Equinox Specialty Dining Review - 2/7/11 Western Caribbean

We just returned from a great cruise on the beautiful Celebrity Equinox! This was our first cruise on Celebrity and in general, we were extremely happy with the product. Though I wasn’t always thrilled with the MDR, I thought the specialty restaurants were excellent and I hope this review helps people choose which one suits their needs the best! I also reviewed the MDR and buffet/other venues in separate threads.

A bit about me: I am an avid cook, read food blogs/magazines religiously, make my own cheese, bread and sausage, and I’ve taken courses in pastry and sugar art. We live in NYC, so we are privileged to be surrounded by some of the world’s finest restaurants, as well as really fantastic ethnic foods. I love to talk about and critique food, so please forgive the length. I held the specialty restaurants to the standards I would hold any land restaurant in NYC, and they held their own! Anyway, on to the review!

Bistro on Five:

We decided to avoid the buffet on embarkation day and went straight to Bistro on Five, which was a very nice experience. It was somewhat busier than I expected, but no more than half full. Service was attentive if slightly confused, and the food was mostly delicious. My husband had tomato soup (which I don’t eat, but he pronounced excellent), the grilled steak panino (mushrooms, caramelized onions, cheese) and the dulce de leche crepe. I had the Cowboy crepe (with steak, spinach, bacon, caramelized onion, etc.) and the banana-nutella dessert crepe. The meat in both cases was a bit too well-done but very tender and flavorful, the onions properly caramelized. I felt that the spinach in my crepe was odd and unnecessary, but I felt that way about spinach many times on this cruise (the MDR was overly fond of spinach). The crepe itself was tasty, not too thick, and the entrée overall was very good. I preferred my husband’s sandwich, although the bread left something to be desired (breads overall on Equinox were abysmal – doughy and flavorless). The dessert crepes were not as interesting as they sounded – the bananas in mine were raw, which is fine, but they were slightly underripe and would have been better if cooked/caramelized first. The nutella-to-crepe ratio was also much too low. The dulce de leche crepe was simply a folded crepe with a small drizzle of dulce de leche and a bit of whipped cream, rather dry and boring. Here is (most of) the Bistro on Five menu – I haven’t seen it posted too much and I haven’t found it on the X website.

PANINI:

Vegetable: grilled eggplant, zucchini, roasted bell pepper, artichoke, olives, sun-dried tomato, buffalo mozzarella cheese

Chicken: shredded lettuce, diced tomato, spicy chicken, cheddar cheese

Beef: marinated flank steak, sliced mushrooms, bacon, caramelized onions, lettuce, cheddar cheese.

CREPES: Breakfast (but always available):

Scrambled eggs w. melted cheddar cheese & potatoes

Smoked bacon, scrambled eggs, and cheddar cheese

Mushroom, tomato, scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese, sausage, and spring onions

"Build your own" from scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese, ham, tomato, scallions, bacon, mushroom, spinach, provolone cheese, sausage

Lunch/Dinner (but always available):

Indian: summer grilled zucchini, eggplant, peppers, provolone cheese, herb dressing

Tuscan: sun-sauteed artichoke, mozzarella cheese, sun-dried tomato aioli

Mexican: roasted yellow corn, red peppers, scallions, cheddar cheese, cilantro, chili dressing

Cajun: spiced grilled chicken, provolone cheese, pineapple rice, lemon dressing

Buffalo: marinated grilled chicken, shredded lettuce, blue cheese

Mediterranean: roasted chicken, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, basil pesto

Cowboy: grilled flank steak, spinach, caramelized onion, bacon, provolone cheese, blue cheese dressing

Hot and Spicy: shredded steak, jalapeno peppers, cheddar cheese, cumin dressing

Sweet and Sour: honey-glazed sirloin, rice noodles, cheddar cheese, scallions, sour sesame syrup.

Dessert (but always available):

Spanish: dulce de leche

French: grand marnier

Italian: nutella, banana, pistachio

Other Desserts:

Almond cake

Chocolate brownie

English trifle (dark chocolate mousse)

Red fruit cheesecake

Vanilla creme brulee

Murano:

We ate at Murano on our first night, simply because we had heard the MDR can be somewhat hectic and we wanted to let them get into the swing of things with Select Dining. Murano is a beautiful restaurant, with terrific service and a menu that reads like a menu at a higher end NYC restaurant. It’s available online at: http://www.celebritycruises.com/dining/product/detail/view.do;jsessionid=0000gyB60C_ibmjrBqH3p9Ry3uy:12hdbd027?ProductCode=MURADINNER&componentType=3&currencyCode=USD&shipCode=EQ

I was a little discouraged at the outset when they brought the bread basket. They offered several different things, including a baguette, olive-artichoke roll and whole grain bread, but none of them were particularly good. The crusts were all soft, and only the whole grain had any flavor at all (probably because of the whole grain and raisins). This would be a theme throughout the cruise, unfortunately.

