The new TK menus across all Seabourn restaurants

I have been on the Odyssey for the last ten days. Chef Devin Knell from Thomas Keller inc. has been aboard for the cruise implementing the new menus. The next cruise, the transatlantic, begins today. The FB officer told me that the following changes will begin with this cruise.

The Restaurant will feature a Thomas Keller fine dining insert menu on an every other day basis. The Inspiration and classic Seabourn menu will continue in addition.

The Colonnade will have an Ad Hoc family style themed dinner every other night, currently requiring a reservation. It's now open to all passengers unlike the previous cruise.

Ad Lib will replace restaurant 2. It's a steak house theme, with meat carved table side . This won't begin until spring

The Patio grill will feature a TK " Napa burger " daily

My take. I've been underwhelmed with the fine dining choices so far, having opted for just a few appetizers. The additional choice is welcome however.

The Ad Hoc theme got great reviews and I like my food. The issue is that it's a set menu daily, no options other than a fish substitution. I'll miss the Colonnade themed dinners. Ad Hoc is every other night as of now.

I'm not into steak houses, so the changes to Restaurant 2 don't excite me. I would have preferred Bouchon to Ad Lib.

So will there be no more sequential small plates at all in R2? Those were my favorite meals on the Odyssey last month ( especially when offered with the wine pairings)! If so, I guess it is because so many older people prefer steak to little tapas so it will be welcomed.

So will there be no more sequential small plates at all in R2? Those were my favorite meals on the Odyssey last month ( especially when offered with the wine pairings)! If so, I guess it is because so many older people prefer steak to little tapas so it will be welcomed.

Not just older people. I always found R2 to be pretentious and not all that interesting.

If the Ad Lib restaurant follows the Ad Lib land version menu, I will be quite happy to see it replace Restaurant 2.

http://cdn.thomaskeller.com/sites/default/files/media/15-adl-016_display.menu_.3b.pdf

The Ad Hoc theme got great reviews and I like my food. The issue is that it's a set menu daily, no options other than a fish substitution.

Is there a vegetarian in addition to the fish substitution?

As for the future steak house theme for the new restaurant 2, will there be a vegetarian menu?

Since you said that the transatlantic is starting today, I suppose both you and the Thomas Keller chef have disembarked, so perhaps you won't be able to answer my questions, in which case I'll find out when I board the Quest later this month. BTW, is the Thomas Keller chef boarding Quest now to implement the new menus now? I recall reading the Quest is getting the new dishes starting on Oct 25.

A "typical" Ad Hoc menu:

http://cdn.thomaskeller.com/sites/default/files/media/oct_12.pdf

As an 'older person' (I guess you mean the over 65s) I can say that we prefer smaller dishes, and more of them, to a big plate of steak. It is mixture of needing to be 'tempted' as one's appetite gets a bit less, and the joy of not having to prepare or clear up after a lot of dishes. I think this will apply to most Brits and Europeans - not sure about Americans.

As an 'older person' (I guess you mean the over 65s) I can say that we prefer smaller dishes, and more of them, to a big plate of steak. It is mixture of needing to be 'tempted' as one's appetite gets a bit less, and the joy of not having to prepare or clear up after a lot of dishes. I think this will apply to most Brits and Europeans - not sure about Americans.

I never met a steak I didn't like ... but I am under 65 :D:D

I never met a steak I didn't like ... but I am under 65 :D:D

Disney could change that:( Between their fatty fillet and less than 1/4" thick fat and gristle streaked "ribeye" I don't think I've seen such bad cuts of beef.

Just because it's a steak house them doesn't mean there won't be other options. Let's see what it is before we start complaining and criticizing.

I believe the Ad Hoc theme is American comfort food.

As an American AND and "older person" I can tell you that we much prefer small, creative plates to steak. To me, every bite of steak tastes the same as the one before, so I find it uninteresting. However, my spouse loves an occasional great piece of beef, so the new choices sound great. I hope all will be in place by April 30th on the Quest.

My speculation that the menu in R2 is being changed to a steak house format due to older persons (most cruisers) likely preferring steak to small bites was just speculation, and not meant to be derogatory or to offend seniors on CC, so I am sorry if it did so. It is just that I have observed in America, at least in my area, and even more so in the Midwest and South, that the nice, up and coming small plate restaurants I love are more frequented by young and middle-aged people than older people, and the traditional steak and large-meat-portion places are more popular with an older demographic, though there is of course some overlap.

