Test Kitchen - change of menu?

[wirralcruisers]

Hi all,

I have just watched a Youtube video showing a crew member (Lucy - Cruising as Crew) and what her normal food routine is living onboard Valiant Lady.

Lucy eats at Test Kitchen and the menu looks very different from the "usual" (Mushroom, Egg etc).

 

Has the menu been changed?

 

 

 

Edited May 28, 2022 by wirralcruisers

[cantgetin]

My understanding is that what she was served was a "try out" menu; it is proposed that this will be the new Test Kitchen menu, but it is not in place yet.

 

[sid_9169]

I'm on board right now, and have a reservation this week. I'll get a copy of whatever menu they have.

[wirralcruisers]

Thanks Sid that will be great!

I hope they have changed the "Egg" course, as I so don't like egg yolk 🙂

[cantgetin]

Recently, if you didn't like a course you were able to substitute the same course from the vegetarian menu.  For instance, if you don't eat mushrooms, you could get the gazpacho for the first course.  I don't think this happened early on in their cruisings.

 

[sid_9169]

I'm on board now, and this is the current menu...

 

 

[cantgetin]

The above is the original menu.  They are also currently serving a vegetarian menu on request.  The video in OP shows food from what is supposedly being tried out as a new menu; date of start has not been announced as far as I know.

 

[johnnylikely]

4 hours ago, cantgetin said:

The above is the original menu.  They are also currently serving a vegetarian menu on request.  The video in OP shows food from what is supposedly being tried out as a new menu; date of start has not been announced as far as I know.

 

Yes, I believe they were starting to trial some new dishes/new menu when I was on it in April

[jaxcruisinguy]

I was on Valiant Lady 5/15 "mermaiden" and Test Kitchen had a new menu.

1.Corn

2. Salmon

3. Beet

4. Lamb/Shrimp

5. Asparagus

6. Strawberry

[johnnylikely]

11 hours ago, jaxcruisinguy said:

I was on Valiant Lady 5/15 "mermaiden" and Test Kitchen had a new menu.

1.Corn

2. Salmon

3. Beet

4. Lamb/Shrimp

5. Asparagus

6. Strawberry

That sounds yummy lol

[jaxcruisinguy]

Here are some pics of anyone was interested. The Lamb/Shrimp you can choose either lamb chop or shrimp with shrimp pasta and broth.

Edited June 2, 2022 by jaxcruisinguy
reorder pics

[nicknata]

I was on the May2 repositioning cruise and they switched the menu at Test Kitchen half way through the cruise so I was able to taste both the old and new menus. Here are the menus I had. Personally I prefer the old menu.

 

[wirralcruisers]

Thanks for all of the inputs, very much appreciated.

I wonder if the two menus will be typically ran on the longer transatlantic cruises.

That would be amazing!

[m4tty_j]

Having tried both menus, I think I prefer the mushroom menu better. However, the corn starter on the new menu was outstanding!

Edited June 14, 2022 by m4tty_j

[Wildcatllamas]

On 6/2/2022 at 2:33 PM, jaxcruisinguy said:

Here are some pics of anyone was interested. The Lamb/Shrimp you can choose either lamb chop or shrimp with shrimp pasta and broth.

That looks good. So guess I better check on some dates so I can get something booked.

[_tacocat_]

quick update here - we were REALLY excited to try test kitchen's new menu... only to be faced with the OG menu when we sat down.  womp womp. 

 

our server said they're now on a 3-day rotation, so 3 days old/3 days new.  they have a veg menu for both, and we actually swapped a few of our standard choices out for the veg - tomato gazpacho for the shroomies, asparagus panna cotta for the scallops, mandarin sorbet for the blue cheese semifreddo, vegan chocolate coconut bar for the chocolate cake.

 

we also made the stupid mistake of listening to everyone who said "you'll be starving," pre-gamed test kitchen with the beef sandwich from diner & dash in the galley, and couldn't finish our (surprisingly really tasty) test kitchen dinner.

[Fogcityca13]

Awesome, very happy they have an alternative to the blue cheese. I love it but my wife is not a fan. 

[John84]

On 7/11/2022 at 6:17 PM, _tacocat_ said:

we also made the stupid mistake of listening to everyone who said "you'll be starving," pre-gamed test kitchen with the beef sandwich from diner & dash in the galley, and couldn't finish our (surprisingly really tasty) test kitchen dinner.

 

There are definitely people who cruise who can put me to shame when it comes to putting away food. We didn't bother with desert for a few meals, and shared the main in Extra Virgin because the meals are very generously sized. Test Kitchen probably was one of the lightest meals overall but it was still a decent amount of food, but we did speak to people who seemed to have done test kitchen & basically another meal the same evening!

[_tacocat_]

8 hours ago, John84 said:

shared the main in Extra Virgin because the meals are very generously sized

We found out after our first voyage that you can order half portions of pasta, so on the last one, we split two half portions of pasta so we could have some variety, then split a main too.  had to save room for affogatos!

[Mysecretelixir]

On 7/13/2022 at 9:55 AM, _tacocat_ said:

We found out after our first voyage that you can order half portions of pasta, so on the last one, we split two half portions of pasta so we could have some variety, then split a main too.  had to save room for affogatos!

That is a great idea to split! I wouldn’t have thought to ask. Thanks for sharing

[CruisingWalter]

On 6/1/2022 at 9:59 AM, jaxcruisinguy said:

I was on Valiant Lady 5/15 "mermaiden" and Test Kitchen had a new menu.

1.Corn

2. Salmon

3. Beet

4. Lamb/Shrimp

5. Asparagus

6. Strawberry

 

That is the current menu on Scarlet we had last week. It was yummy though the beet was my least favorite. I will say that while the meal was absolutely delicious, we were all a bit hungry afterwards so we grabbed a few pizzas at The Pizza Place to share. 🙂 But since the Test Kitchen is included, no extra fee, it didn't bother us at all. 

[CruisingWalter]

On 7/11/2022 at 1:17 PM, _tacocat_ said:

we also made the stupid mistake of listening to everyone who said "you'll be starving," pre-gamed test kitchen with the beef sandwich from diner & dash in the galley, and couldn't finish our (surprisingly really tasty) test kitchen dinner.

 

We weren't starving but we were hungry after the meal. It was absolutely delicious, but we ended up grabbing a couple of pizzas from The Pizza Place after the Test Kitchen dinner. That's the way to do it, don't 'pre-eat.' If you're still hungry after, grab a pizza. 🙂 

[babalooo]

I am cruising in Oct on Scarlet Lady and hope they change the menu to the "corn, salmon, etc" menu since I had the "mushroom" one in April, but was wondering if anyone knows what the new vegetarian options are to this new menu?

[CruisingWalter]

56 minutes ago, babalooo said:

I am cruising in Oct on Scarlet Lady and hope they change the menu to the "corn, salmon, etc" menu since I had the "mushroom" one in April, but was wondering if anyone knows what the new vegetarian options are to this new menu?

 

It is the Corn, Salmon menu right now. I know my wife had Tofu and a pumpkin or sweet potato soup as part of her entrees. I have the entire meal in our food review on the YouTube channel. 🙂 

 

https://youtu.be/pBolzKvXjMU

 

Edited August 31, 2022 by WheresWalter

[CruisingWalter]

Deleting this as I added the image to the above post.

Edited August 31, 2022 by WheresWalter