Kaiseki just won't do

[nolatravelgirl]

Interesting that Kaiseki can be such a different experience between the different ships. I only had one SS cruise that just wrapped over 4th of July but plenty of Seabourn. The lobster was the highlight but the steak was so thin that it was practically impossible to serve it medium rare. We were very disappointed with most of the food on board. 

 

[Rick Hawaii]

On the Moon and dined at Kaiseki. Unfortunately, it clearly didn’t meet our expectations. We’re from Hawaii and are use to a certain level of taste and preparation. With sushi, everything comes down to the preparation of the rice. At Kaiseki, the rice was close to a ball of dough. The quality of the fish was average at best and the Beef Ramen was tasteless. In comparison to Umi Uma on the old Crystal, Umi Uma was far, far superior!! Sorry, JMO.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

On 7/28/2023 at 11:47 AM, Rick Hawaii said:

We’re from Hawaii and are use to a certain level of taste and preparation.

 

Oahu has some of the best Japanese food in the world outside of Japan. Kaiseki was highly disappointing.

[mieu]

We dined a few times at Kaiseki while on Silver Moon. We really enjoy and appreciate well prepared Japanese food, but found the dishes poorly executed and the flavor profile hardly reminiscent of authentic Japanese cuisine. Very disappointing.

[markham]

If a vendor of anything touts their wares enthusiastically and yet delivers far less the consumer of those same wares has every right to be annoyed. Vendor sold A, consumer expected A, bought A and got B.

 

So cruise ship or otherwise, rules do apply, Silversea claims to be luxury, Kaiseki dinners are priced with a surcharge, and the menu’s contents and descriptions are a nonsense. As discriminating diners have explained.

 

No one needs be surprised. Simple as that.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

 

 

[mieu]

We do not expect high-end restaurant quality food when dining on a cruise ship. Rather, we hope to dine on thoughtfully conceived and well-executed food on a ship that promotes a luxury experience, such as Silversea. We’re very familiar with Japanese cuisine, and our experience is that a highly skilled and specialized chef is not requisite to prepare a tasty and authentic meal. We love Japanese cuisine, but found the food at Kaiseki curious and embarrassing.

[canderson]

I think I may have mentioned this a long time ago, but Kaiseki seems a very ill chosen name for these restaurants.  Kaiseki implies a very special style of Japanese cuisine, and these restaurants don't even begin to measure up to that.  If were to take one of these restaurants off a SS ship and drop it anywhere in Japan with the Kaiseki name, I'm not sure whether you'd be met with more anger or more laughing.

[pavementends]

Can't think why Tillie's comment would be objectionable. As far as I can tell there is not a required party line here.

 

My (original) post and my complaint is NOT that Kaiseki wasn't Japanese enough and not that it wasn't kaiseki. I was expecting an interesting asian-influenced dining experience that warranted a surcharge over the included restaurants- which, I might say, I found highly enjoyable. On my ship (Moon) and my cruise Kaiseki didn't deliver.

 

I will be back on Moon later this year and I am very much looking forward to the experience- although I don't expect to try a surcharge restaurant again.

[spinnaker2]

Last night we dined at Kaiseki.

 

It was not Seishin where we enjoyed terrific tempura vegetables!

 

The meal was not exceptional. Not worth the upcharge for this experience.

The tempura was weird. Some kind of fried something or other. Ugh.

 

The only thing that was very, very good was the chocolate dessert, and not remotely Japanese.

[drron29]

I agree that the evening meal in Kaiseki on the Dawn and Muse is not worth the upcharge and is a poor example of Japanese cuisine.

However on the Muse the Kaiseki evening meal is worth the upcharge being a Teppenyaki experience. certainly not the best we have had but usually we pay way more than $US 40 for a Teppenyaki meal featuring lobster, Waygu and fish.

Edited March 29 by drron29

[alexandria]

On 3/29/2024 at 9:19 AM, drron29 said:

I agree that the evening meal in Kaiseki on the Dawn and Muse is not worth the upcharge and is a poor example of Japanese cuisine.

However on the Muse the Kaiseki evening meal is worth the upcharge being a Teppenyaki experience. certainly not the best we have had but usually we pay way more than $US 40 for a Teppenyaki meal featuring lobster, Waygu and fish.

 

Did you mean to say Dawn and Moon?

 

We'll be on the Muse next week and trying to decide whether make a reservation at Kaiseki.  Is there any more recent feedback about Kaiseki on the Muse?

[RetiredandTravel]

We were underwhelmed with Kaiseki on the Muse in June and won't return on the Nova in December.  IMO the concept needs a complete refresh.  The appetizers weren't very good, more theatrics than substance  The lobster and cod were both very good but the Wagyu Beef (very overused term these days) was poor as was the signature ice cream.  The service was great. 

 

We had two excellent dinners at La Dame and will fork up the $160 each in December.

 

 

[LAL Cruiser]

Love it for Lunch, skip it for dinner.  I rather spend the upcharge at La Dame.

[alexandria]

Thanks for the feedback!

[PinonNoir]

We've recently eaten at Kaiseki on the Dawn both at lunch and at dinner.  I much preferred the lunch, and not because it's free at that point, but the menu options are more varied.  The Spicy Tuna Roll was particularly good!