Things picked up with appetizers though! We started with the escargot and foie gras, both of which were outstanding. The foie gras was a relatively generous portion (I would estimate 2.5 oz, probably?), grilled to melt-in-your-mouth perfection and served with a little pickled ginger and a tomato confit, both of which were a nice foil to the richness of the foie. There was also a little “package” of duck confit wrapped in phyllo dough – I didn’t think they necessarily went together, but they were both delicious on their own, so it was like two small apps in one! DH’s tortellini were perfectly al dente and filled with a rich mixture of escargots and bacon – there may have been morels in there too, not entirely sure. The parsley foam was ethereal and just the right accent.

For our next course, I had the goat cheese soufflé and he had the lobster bisque. The soufflé was a home run – it was soft and intensely cheesy, but without any of the pasty texture goat cheese can sometimes have, and none of the eggy-ness that a bad soufflé has. It was served almost like a flan, unmolded into a bowl with the sauce. Divine. DH’s soup was only ok, IMO – the leek-shallot flan didn’t really taste like much, and it was too firm, which sort of spoiled the effect they were trying for of having it melt into the soup. The soup itself lacked depth of flavor and had very little actual lobster meat. He loved the corn beignet though!

Our mains were duck and venison. DH’s duck breast was cooked nicely, but it was a little too sweet for my taste – with almond French toast and raisin-apple jus, there were just too many sweet elements on the place. The confit leg that came with the entrée didn’t have the luscious texture of true confit, either – I would wager that it was braised, not confit – and there was FAR too much star anise involved. My venison was cooked perfectly medium rare, but unfortunately I think I happened to get a slightly old deer or something because it was a bit tough. Underseasoned, too. Not bad, though, and the celery root fondant was really delicious and complemented it well. The cabbage and lingonberries were both overly sweet though, and the spinach was again random and unnecessary.

I was a little disappointed in dessert – I expected Murano to really shine here. DH had the Quattro Apples and I had the Rhubarb Clafoutis. My clafoutis was a little undercooked and not that interesting, but the lemon verbena sorbet that came with it was simply amazing (although a little too melty). DH’s plate only had one component that I liked, a little apple cake. The Calvados crème brulee was too boozy and didn’t set up properly, caramelized apples were pure star anise, and the apple sorbet was full of chewy apple bits (he liked it, I didn’t). They offered a complimentary cheese course as well, which I enjoyed – the cheeses weren’t anything terribly esoteric but there were a couple that were nice and stinky.

Overall, I would say Murano is worth the $35 pp cover charge – I would expect to pay at least $70 pp for a comparable meal here in NYC, so no complaints. However, there was nothing mind-blowingly creative on the menu, so if you do a lot of fine dining elsewhere you may not feel the need to bother.

Silk Harvest:

DH loves Chinese food (as do I), so we decided to do Silk Harvest on Valentine’s Day. His favorite dish in the whole world is Springfield-Style Cashew Chicken (available only in Springfield, MO and the surrounding areas), and the staff at Silk Harvest were kind enough to try to recreate the dish for him as a Valentine’s surprise (I brought them the recipe). I could not have been more impressed with the staff here – they were absolutely WONDERFUL, especially Adhi, the manager, who orchestrated my surprise.

Anyway, onto the food. We had read about SH before we booked, so we knew to come HUNGRY. This is not a joke. You can order the entire menu and they will feed you till you burst. The menu is available online here: http://www.celebritycruises.com/dining/product/detail/view.do;jsessionid=0000sBz0GUgHcxDewY3kpauilPp:12hdbd027?ProductCode=SILKDINNER&componentType=3&currencyCode=USD&shipCode=EQ

We started with chicken spring rolls, cream cheese wontons, BBQ spareribs and shumai, all of which were truly delicious. Each came with just two or three pieces per plate – I assume they give you more if you’re in a larger party. In any case, each item came with its own unique dipping sauce, which encouraged me to mix and match. The shumai, with their tender filling and spicy sauce, were my favorite, but the others were nearly as good. The ribs were fall-off-the-bone tender and sauced with a tangy BBQ that was different than any I’ve ever had – there may have been tamarind in it, not sure, but it was GOOD!

Then we moved onto sushi. I wanted to try all of the specialty rolls, but DH isn’t a big fan of sushi, so I asked our waiter to bring me just a piece or two of each, which he was happy to do. Now, I know that rolls aren’t really sushi and that sushi purists out there don’t bother with them, but if you like rolls, you really MUST try the Forbidden, Equinox, Solstice and Celebrity rolls. They were truly fantastic, all of them – even DH liked them, and that’s saying something. The squid ink rice is a nice touch.

