Favorite Specialty Restaurants and Foods

[LHT28]

59 minutes ago, claranda said:

Re Mura’s comment about Red Ginger food not being sufficiently spicy (and I assume the Indian food they serve is the same in terms of heat?), do they have fresh chillies on board that I could have on the side? No American cruise ship I’ve sailed on has ever had fresh chilli, which goes some way to explaining the blandness (apologies to all those in the States who like hot curry...).

I am pretty sure if you ask for  the dish to be spicier they will do it

 I must have gotten someone else's order in RG  as it was so spicy I could  not tell that my HOT tea was hot  it felt like luke warm tea

My mouth was numb from the heat of the curry dish

[Harters]

We've cruised with O only once - on Marina. The food had been a big selling point - on land based holidays, we put effort into finding good/interesting restaurants.

 

We enjoyed the GDR. The food is about the quality of your local bistro. We used the buffet for lunches and it was fine. It's very much a "plus point" that you are served your food, rather than the free-for-all of most buffets. We enjoy more of a "restaurant experience " for dinners

 

With one exception, we thought the speciality restaurants were very good, bearing in mind where you are.. The exception was Red Ginger where we found the food to be quite bland and uninteresting (next time we do an O cruise, we'll pass on that one).

 

We came away from the cruise very happy eaters

Edited April 26, 2021 by Harters

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 hour ago, Harters said:

We've cruised with O only once - on Marina. The food had been a big selling point - on land based holidays, we put effort into finding good/interesting restaurants.

 

We enjoyed the GDR. The food is about the quality of your local bistro. We used the buffet for lunches and it was fine. It's very much a "plus point" that you are served your food, rather than the free-for-all of most buffets. We enjoy more of a "restaurant experience " for dinners

 

With one exception, we thought the speciality restaurants were very good, bearing in mind where you are.. The exception was Red Ginger where we found the food to be quite bland and uninteresting (next time we do an O cruise, we'll pass on that one).

 

We came away from the cruise very happy eaters

There’s no “buffet” on any Oceania ship. Perhaps you mean the casual Terrace Café which includes “a la minute” cooking, alfresco dining and no self-service.

[clo]

3 hours ago, ORV said:

Didn't you say that you passed on eating there? If that's the case then you have no idea what you've missed by not eating there. I think the OP is looking for recommendations here. 

Well, I can read and hardly any sounded appealing. As I've mentioned here and elsewhere neither fusion nor Thai is my fave among Asian cuisines. And I'm kinda 'into' food.

 

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/Documents/Menus/70445/Red-Ginger-Dinner-Menu.pdf

 

[clo]

3 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Tapatío

It's actually made in CA but I like it well enough. In Asian restaurants I like housemade chili oil sauce.

[clo]

15 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

There’s no “buffet” on any Oceania ship. Perhaps you mean the casual Terrace Café which includes “a la minute” cooking, alfresco dining and no self-service.

Didn't we decide last year that it's actually "cafeteria" rather than "buffet"?

[Paulchili]

1 hour ago, Harters said:

The exception was Red Ginger where we found the food to be quite bland and uninteresting (next time we do an O cruise, we'll pass on that one).

The best way to do this and not lose a reservation in specialties that you are entitled to is to book RG (even if you don’t intend to eat there) and then once onboard trade it for another specialty.

It’s easier to trade than get an extra reservation.

JMO

Edited April 26, 2021 by Paulchili

[Harters]

18 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Perhaps you mean the casual Terrace Café

I did. But I'm obviously not as much in to semantics as yourself. Maybe a buffet means something different where you are in the world. But that's a buffet to me.

 

Paulchili - thanks for the trade tip. I'll keep that in mind.

Edited April 27, 2021 by Harters

[clo]

1 hour ago, Harters said:

Maybe a buffet means something different where you are in the world. But that's a buffet to me.

So you serve yourself?

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, Harters said:

I did. But I'm obviously not as much in to semantics as yourself. Maybe a buffet means something different where you are in the world. But that's a buffet to me

 

I say it is an upscale cafeteria  😄

 

 

[ToxM]

There’s a lot of signage on a lot of ships going to have to change if everyone is going to be picky about the definition of a buffet. Maybe the word will die out as nowhere will offer self serve.