 

The dinner was good, and I thought decent enough for the upcharge, but the lunch was the winner.  Just get there right when they open on your At Sea day and if you return at the right time from an excursion (like around 1400) and you'll be a happy camper!

[MBP&O2/O]

An interesting array of opinions. We have a Ray cruise coming up soon and I have booked a K on a day near the end of the cruise. I can then monitor the menu and decide accordingly. As SWMBO is not enthralled with the idea of Japanese food, cancellation once on board is an option. I like the idea of popping in for lunch. Good option.

[LAL Cruiser]

1 hour ago, MBP&O2/O said:

An interesting array of opinions. We have a Ray cruise coming up soon and I have booked a K on a day near the end of the cruise. I can then monitor the menu and decide accordingly. As SWMBO is not enthralled with the idea of Japanese food, cancellation once on board is an option. I like the idea of popping in for lunch. Good option.

 

Funny, on our recent Nova cruise, we took exactly the same approach; and we ended up cancelling our K dinner reservation to spend an additional evening at Silver Note instead (we got lucky, Silver Note is most difficult venue on the Nova/Ray for reservations - especially last minute.)  As mentioned, we enjoyed the sushi lunch at K two or three times during our 16 night voyage but decided to pass on dinner.

[tv24]

Frankly, I don't understand the upcharges on Silversea.  They can be huge, depending on the ship.  On our future Silver Ray cruise, we received an obscene amount of OBC.  I wonder if this is a weird way to make us feel special in booking an expensive upcharge restaurant, which would feel "free' with the huge OBC that is hard to spend on anything else.  Very weird.

[milepig]

having dined in Kyoto, the Silversea version doesn't come close.  Not worth the upcharge. 

[pavementends]

2 hours ago, milepig said:

having dined in Kyoto, the Silversea version doesn't come close.  Not worth the upcharge. 

 

When I made my complaint on board, they were at great pains to explain that this restaurant was not meant to be "Japanese". And I tried to explain that that was not my complaint. I am OK with using the name Kaiseki for some sort of Asian-influenced restaurant. My complaint was that even allowing for a flexibility of concept it was not "good enough" especially for an upcharge.

 

A few further comments. Yes, I have been to some very nice (and pricey) restaurants in Japan. I have been very happy with the food in all the other restaurants on board. And it appears (given comments above) that some ships have a teppan and a somewhat different dinner than the one that I had, so that my criticism of Kaiseki did not apply across the fleet.

[drron29]

Though as with all the SS restaurants the senior chef can make a big difference. On the Moon last year for 54 days. We tried Kaiseki one evening and I agree not worth the upcharge.

 

But later in the voyage another couple who we had met before boarding in Lisbon asked us if we wanted to fill in as a couple had cancelled their Kaiseki dinner with them that day. They were great company. The senior waitress who we knew really well told us we would notice the difference with the new chef. Indeed we did. although exactly the same menu we felt it well worth the upcharge.

[bohaiboy]

I totally agree that K won't do it.  We ate there twice on a recent 30-day cruise more from boredom than anything else.  The food never changes, AND, the smell of cod cooking drifted into the hallway where one had to pass to get to Atlantide and Indochine.  It was a disgusting smell.  The omakase we had on the moon a few years back was not too bad, but it has gone downhill.  The Sake was good tho.  The sushi available for the buffet in LT is made in Kaiseki, so there is no advantage to going there for the free lunch.  We are on the Muse starting this Thursday and have not booked K at all (nor LD0 for that matter.

[jgmc]

In Kaiseki on the Muse, they cook in front of you on the heated grills, thus the food is more authentic and delicious.  I will not eat in Kaiseki on any of the other ships that cook in the kitchen.

 

[milepig]

5 hours ago, jgmc said:

In Kaiseki on the Muse, they cook in front of you on the heated grills, thus the food is more authentic and delicious.  I will not eat in Kaiseki on any of the other ships that cook in the kitchen.

 

This is true, but they lack any of the flair, all pretty perfunctory,

[KeepCalmBearOn]

5 hours ago, jgmc said:

In Kaiseki on the Muse, they cook in front of you on the heated grills, thus the food is more authentic and delicious.

 

Teppanyaki is and is not "authentic" Japanese food. Teppanyaki started immediately post WWII and it featured mostly Western foods like beef, which was not common in Japan at that time. The first teppan restaurant was Misono in Kobe and the reasons were practical. The city of Kobe was largely in ruins and Shigeji Fujioka, the owner of Misono, could seat the guests around the grill, take their orders and cook. It required less space and fewer people.

 

Fujioka discovered that while Japanese people weren't overly impressed with his cooking, Westerners were. The more he cooked with flair, the more popular Misono became with tourists and Westerners. 80 years later you can still eat teppanyaki at Misono in Kobe only now it is on the 7th and 8th floors of a glass office building, owned by Misono, and they have 4 other restaurants.

 

Rocky Aoki was born in Japan but came to the U.S. to go to college on a wrestling scholarship. He knew of the teppanyaki concept and opened a four table teppanyaki restaurant in NYC he named Benihana. He struggled at first, but I think we all know the rest of the story with dozens of Benihana restaurants all over the U.S., Canada and other countries.

 

So back to my original statement, teppanyaki is and is not "authentic" Japanese food. Yes it originated in Japan, but it isn't a food with centuries of tradition in Japan like noodles in Japan and China.