Okay, so what's the best thing you've eaten in a HA cruise... and the worst?

[MisterBill99]

Worst...chocolate volcano overcooked in PG

Yes, it's always disappointing when a warm chocolate cake isn't oozing when you break into it. Sadly, it's the norm at most places (and why I don't order it very often).

[Cruisegoer]

The chilled banana soup was pretty awful

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[mek]

Wow - this will be our first HAL cruise but it certainly sounds like the desserts are a disappointment. That sucks because I'm a dessert-a-holic.......

 

I found better desserts in the buffet than the MDR. They served delicious banana cream pie several nights.

[jeepers13]

Okay,

 

So what about entrées in the Main Dining Room?

 

What is delicious and what should we not order?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[WeLoveCruising]

So hard to narrow it down.

 

From our recent Eurodam cruise:

 

Best:

-Le Cirque dinner, so many hits there - tie between the Chateaubriand to the lobster avocado salad

 

Runners up for Best:

-Ceasar salad at Pinnacle

-Gnocchi and short ribs at Canaletto

-Fresh grapefruit cosmo drink

-Pizza (I'm partial to the Elizabeth Faulkner) at NY Pizza

-The Gainer Dive In burger

-Swiss Museli, my favorite breakfast on each cruise

 

Worst:

-Only thing I flat out didnt like, and found inedible, was the Five Spice Ribs in Tamarind. Watery, fatty, bland...not good quality meat and not well seasoned or prepared. A flat out miss.

 

Other things range from ok to good to great.

[JPH814]

Okay,

 

So what about entrées in the Main Dining Room?

 

What is delicious and what should we not order?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

I had the one of the best pieces of prime rib on the Zuiderdam I have ever had. And I have had prime rib in high end restaurants in philadelphia , Chicago

, new york and las vegas and many other places

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[RuthC]

So what about entrées in the Main Dining Room?

What is delicious and what should we not order?

The prime rib is consistently excellent.

If you see Parmesan Crusted Chicken on the menu, it's also delicious. You can order a 1/2 portion if two breasts is too much to eat.

[J&Dhighdesert]

My favorite was chicken tenders as appetizers. I even asked for another serving. You didn't ask, but my least favorite was fish and chips.

[RuthC]

My favorite was chicken tenders as appetizers.

Yes! Fabulous! You can order them as a dinner size portion served as an entrée, too.

[Appalachian Mountain Mama]

Great thread! Glad I discovered it. Saw a post with a Lido Market menu that mentioned Lumpia being served. It's one of my favorites since I learned to make it while stationed in Japan. Anyone have it on their cruise? Hoping that having many Filipino crew members will make for excellent Lumpia.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[vicd1969]

Great thread! Glad I discovered it. Saw a post with a Lido Market menu that mentioned Lumpia being served. It's one of my favorites since I learned to make it while stationed in Japan. Anyone have it on their cruise? Hoping that having many Filipino crew members will make for excellent Lumpia.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

On my 2 recent HAL cruises, I was able to get Lumpia (as opposed to the "Chinese" egg rolls). But it's more likely to be served in the "late night" snack on the LIDO (around 10:00 - 11:00ish). The servers behind the counters are usually Filipino, so feel free to ask them for inside scoop on when Lumpia and other Filipino food is available.

[Taters]

I've only sailed once on HAL and loved it. That was on Statendam back in 2011. I am looking forward to my cruise on Koningsdam in May.

 

The food was mostly pretty good on Statendam! We ate most of our meals in the MDR. One thing that stands out from that cruise however, was the chef's use of gelatin. it was weird that the quiche "wiggled" like Jello. I guess that's one way to reduce the use of eggs! I hope that the Koningsdam chef is not using this technique.

[Copper10-8]

Best:

 

Poffertjes on PRDM; only ship that makes them (been a while; unk if they still do)

 

UItsmijter (Dutch breakfast) in the PG for breakfast - unfortunately recently removed from the menu

 

Steak Diane in the PG - also unfortunately removed

 

Wiener Schnitzel

 

Sate Ayam :)

 

Nasi Goreng :)

 

Not so good:

 

Chocolate Vulcano cake in the PG - waaaay too sweet

 

Seafood soup in the Canaletto

 

Muesli in the Lido - Have to be a bloody Viking to eat that stuff

 

 

[slidergirl]

On the muesli: is it bad because it is muesli or a bad presentation of muesli? I love muesli and will eat it every chance I get. A fave is the birchermuesli at the Westin St. Francis.

 

Best:

 

Poffertjes on PRDM; only ship that makes them (been a while; unk if they still do)

 

UItsmijter (Dutch breakfast) in the PG for breakfast - unfortunately recently removed from the menu

 

Steak Diane in the PG - also unfortunately removed

 

Wiener Schnitzel

 

Sate Ayam :)

 

Nasi Goreng :)

 

Not so good:

 

Chocolate Vulcano cake in the PG - waaaay too sweet

 

Seafood soup in the Canaletto

 

Muesli in the Lido - Have to be a bloody Viking to eat that stuff

 

 

[Copper10-8]

On the muesli: is it bad because it is muesli or a bad presentation of muesli? I love muesli and will eat it every chance I get. A fave is the birchermuesli at the Westin St. Francis.