 

 

[Harters]

2 hours ago, clo said:

So you serve yourself?

Not necessarily. I might serve myself with a buffet. Or, as on O, someone serves you (I much prefer that style ,as I posted earlier). Or it may be a mix. Basically, for me, a buffet is where food is laid out for you to collect, rather than being served to you at your table. That's O.

 

LHT28 refers to an "upscale cafeteria". I had to Google "cafeteria" as I'm not familiar with the word. It tells me I'd probably use the word "canteen". In which case, it would have to be a very upscale affair from my past experiences with canteens.

[PhD-iva]

49 minutes ago, Harters said:I had to Google "cafeteria" as I'm not familiar with the word. It tells me I'd probably use the word "canteen". In which case, it would have to be a very upscale affair from my past experiences with canteens.

Ah, I see you are from across the pond. Next, we shall argue over the meaning of the word “biscuit”! 😀

[Host Jazzbeau]

Just now, PhD-iva said:

Ah, I see you are from across the pond. Next, we shall argue over the meaning of the word “biscuit”! 😀

Those are the things that websites plant on your computer to track you in Britain, right? 😀

[Flatbush Flyer]

43 minutes ago, PhD-iva said:

Ah, I see you are from across the pond. Next, we shall argue over the meaning of the word “biscuit”! 😀

Or “football” or “knock me up” (wait, maybe that’s Australia?) or the misspelling/mispronunciation of all sorts of word like “aluminium,” “schedule” .....

[clo]

10 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

aluminium

Now that one drives me nuts(ier)!

[ToxM]

Canteen and cafeteria are contextually in the UK lower end scale dining. It would be a disservice to the Terrace to call it either of those. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

8 minutes ago, ToxM said:

Canteen and cafeteria are contextually in the UK lower end scale dining. It would be a disservice to the Terrace to call it either of those. 

...as it would be to call it a “buffet” which conjurs up the picture of folks touching the utensils (or the food itself) having just returned from the head where they didn’t wash their hands. (Yes, even some O passengers are nasty little piglets when it comes to personal hygiene and protection of the public health).

[bigmjh]

On 4/26/2021 at 11:39 AM, clo said:

... And I'm kinda 'into' food.

 

IMHO ... you are more 'into' disruptive posts - regardless of topic.

[clo]

12 minutes ago, bigmjh said:

IMHO ... you are more 'into' disruptive posts - regardless of topic.

And IMneverHO, LOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Harters]

3 hours ago, PhD-iva said:

Next, we shall argue over the meaning of the word “biscuit”! 

I contribute to a food forum which, like this one, has many American contributors (even though I access this one at cruisecritic.co.uk) . In recent days, I've had to make the point that I was referring to British "chips", not American "chips", so as to not have fellow contributors thinking I was eating a wierd meal. Having regularly visited the States since 1980 I speak reasonable American but am certainly not fluent in the language.

Edited April 27, 2021 by Harters

[LHT28]

2 minutes ago, Harters said:

I contribute to a food forum which, like this one, has mainly American contributors (even though I access this one at cruisecritic.co.uk) . In recent days, I've had to make the point that I was referring to British "chips", not American "chips", so as to not have fellow contributors thinking I was eating a wierd meal.

Here we call then "chips" as well  like fish n chips  😄

I understand British  pretty well 😉

 

[Harters]

Just now, LHT28 said:

I understand British  pretty well

Of course. You're Canadian, not American.  You also had "zeds", not "zees"

[clo]

5 hours ago, Harters said:

I contribute to a food forum which, like this one, has many American contributors (even though I access this one at cruisecritic.co.uk) . In recent days, I've had to make the point that I was referring to British "chips", not American "chips", so as to not have fellow contributors thinking I was eating a wierd meal. Having regularly visited the States since 1980 I speak reasonable American but am certainly not fluent in the language.

Care to share the name of the food forum? Is it British? I'm looking for a new one but probably not British (love the food but rather narrow).

[jagoffee]

On 4/26/2021 at 1:39 PM, clo said:

Well, I can read and hardly any sounded appealing. As I've mentioned here and elsewhere neither fusion nor Thai is my fave among Asian cuisines. And I'm kinda 'into' food.

 

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/Documents/Menus/70445/Red-Ginger-Dinner-Menu.pdf

 

Looks really good to me.