Food on Oceania

[Hoyaheel]

My husband had escargot served two or three different ways during our recent Riviera cruise - different styles on different nights, in different restaurants. I believe Polo served in puff pastry and Jacques in the garlic butter as shown above here. We also had several versions of "Creme brulee" (sorry, don't feel like searching for the accents today, please use your imagination). Some were better than others [in my and my MIL's opinions], some were traditional and some were not.

[Justalone]

On 1/9/2020 at 4:09 PM, deadzone1003 said:

Doesn't matter if you have access to good Asian food, good tasting food is good tasting food.  My wife and I, her best friend and husband, plus her best friend's husband best friend and wife were on the Marina in 2017 and we all agreed that Red Ginger was everyone's favorite restaurant.  Now, I am Chinese-American who lives in San Francisco all my life while my wife and the other's were born in China and most of them are living in Hong Kong.  All of them are well-traveled and are familiar with various other Asian cuisines.   Red Ginger is really Asian Fusion rather than a collection of regional dishes.  Everyone's favorite was Miso-Glazed Chilean Seabass - never had this dish until I sailed with Oceania.

 

New to cruising.   Do they serve dim sum or char su ramen noodles?  Are they available daily at lunch or dinner?  Hong Kong fried noodles or Singapore style curry chow mai fun?

Edited January 12, 2020 by Justalone

[Paulchili]

Simple answer is no but they do occasionally have decent chicken pot stickers at the Terrace (ask for Vietnamese sweet chili sauce to go with them)

They also alternate pasta and wok stations at the Terrace.

[deadzone1003]

7 minutes ago, Justalone said:

 

New to cruising.   Do they serve dim sum or char su ramen noodles?  Are they available daily at lunch or dinner?

Don't expect much in terms of true Asian cuisine aboard Oceania.  Like I said, Red Ginger is really Asian Fusion but it is surprisingly good, alot of Oceania cruisers rate it as their favorite restaurant. 

Here is the menu from the Oceania Marina, https://www.oceaniacruises.com/Documents/Menus/70445/Red-Ginger-Dinner-Menu.pdf

 

Red Ginger is only aboard 3 of Oceania's ships.  

[Paulchili]

1 hour ago, deadzone1003 said:

Don't expect much in terms of true Asian cuisine aboard Oceania.

I agree.

As much as I love both Oceania and Chinese food, when they have Chinese food in the Terrace I just have dinner elsewhere (I might try an appetizer there or so but mostly it’s disappointing to me).

Edited January 13, 2020 by Paulchili

[clo]

6 hours ago, Paulchili said:

I could be wrong as I don’t use either but aren’t those the 2 spices that can easily be added even after cooking (unlike curry and many others that should be added during cooking)

Yes. And I generally prefer to add them at serving. A tiny pinch of kosher salt is a lovely thing 🙂 We use unsalted butter at home and put a few grains of salt on our toast.

[clo]

On 1/10/2020 at 5:45 PM, TrulyBlonde said:

This is the new "O".🙄

And by that you mean what?

[clo]

7 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

I agree.

As much as I love both Oceania and Chinese food, when they have Chinese food in the Terrace I just have dinner elsewhere (I might try an appetizer there or so but mostly it’s disappointing to me).

Well, considering where you live and where we used to live and now visit, I'd say that's what to expect, don't you? Despite how much we enjoyed the food on our recent trip, let's face it, they're still having to "feed the masses."

[Paulchili]

19 minutes ago, clo said:

Well, considering where you live and where we used to live and now visit, I'd say that's what to expect,

That’s a big part of the problem 😀

In fact, on our travels I often used to look for and wanted to try Chinese restaurants but I gave that up a long time ago with exception in places like Sydney or Singapore (or, of course, HKG/China).

Edited January 13, 2020 by Paulchili

[Mura]

Many years ago I spent the summer in Graz, Austria for a music program.  We went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner one night -- which was surprisingly good.  The waiters were all Chinese (as in "from China").  The restaurant was next to a piano store and there was a small stage with a harpsichord on it.  During dinner one of the waiters went up and started playing Bach ... he must have been a student there ...

 

 

[clo]

41 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

That’s a big part of the problem 😀

In fact, on our travels I often used to look for and wanted to try Chinese restaurants but I gave that up a long time ago with exception in places like Sydney or Singapore (or, of course, HKG/China).

We go to Seattle a good bit to see daughter and family. We no longer try Mexican food there.

[pinotlover]

Oceania doesn’t do spicy or highly flavorful foods. They do a good job of preparing menus of prime rib, lobster, veal and pork chops, and other such foods. Their use of traditional herbs and spices is minimized so to appeal to a large audience, some of which prefers non spicy  and blander flavors. 

[Mura]

LOL.  I'm not to happy about what Mexican we have tried in NYC either ... although Spanish food can be very good!  I grew up in L.A. where we got excellent Mexican food back when I was young.  I have no idea of the status of Mexican food in L.A. these days ...  Hopefully it's not only Taco Bell.