At 61, I consider myself an older person too, for that matter, but I like small plates, usually with less meat, for the variety, adventure, and artistry, and pairing opportunities, plus I feel less stuffed eating them and am less likely to leave food on the table. DH

is much younger than I am, but he is the own who would pick an excellent cut of steak as a random meal of choice to fancy tapas ( though I have managed to expand his horizons), so he will likely be happy with the new menu on our Quest trip in summer 2016.

Catlover54 - thanks for your apologetic remark; I admit to having felt a little 'miffed'. I have put a question on the other Thomas Keller thread - perhaps should have put it here.

We are on the Odyssey at present and have tried many of the TK dishes. The waiters tell me that the dishes are very controversial and if we didn't like anything they would be very happy to replace it with some thing else. The dishes seem very unique, well presented but lacking in execution. I think that have more work to do to get it right judging by our conversations with other staff and fellow cruisers.

We are dining in the Colonnade tonight family style. No choice and the dish is BBqd honey pork ribs.

I'd be curious to see where on a ship the ribs were actually bbqd.

I wonder if there has been a Thomas Keller chef on each of the ships, to show the chefs how the dishes should be done?

It does sound, unsurprisingly, as if at present they are not quite producing them to perfection. Hopefully practice will make perfect - and then we will find out if passengers actually enjoy them. At least it is making for more choices on the menus.

Thanks for the update, Kevnzworld.

I'm also disappointed to lose the themed nights in the Colonnade, which although themed did offer plenty of choice which meant that a couple who have rather different palates could find something to please them both.

And so it follows that I'm very disappointed to be presented with a set menu. I just don't see the 'luxury' aspect in being dictated to when it comes to dining....

We join Odyssey two months from today. I'm already working on lowering my expectations.

Clearly the R2 changes won't affect us on this cruise but I have to say I'm not sure either about the steak house. One thing that you don't go short of when cruising SB is beef offerings. Now there will be even more of it!

Pardon my ignorance but I'm not sure what a "Napa Burger" is?

Google hasn't been helpful, but I will say that if there's avocado involved, I may just start to be won over ;)

 

currently requiring a reservation.

Oh. :( I missed this point on first read.

This is one of the things that I very much enjoy about SB. I can choose from 3 restaurants each evening. I hate having to plan in advance where/when I want to dine when I'm on holiday. That's one of the things I disliked on Silversea, there was only one restaurant to choose from unless I made an advance reservation. Now on SB there's only MDR and Patio Grill to choose from in the evening, at least on the nights that this "family style" is happening in Colonnade.

Apologies to those of you who are annoyed by my negativity.

But to point out, I got off a disappointing SB cruise just 4 weeks ago. I hoped with the passage of time that I'd have been able to view it more positively, but if anything I actually feel more negative now than I did when we disembarked.

Anyone familiar with my previous posts will know that I've been something of a SB cheer leader in the past, with very few negative comments.

If that last cruise was an indicator of how future service is going to be on SB, I'm worried. Plus, now it seems like SB is taking away the dining options that I particularly enjoy.

Yes, I'm fed up, and at this stage I wish we hadn't already booked our cruise in December.

Nigella- I have asked what a Napa burger is about 3 times already - hoping someone somewhere will be able to enlighten us. I think I have heard of 'Napa slaw' but not burger. (Not that I know what Napa slaw is either).

Nigella- I have asked what a Napa burger is about 3 times already - hoping someone somewhere will be able to enlighten us. I think I have heard of 'Napa slaw' but not burger. (Not that I know what Napa slaw is either).

lincslady, we can be together in our ignorance! The only thing Napa means to me is wine. Now you mention it, I too have heard of Napa Slaw, but couldn't telly you what the ingredients are.

I'd be willing to wager that the Naps refers to nothing more that Keller's home base in California and is a weak attempt to loosely tie his influence to the Patio Grill menu since none of his existing concepts otherwise fit the tone of the Patio Grill concept otherwise.

In other words, much ado about nothing. I've never otherwise heard the term Napa Burger unless it was tied to Taylor's Refresher - and I doubt we'd be so fortunate!

Maybe we can discuss the influence of family style dining on perceived disintegration of the dress code next.

A Napa burger is probably nothing more than a regular burger which costs more because it's called a Napa burger (not on the ship, course.)

A Napa burger is probably nothing more than a regular burger which costs more because it's called a Napa burger (not on the ship, course.)

Thank you, even though I was very much hoping it would have some California influence. ;)

I'm going to be visiting the Palo Alto area for business in early spring next year, it will be my first visit to Northern California. I'll definitely make some time to visit Napa. More for the wine than the burgers and the slaw! The French Laundry is on my must do list for the trip.