Now for the large plates. DH didn’t know that the kitchen was making him something special, so he WAY over-ordered – and even though I told our waiter to bring SMALL portions of everything, there was enough food for 4 on the table, at least. We had the pad thai, which was probably my favorite, with its tangy sauce and springy noodles. The orange chicken tasted of fresh tangerine and was a refreshing change from the usual syrupy orange chicken you get at most Chinese restaurants. Salmon and scallop stirfry was a little cloying but great if you really love black bean sauce. Red curry duck was a little disappointing – it was overcooked, and not particularly spicy. Beef lo mein was very average. We would have had too much food WITHOUT DH’s special dish, but with it, it was out of control!

We were too full for dessert but DH wanted to try the coconut ice cream with bananas, so I had a taste – it was fine, nothing to write home about. I would definitely recommend Silk Harvest and I thought it was worth the $20 cover, but if I came back I would stick to the small plates and sushi, as the large plates were not quite as special.

Tuscan Grille:

We hadn’t planned to go to Tuscan Grille but my husband won a certificate for a free dinner in any specialty restaurant near the end of the cruise, so we figured we might as well try it. We were glad we did – it ended up being one of our favorite meals of the whole trip! The room is beautiful – great views of the wake. We had a full moon that night and it was bright enough to light things up for us, but going before sunset is a good idea. Service was excellent (ask for Andres). Here’s the menu: http://www.celebritycruises.com/dining/product/detail/view.do;jsessionid=0000FpOV6HhNBSCW3TakUQDmOW3:12hdbcuh7?ProductCode=TUSCDINNER&componentType=3&currencyCode=USD&shipCode=EQ

We started with calamari for DH, crostini for me. They brought us an “amuse-bouche” platter of antipasti first, which was welcome and quite good. Although the bread here was mostly the same tasteless crap we’d been eating throughout the ship all week, they did have one notable addition: two types of focaccia, roasted onion and roasted tomato. They were better, IMO, than any other bread I’d had on the ship, although that might have been simply because of their robust toppings. In any case, we enjoyed the antipasti – the prosciutto and parmigiano were not of the highest quality, but adequate, and the vegetables were good. Our apps were also tasty, the calamari nicely crisp and my crostini (5 or 6 little pieces, with roasted peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, tapenade, a cheese spread, etc.) were flavorful despite the lackluster bread.

Second course was onion soup for me, pappardelle and meatballs for him. This was the course that really shone, IMO. The onion soup was simply divine – incredibly rich but lighter than regular onion soup in a way, with incredible depth of flavor and oniony sweetness. They generously gave me the recipe and I immediately understood why it was different – they use a mixture of chicken stock, veal stock and cream in the broth, plus both leeks and caramelized onions. Utterly fabulous. DH’s pasta was perfectly cooked and the meatball was excellent – tender and flavorful. They gave me that recipe too – can’t wait to try it at home!

I was stuffed by the time our mains came – grilled branzino (Mediterranean Sea Bass) for me and the ribeye for him. I had asked them to sub out my potatoes for pecorino mac and cheese, which they did happily. OMFG. The mac and cheese was easily one of the most delicious, richest, creamiest things I’ve ever put in my mouth. Rich to the point where I simply couldn’t finish it, and I LOVE rich foods. Unfortunately my fish was underseasoned and overcooked, but I was too full to eat it anyway. I know they would have replaced it if I had asked. DH’s ribeye was the best piece of beef we’d had on the ship (which is really saying something, as I felt the quality of the beef in the MDR was pretty good).

I would have skipped dessert, but DH was ready to power through, so we ordered the chocolate-pistachio crème brulee to share. Another OMFG moment. It was divine. A layer of the chocolatey-est custard imaginable topped with a layer of subtle pistachio infused custard. Perfect creamy texture (which I hadn’t encountered in any similar dessert on the ship to this point). My favorite dessert of the cruise, I think.

In short, all of the specialty restaurants are, IMO, worthwhile – you’ll get a substantially nicer meal and generally better experience than in the MDR in all three. If you can only do one, I would suggest choosing based on the types of foods you favor and also the things you might be craving after a week in the MDR, rather than trying to decide which restaurant is “best.”

Thanks so much for these reviews and the one you did for the MDR. Very professionally written. I agree with many of your opinions and you've made our wait for our next Celebrity cruise that much harder to endure!

Thanks for the review

My wife and I love bread and we love it on celebrity so odd ??

Thanks for the review

 

My wife and I love bread and we love it on celebrity so odd ??

Well, food is subjective. I prefer breads (especially those described as baguette or french bread) to have a nice chewy interior and crusty exterior, and I didn't find any bread on X with a real crust. I also felt that the various rolls and white breads were flavorless, as though the dough had been made without salt and the yeast hadn't been given time to really process. Chacun a son gout, I suppose!

