Harmony SPECIALITY DINNING Jamies VS Giovannis?????

[Merion_Mom]

We didn't fancy the menu or the horrible uncomfortable metal seats in the outside seating area of Jamie's on Harmony or Allure.

Solution: Don’t sit outside.

[grapau27]

Solution: Don’t sit outside.

We like sitting outside on Central Park but those metal seats are small and uncomfortable and other people have said this too.

I don't like Jamie's so not an issue for us.

[Bloodgem]

Doing a "15-minute" meal requires a lot of prep work that was never shown on camera. I'm doing an alder smoked salt seared salmon filet with saute'd zucchini noodles tonight for my wife, and the actual cooking time is only about 8 minutes for the salmon and 7 minutes for the zucchini, but the prep for getting to that 15-minute meal is about another 20-30 minutes.

Hope your wife enjoyed your food? I found this on the web and thought you might enjoy reading it :)

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/sep/27/how-to-make-jamies-15-minute-meals

[orville99]

Hope your wife enjoyed your food? I found this on the web and thought you might enjoy reading it :)

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/sep/27/how-to-make-jamies-15-minute-meals

 

Thanks. Very interesting and reaffirms my point - the actual cooking time is only a small portion of the creation of a meal. Two points worth noting: 1) depending on what type of pot you are using to cook your noodles and the type of stove you are using, it can take as long as 10 minutes to get the water to a rolling boil (add that to the 6-8 minutes to get good al dente pasta out of the process), and 2) Any good chef knows you never start cooking your protein (other than chicken) in a hot pan. You always start with a cold pan and let the pan do the work.

 

As for last night's dinner, I think one of the reasons my wife married me is because I once worked as a prep chef in a gourmet restaurant, and she thinks I'm a better chef than any of the ones onboard. Not true BTW - I'm just cooking for two - they're cooking for 2,000, and that's a rare skill to master.

[gatour]

Really starting protein in a cold pan??? I have worked in fine dining restaraunts. The pans are almost always hot.

 

I also think one of the reasons my wife married me was because of my cooking skills, along with me willing to do the laundry. :)

 

I do agree cooking that cooking for thousands of people (basically banquets) is different than cooking in a restaurant that may have 300 covers (2 1/2 turns of tables) at staggered times, vs cooking for two.

 

2) Any good chef knows you never start cooking your protein (other than chicken) in a hot pan. You always start with a cold pan and let the pan do the work.

 

As for last night's dinner, I think one of the reasons my wife married me is because I once worked as a prep chef in a gourmet restaurant, and she thinks I'm a better chef than any of the ones onboard. Not true BTW - I'm just cooking for two - they're cooking for 2,000, and that's a rare skill to master.

[cruisebabe50]

I concur. Giovanni's is much better than Jaimie's and IMO the old Portofino's is better than either one of them.

 

Agreed! I miss Portofino!

[kellianne213]

I’ve been to Giovanni’s on Oasis and Freedom and Jamie’s on Anthem. The antipasto at Jamie’s is incredible especially the meat and cheese board (better than Giovanni’s) same goes for their homemade pasta dishes and desert.

 

As I am from New York I eat traditional Italian food frequently I really appreciated the unique approach at Jamie’s, so much so that we ended up eating there twice on our 7 night sailing. The service and food were great the setting on anthem is definitely casual for specialty dining.

 

Giovanni’s on Voyager, Oasis and Freedom had great service and food what you would expect in a traditional Italian restaurant.

 

They are absolutely different atmospheres, both had great quality of food and service. I enjoyed both Jamie’s and Giovanni’s better than chops on all my sailings!

[orville99]

Really starting protein in a cold pan??? I have worked in fine dining restaraunts. The pans are almost always hot

 

Absolutely. In a busy restaurant there rarely is enough time (or enough saute pans) to execute a proper saute technique. If you had the opportunity to dine with one of the chefs in a more relaxed atmosphere, you'd probably find that they cook differently when they aren't under a crunch to do X table turns in a given hour.

 

Take last night's salmon for example. Had I started it in a hot pan, the skin would have charred before the salmon was ready to turn, and I might have saved a whole minute in cooking time. Starting in a cold pan allowed the skin to crisp to a golden brown, and the salmon was turned in five minutes instead of four. Four minutes on the flesh side and I had a perfectly cooked medium rare salmon filet ready to serve. And, because the skin was not charred, the layer of fat between the skin and the flesh was still intact so when I let the filet rest for 3-4 minutes flesh side down, all of that flavor made its way back into the filet keeping it moist and tender.

 

One of the only proteins I ever start in a hot pan is a filet mignon, or ahi or yellowfin tuna, but that is because I only cook it for 2-3 minutes on each side before serving so All I want is a quick sear to seal in the juices of a protein best served rare.