Welcome aboard M/Y Sherakhan
built for charter, made for pleasure

An invitation to lunch aboard M/Y Sherakhan
The chef - The cuisine - The wines

A meal aboard M/Y Sherakhan is a refined art, both on special occasions or for formal dinners in the dining room, but also for delicious lunches on the aft deck at the round table seating 22. The chef can prepare ad hoc menus of any kind whatsoever, for all tastes and diets. So we descended into his kingdom, the galley, by way of a staircase leading from the lower lounge, right by the bar. We wanted to make the acquaintance of this famous chef, Arend Nieboer. The previous evening there had been a dinner for 100 people, but now order reigned everywhere and the chef had the very kind idea of cooking some of his delicious, elaborate dishes for us alone. He welcomed us with his staff and showed us around the huge, magnificent galley which is developed along the walls on a rectangular plan with two large islands in the middle. It's an absolutely professional workplace in stainless steel. The visit to the freezers was a surprise: two rooms, the largest 6 x 3 metres, so the vessel has considerable range before having to take on supplies. While inside talking we felt ourselves literally starting to freeze and had to get out quickly. Many of the provisions were in full view in the galley: fowls, coloured vegetables, lobsters, cheeses, all top quality produce that the chef selects personally on the basis of the season and his favourite markets. An important meal involves ten courses, a formal dinner five. Lunch is somewhat easier, with ethnic buffets: Italian, Mexican, Indonesian or Spanish. However the cuisine of M/Y Sherakhan's chef is fundamentally inspired by French cookery with a few flashes of imagination. His culinary training began at the age of 16, first on yachts and later in hotels. He then attended a school of haute cuisine for five years and shipped aboard American line cruise vessels. He ran a restaurant in Amsterdam for 15 years before taking up his present position aboard M/Y Sherakhan. What he likes about his work on this yacht is the great freedom he has in the execution of his dishes and the fact that he can give his imagination absolutely free rein in a job he loves. As for Italian cooking, he especially likes certain items such as pasta, olive-oil, parmesan cheese and balsamic vinegar, and he defines it as "basic" with regard to its French counterpart in the sense that, in his opinion, it is the simple manipulation of excellent products and its perfection lies in this simplicity. Whereas French cuisine involves fairly difficult procedures of transforming ingredients in order to achieve complex results, as we could see in the dishes he prepared for us: a European lobster, a quail and two splendid desserts, but the result was overwhelming, both for the beauty of the presentation and the goodness of the food, truly the work of a top level professional. Chief Steward Peter Koolhoven talked to us about the importance of the wines carried on board. Over and above Italian and French wines, the M/Y Sherakhan cellar also included emerging wines from California, South Africa and Chile. Among the most requested Italian wines are Lambrusco, Chianti Classico and Pinot; among the French, Chardonnay, Chablis and of course Champagne. An important feature of life on board is the cocktail bar where all kinds of cocktails and spirits are served. At the hottest moments of the day, highly imaginative fruit cocktails are served. At 11 o'clock in the morning and in the afternoon there's yoghurt, fruit and ice cream in various combinations. M/Y Sherakhan's cellar contains 150 bottles of spirits and 620 of wines and champagne: what the customer asks for, the customer gets! Moreover, it has been noted that on a cruise guests have both the time and the desire to get to know wines in greater depth. Of course preparation and decoration of the table is very important and is carried out artistically every day; porcelain, coloured glass spheres, flowers, ribbons and coloured wineglasses, not to mention the effect of the lights from the pool and from the candles. What's the secret of this successful yacht? Undoubtedly the unitary and imaginative conception of the refit project, turning a beautiful old boat into a luxury charter yacht on the basis of no less than eight years' experience in the charter sector and of the owner's great professionalism, innate taste for design and modern art and his great sense of hospitality.