 

P.S. to Pinot  about spices ... while I can see toning down spices for the traditional Oceania passengers (i.e., those who have been with O since the beginning or soon after), we're all getting older.  But if Oceania wants to attract younger passengers -- which it certainly seems it does -- then they may need to rethink some of their recipes.  I find it hard to believe that the average person in their 30s, 40s or 50s -- even their 60s -- only wants bland food ... what I might call "tasteless".

 

OTOH, I'm no spring chicken anymore and I STILL like spicy food.  DH has toned down his palette however ... But he's even older than I am!

 

Mura

 

 

 

[deadzone1003]

2 hours ago, Paulchili said:

That’s a big part of the problem 😀

In fact, on our travels I often used to look for and wanted to try Chinese restaurants but I gave that up a long time ago with exception in places like Sydney or Singapore (or, of course, HKG/China).

Don't forget Vancouver and Lima is not too bad.

[Paulchili]

26 minutes ago, deadzone1003 said:

Don't forget Vancouver and Lima is not too bad.

Agree with Vancouver although I am still looking for the perfect Peking duck there. 😊

Don’t know about Lima.

 

[clo]

3 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

Agree with Vancouver although I am still looking for the perfect Peking duck there. 😊

 

Do you go to Richmond? Pretty much the center of great Chinese food in the area.

[Paulchili]

1 minute ago, clo said:

Do you go to Richmond? Pretty much the center of great Chinese food in the area.

Yes, I know but just haven’t taken “the plunge” to go there.

Maybe next time.

[ldubs]

4 hours ago, Paulchili said:

That’s a big part of the problem 😀

In fact, on our travels I often used to look for and wanted to try Chinese restaurants but I gave that up a long time ago with exception in places like Sydney or Singapore (or, of course, HKG/China).

 

Interesting.  Given the chance we will still like to go to Chinese restaurants wherever we are in the world.  Sometimes we get a pleasant surprise and other times not so much.  Haha   

[Paulchili]

1 hour ago, ldubs said:

Sometimes we get a pleasant surprise and other times not so much.  Haha   

I only like pleasant surprises - am I a bad person? 😀

[sailco]

16 hours ago, Justalone said:

 

New to cruising.   Do they serve dim sum or char su ramen noodles?  Are they available daily at lunch or dinner?  Hong Kong fried noodles or Singapore style curry chow mai fun?

At least you can get a cold Tiger Beer 😎

[clo]

11 hours ago, ldubs said:

 

Interesting.  Given the chance we will still like to go to Chinese restaurants wherever we are in the world.  Sometimes we get a pleasant surprise and other times not so much.  Haha   

Unless we have days instead of hours some place we almost always opt for the best regional/ethnic foods. Like eating foie gras every day in Budapest 🙂 But we did stumble on a quite good Chinese place up an alley in Prague.

[Wishing on a star]

I wonder if one could be lucky enough to get some dishes with some added seasoning.

I agree that 'bland' is just simply NOT associated with best or finest cuisine.

That is what seems to be false and frustrating to me, as a newbie.

 

I don't do really HOT...   Hot and well seasoned can be two very different things.

It dismays me that on most cases nowadays,  seasoned means "add hot red or Serrano or ghost peppers"

No flavor,  just hot peppers.

Heat can always be added...  Delicious seasoning, not so much.

 

Edited January 13, 2020 by Wishing on a star

[Wishing on a star]

I will post this question as a separate post!

I like Asian, my husband less so. But not necessarily like Thai. (is it all the Tamarind or strong ginger????)

Anyhow, with this being said, I would love to make sure we get into Red Ginger.

Of course the Sea Bass is well noted.  What other dishes and starters would you all recommend.

 

I saw a recent video on one of the two larger ships, including the Galley,  where the chef is hand rolling some wonderful looking  large (veggie?) rolls in what seems to be the more see-thru rice paper.

I was like, wow, I wonder where and when I can find those!

 

Edited January 13, 2020 by Wishing on a star

[arima22]

Here's the menu: https://www.oceaniacruises.com/Documents/Menus/70445/Red-Ginger-Dinner-Menu.pdf

The rice paper rolls you are looking for are under the appetizers- Summer Rolls.  Other items we find that are very good are the sea scallops (listed as entrée, but we order as an appetizer), the lamb chops, steak, etc.  In general, the amount of Asian spices used in Red Ginger is far less than you would find in an ethnic specific restaurant in the US.

[Hawaiidan]

19 hours ago, Paulchili said:

Simple answer is no but they do occasionally have decent chicken pot stickers at the Terrace (ask for Vietnamese sweet chili sauce to go with them)

They also alternate pasta and wok stations at the Terrace.

If you connect personally with the line cooks, they can  do a lot of creative variations  with the  ingredient available...This is why the Terrace is such a great place... its like "food legos."...  all sorts of interesting variations you can make. Try Linguini with carmelized onions, capers ,shrimp and Bearnaise  

Same with Waves... you can get a rare burger.... nice char but with very rare inside .. with . Like a Seared tartar... wonderful