 

Thanks for your recommendation :); next time I'll try it, I'll wear a helmet with horns sticking out each side :eek:

 

[slidergirl]

Thanks for your recommendation :); next time I'll try it, I'll wear a helmet with horns sticking out each side :eek:

 

 

I think you've got the wrong part of Europe - muesli is of Swiss/German/Austrian descent. The horns are Nordic :D

I also had a great muesli at the old Outrigger Waikoloa (it's now the Mariott) on the Big Island in Hawaii. I always thought it was because they had a lot of German tour groups stay there and they were trying to make them feel at home...

[jeepers13]

Okay, so what about desserts?

 

What would you skip and what just makes your mouth water?

 

I love sweets!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Dobermangal]

MDR. There's a simple looking chocolate baked square dessert (reminds me of old school potluck treats) and it's got a completely uninteresting boring name like toffee square but it's my favorite thing ever. So good with a really nice base.

[Europeantraveler1]

I cannot think of any particular item that was great on our Koningsdam cruise last year, but I generally found the food good; what we here call "club food" ie decent mass catering food.

But my disappointment was lamb shanks. I like them to be falling off the bone, not served like steak. Also I am not a sweet tooth and I did not especially like the desserts; too sweet and creamy.

 

 

Oh noooooooo! We are so excited for our upcoming April cruise on the Konningsdam and I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE lamb shanks! I first had them on a tour of Ireland in a Killarney hotel restaurant and they were falling off the bone-thought I was in heaven!!!!! I guess I'll take the advice of those who posted prior to this....if it isn't right,...send it back!

[Europeantraveler1]

Duck breast can be had mid rare. This is the duck from De Librije, but you can order your MDR duck similarly prepared.

 

 

Medium rare salmon and tuna are available. As for true rare tuna, ask your server. We had tuna tartare, beef tartare, and a rare salmon dish. Make sure to explain what you want to your waiter - exactly. I had precisely one dish that was off temp. It was veal chop and it was a good two stops past mid rare. All in all, that's a good performance.

 

 

Did you like your eating experience at the De Librije? Was it worth the $69/each price tag? Thanks!!

[MisterBill99]

Just off Eurodam, here are the best things I had, along with some photos.

 

1) The foie gras on apple tart tatin appetizer on the 2nd Gala night. This is a photo of my 3rd and 4th portions (which I had the server bring me on one plate).

 

 

2) The flourless chocolate cake on the same menu.

 

 

3) No photo, but I really enjoyed the sliced seared (rare) tuna that they had at the salad buffet. I got a plate of it and then got wasabi and soy sauce from the sushi section and made a nice lunch of it. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that they had it so rare, since not everyone likes it that way.

 

I did not succeed in getting my duck breast medium rare. I tried twice. One time at Tamarind, then on the first Gala night. At Tamarind, I asked the server for it medium rare, and she gave me some extended story about how they prepare it which I thought ended with her saying it would be done medium rare. It wasn't. The photo I took doesn't show the inside so I'm not going to bother posting it. On Gala night, I asked for it medium rare and it seemed like the waiter understood. In fact, I was going to order the duck and lamb but told him to just bring me the duck, and I would order a second if it came out right. He ended up bringing me both, which was a good thing, since the duck was overcooked. I didn't try to get it corrected either time (I guess I wasn't into complaining since I was on vacation, plus I know it's usually futile).

 

Fortunately, the lamb was perfect.

 

 

Another worst (sadly) was the chocolate souffle on the first Gala night. It had sunk, and they just poured chocolate sauce over it, rather than a creme anglaise that they should have poured into it. Disappointing.

 

Overall we thought the food was very good, certainly better than Royal (and probably Celebrity).

Edited March 13, 2017 by MisterBill99

[Despegue]

To be honest, duck doesn't normally include a choice of " cuisson". It is always pink but never red inside. Asian style is mostly well done. I doubt a chef would honour your request for (medium) rare duck, at least here in Europe. That duck on your picture has perfect cuisson.

[Sulo]

Oh such great posts. One thing I absolutely must have next time is the lamb in the Pinnacle. I usually have fish or chicken but there's so many good reports on it here.

One weird meal was grilled trout with spaghetti. Spaghetti?????? with trout???. I ordered the trout (it was delicious) and told them to hold the spaghetti and give me veggies instead.

Wiener Schnitzel was dreadful, no taste to it at all. Hubby sent his back.

All time favourite was the Creme Brulee for desert. My husband would just roll his eyes every night at dinner when I ordered it.

[rkacruiser]

HAL's croissants are the best I have eaten! With the exception of the Lido's Sticky Buns, whose quality/taste seems to vary from ship to ship, all of their breads and rolls are excellent.

[MisterBill99]

HAL's croissants are the best I have eaten! With the exception of the Lido's Sticky Buns, whose quality/taste seems to vary from ship to ship, all of their breads and rolls are excellent.

Yes, their chocolate croissants were excellent.