Master patissier Eric Lanlard will this week man his café aboard cruise ship The Britannia as he closes in on a site in Dubai. 

Britannia, run by P&O Cruises, has completed its maiden voyage and TV chef James Martin is currently running the Market Café to be replaced by Lanlard on Wednesday. The menu is devised mainly by the French patissier and offers cakes, fine cheeses, charcuterie and speciality breads.

Lanlard said the best-selling product was the individual cakes, with around 400 flying out each day at £2.85 each. Favourite is the red velvet, then a lemon variety, with a gluten-free number coming in third.

“The café is doing very well,” Lanlard told British Baker. “People are much more savvy and they appreciate fine food. Afternoon tea on the ship is doing well too, served in a fine dining restaurant at £15 a head.” London prices for the same affair would cost £40 to £60 a head.

He is scheduled to do four stints on the boat this year, starting this week.

There is also a cookery school on board that costs £25 when held under a regular teacher and £100 per person when it is run by one of the ‘food heros’ or well-known chefs.

Lanlard plans to open a cookery school in Dubai and will “make an announcement very soon” regarding his first Middle Eastern site, which will “definitely” be a standalone patisserie in Dubai.

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