even though the meat left a bit to be desired, we were both quite full afterwards and decided against desert (which was not part of our menus anyway), ordering a couple of nice strong espressi ristretti to get us back on our feet for the rest of an active day.

With my Shareholders' Club card, we managed to save EUR 10.40 off the bill (even though the server had never heard of the card, took it with her and then brought us the full bill without a discount anyway – but this was quickly and easily rectified).


All in all, we really enjoyed our meal here. The meat was a bit cheap, and the wallpaper in the Fantasyland room was flaking off in quite a few places to I hope that after their exterior renovation they will go on and tackle the inside as well. Apart from that, though, everything was very enjoyable, and I was really impressed with the size of the restaurant (goes on for almost the whole block on Main Street) and the many diverse beautifully decorated dining rooms.


The meal tided us over nicely until about six-thirtyish in the evening, when we visited back at Earl of Sandwich once again for some very nice food:
- a Caprese Sandwich (Fresh mozzarella, roma tomatoes, fresh basil and drizzled balsamic vinaigrette),
- a Mediterranean Tuna Salad (Tuna salad, Feta cheese, mixed salad and lettuce, roma tomatoes, red onion, grilled red peppers, Kalamata olives and Mediterranean sauce),
- an expensive but refreshing little cup of fresh fruit,
- and a little bag of chips.

Despite it being the end of September, the evening was beautiful, warm and sunny – so what better place to sit and have a meal than the upstairs terrace at Earl of Sandwich:

It is very sunny up there during the day, but we absolutely recommend it in the evening, when a bit of shade falls across it. Unless it is really crowded (which it naturally wasn't at this time of year), it is a wonderful place to relax and unwind, away from and above all the action of Disney Village.


Coming up next: The best seat in the house at Restaurant En Coulisses …