Thanks for the thoughtfull review

Great review. I am a loyal Celebrity cruiser and love the specialty dining venues. I have only had one disappointing experience. We will be on the Equinox in May for a TA and have decided to give the Silk Harvest a try. Can't wait.

Thanks again, Alsmez, for this very thorough, informative, and authoritative review. I prefer breads as you do....crusty on the outside, mushier on the inside, with the right amount of salt. I would imagine many of the breads and ALL of the bagels onboard are frozen and then defrosted as needed. Bagel-making, itself, is an artform....which I don't suppose is found onboard.

I was especially interested in your comments about Silk Harvest because ALL of my friends who've eaten there have told me to just cross it off my list.

Now I am re-thinking that.

Thanks again.

Thanks again, Alsmez, for this very thorough, informative, and authoritative review. I prefer breads as you do....crusty on the outside, mushier on the inside, with the right amount of salt. I would imagine many of the breads and ALL of the bagels onboard are frozen and then defrosted as needed. Bagel-making, itself, is an artform....which I don't suppose is found onboard.

 

I was especially interested in your comments about Silk Harvest because ALL of my friends who've eaten there have told me to just cross it off my list.

 

Now I am re-thinking that.

 

Thanks again.

According to X, all of their breads are made fresh daily on board, but I don't know if that means they actually make the dough themselves or just bake off pre-made, frozen dough (I'm guessing the latter). I can't imagine they make bagels themselves either.

As for Silk Harvest, you have to know what you're getting. It's not a gourmet experience, for sure, and if you go in thinking it will be you'll be disappointed. I've heard many people compare it to PF Chang, and I think that's fair, except that PF Chang doesn't have sushi (to my knowledge) and you can't order a million things and expect to only pay $20! :D

There were 4 of us for dinner at Silk Harvest and we had a wonderful time. The food was very good but it was the entire dining experience that made it so wonderful. You get to try as many dishes as you want and it was fun trying to come up with our favorites. When you enter the restaurant the philosophy is that you become one of the "family" during your dining experience and it is certainly true based on the friendliness and outstanding service. I would highly recommend the experience.

Well, thanks again for the comments about Silk Harvest. I will definitely put it on my list.

Thanks for a well described review of the speciality dining on Equinox. I am also a bit of foodie , so the food experinace on the cruise is a large part of my overall love of cruising.

This will be my first cruise with Celebrity and having heard and read so much about celebrity. I will be paying a great detail of attention to the quality of the food. So you review was a very welcomed reading for me.

Thanks for taking the time.

Now I really cannot wait for our cruise. We have booked a AQ cabin so I will hopefully be able to add some comments when we return of our experiance in "Blu" restuarant. With if we get the chance to have a meal in the MDR a comparison.

How much is the cover charge for Bistro on Five?

How much is the cover charge for Bistro on Five?

$5 per person, and you can order as much as you like. Well worth it, I thought.

Thanks a lot for such a nice specialty dining review. We'll be aboard the Equinox two weeks later. This is our first time with Celebrity. After reading your review, we'll certainly try the different specialty restaurants especially the Murano for its foie gras.

Thanks for these reviews. They line up with my experiences on Celebrity too. You'll have to try a ship that has Qsine sometime and let me know what you think. It seems like X is going ahead with Qsine instead of Silk Harvest on the new ships.

Qsine is a fun way to introduce people to foods they may not have where they live, but it can get a bit over the top with the burgers and the curry and and and. That said - we're going on Summit next month and will go to Qsine just for the curry.

According to X, all of their breads are made fresh daily on board, but I don't know if that means they actually make the dough themselves or just bake off pre-made, frozen dough (I'm guessing the latter). I can't imagine they make bagels themselves either.

 

As for Silk Harvest, you have to know what you're getting. It's not a gourmet experience, for sure, and if you go in thinking it will be you'll be disappointed. I've heard many people compare it to PF Chang, and I think that's fair, except that PF Chang doesn't have sushi (to my knowledge) and you can't order a million things and expect to only pay $20! :D

Just guessing about the dough? Perhaps you should go down and check out the kitchen before guessing.

Nothing like an arm-chair cook

great job cant wait!

Thanks for these reviews. They line up with my experiences on Celebrity too. You'll have to try a ship that has Qsine sometime and let me know what you think. It seems like X is going ahead with Qsine instead of Silk Harvest on the new ships.

 

Qsine is a fun way to introduce people to foods they may not have where they live, but it can get a bit over the top with the burgers and the curry and and and. That said - we're going on Summit next month and will go to Qsine just for the curry.

Hi,:) the previous poster sailed back in April 2011...the original

poster's review goes back to Feb 2011........