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Best food & drink on HAL

astar12

By astar12,
in Holland America Line

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Dunmore2

Dunmore2

Posted
Posted
16 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

The lobster tail is amazing in sel de mer stand alone.  I used to order the fish of the day but no more.

What about in the Pop Up version of Sel de Mer? Sole or lobster? From other posts, it looks like it varies from ship to ship.

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rkacruiser

rkacruiser

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, Dunmore2 said:

What about in the Pop Up version of Sel de Mer? Sole or lobster? From other posts, it looks like it varies from ship to ship.

 

I have dined in the stand alone on Nieuw Statendam as well as at three pop-ups.  The Dover Sole have been perfect each time.  The experience does not vary from ship to ship.  How Chef Rudi's has been able to achieve this, I don't know.  But, the consistency of the cruise experience has been a hallmark of Holland America Line in years past.  With the growth of the fleet and the micro-management by the executives, that distinction for the Line has been lost.  Does Chef Rudi have some "management skills" that the Seattle executives lack?  

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rkacruiser

rkacruiser

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, Overhead Fred said:

 

Looks like you will need to make two reservations and report back to us!😁

 

Fred, if I cruise on HAL again, and the ship has the stand alone Sel de Mer, I may opt for Open Seating and make a couple or more visits to Sel De Mer in order to try other items on the menu.  While I prefer fixed seating, my most recent cruise (Eurodam, January, 2020) was Open Seating because I wanted to be able to dine with some friends who had such reservations.  That gave me the flexibility of trying some different combinations of dining venues.  The cruise started with a Pinnacle Grill dinner; a first for me.  It was an excellent dining experience (and I am usually not a PG fan).  

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Dunmore2

Dunmore2

Posted
Posted
21 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I have dined in the stand alone on Nieuw Statendam as well as at three pop-ups.  The Dover Sole have been perfect each time.  The experience does not vary from ship to ship.  How Chef Rudi's has been able to achieve this, I don't know.  But, the consistency of the cruise experience has been a hallmark of Holland America Line in years past.  With the growth of the fleet and the micro-management by the executives, that distinction for the Line has been lost.  Does Chef Rudi have some "management skills" that the Seattle executives lack?  

I’m happy you shared that information, sole it is! Thank you.

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Overhead Fred

Overhead Fred

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Fred, if I cruise on HAL again, and the ship has the stand alone Sel de Mer, I may opt for Open Seating and make a couple or more visits to Sel De Mer in order to try other items on the menu.  While I prefer fixed seating, my most recent cruise (Eurodam, January, 2020) was Open Seating because I wanted to be able to dine with some friends who had such reservations.  That gave me the flexibility of trying some different combinations of dining venues.  The cruise started with a Pinnacle Grill dinner; a first for me.  It was an excellent dining experience (and I am usually not a PG fan).  

 

Keep us posted on your cruise plans, it would be fun to cruise with you again!

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Overhead Fred

Overhead Fred

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Dunmore2 said:

I’m happy you shared that information, sole it is! Thank you.

 

You will be happy with the sole, I thought it was excellent!  I cannot recommend the lobster only because I am not a real lobster fan. Everything at Sel de Mer sounds good to me!

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fatcat04

fatcat04

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Overhead Fred said:

 

You will be happy with the sole, I thought it was excellent!  I cannot recommend the lobster only because I am not a real lobster fan. Everything at Sel de Mer sounds good to me!

Glad I am not the only one. I love sole, especially Sole Meuniere. I get it at least twice whenever we go to France or St Martin. Once is not enough. So much better than 95% of lobster we get here or on cruise ships. That 5% is in NE/Maritime Canada, fresh, heavily buttered on a roll baked by the angels. 

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kickboxrca

kickboxrca

Posted
Posted
15 hours ago, fatcat04 said:

Glad I am not the only one. I love sole, especially Sole Meuniere. I get it at least twice whenever we go to France or St Martin. Once is not enough. So much better than 95% of lobster we get here or on cruise ships. That 5% is in NE/Maritime Canada, fresh, heavily buttered on a roll baked by the angels. 

 

I was going to say leave the lobster for when you visit our amazing maritime provinces ... (and the scallops, too!) ...

 

My DH's favourite are the chocolate bombs at the Dutch Cafe.  My personal favourite are the made to order salads in the Lido (how sad?) - by the second day, the servers know exactly what I like and how I like it ... the other thing I absolutely love are the cold soups.  They didn't seem to have them on our last cruise (pre-covid) - hoping to see some soon!

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Florida_gal_50

Florida_gal_50

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, kickboxrca said:

 

I was going to say leave the lobster for when you visit our amazing maritime provinces ... (and the scallops, too!) ...

 

My DH's favourite are the chocolate bombs at the Dutch Cafe.  My personal favourite are the made to order salads in the Lido (how sad?) - by the second day, the servers know exactly what I like and how I like it ... the other thing I absolutely love are the cold soups.  They didn't seem to have them on our last cruise (pre-covid) - hoping to see some soon!

The lobster was outstanding on the koningsdam sel de mer stand alone.  It's not the usual that's on the ship and would stand up to anything on land.

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rkacruiser

rkacruiser

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, MAVIP said:

You ever tried 20% in a dutch pea soup? 🥵

 

OMG!   

 

20 hours ago, Overhead Fred said:

Everything at Sel de Mer sounds good to me!

 

That's been my dilemma.  Try something new or not?  

 

20 hours ago, Overhead Fred said:

 

Keep us posted on your cruise plans, it would be fun to cruise with you again!

 

Thanks!  Another cruise with your wife and you would be enjoyable.  Nothing on the radar so far, but, maybe a pipe dream, considering trying to pull together a family cruise (with a family that lives in Maryland and Alaska).  The children's ages (as well as my interest in "trying something different")  indicates a Disney cruise.  

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MAVIP

MAVIP

Posted
Posted
14 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

20 %? You mean 20 percent of the bowl?  In my younger years I might have.  Now my body fights back.

Please see #13 from  @SeeSun&Sea I forgot to quote his/her advise of 5-20% sambal in a dutch pea soup. I only know of dutch friends born and or lived in Indonesia for a long time, who could eat spoons full of sambal (and the hot kind...).

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DaveOKC

DaveOKC

Posted
Posted
17 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

The lobster was outstanding on the koningsdam sel de mer stand alone.  It's not the usual that's on the ship and would stand up to anything on land.

We found the same thing on the K in early April.  

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albingirl Great Review Rare

albingirl

Posted
Posted
On 7/8/2022 at 7:29 PM, rkacruiser said:

 

I have dined in the stand alone on Nieuw Statendam as well as at three pop-ups.  The Dover Sole have been perfect each time.  The experience does not vary from ship to ship.  How Chef Rudi's has been able to achieve this, I don't know.  But, the consistency of the cruise experience has been a hallmark of Holland America Line in years past.  With the growth of the fleet and the micro-management by the executives, that distinction for the Line has been lost.  Does Chef Rudi have some "management skills" that the Seattle executives lack?  

He's a really nice guy.  Met him this past winter.  Being nice may be an advantage since it's so rare these days.  Although, all the staff on HAL has been very nice in my opinion.

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Balliett

Balliett

Posted
Posted

Last week on the Nieuw Amsterdam the rack of lamb, and the baby back ribs equalled the best I've ever had. These were in the MDR.  Prove me wrong, but I say all the seafood comes on board frozen.  So that puts a limit on how wonderful.    If you want fresh seafood on a cruise, visit a restaurant on shore.

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