Finest Cuisine at Sea

[mauibabes]

OK, 

I will throw out a few random likes.

Jacques, Dover Sole, Sea Bass in Puff Pastry for 2 (takes 30 minutes plus’s to cook)

crepes and the Pumpkin Soup.

Toscana, Bread basket and Olive Oil and Balsamic trolly, Lasagne, an Italian Chef and their nightly Specials and many others that have been mentioned. 

Polo, Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail, always order beef dishes Medium Rare unless you like Rare, ask for the various sauces for the steaks

 GDR, Jacques Chicken when we need a break from the rich meals.

Ember, had several excellent meals, definitely go for the Chocolate Brownie.

 

Deserts, just keep ordering Quartets and Quintets or anything else to find what you enjoy. 
 

Enjoy,

Mauibabes

 

[PrivateIdaho]

Evening pizza and burratta at Waves Grill on Vista. Scallops, lobster Mac & cheese and Thai rib appetizer at Ember.

[Harters]

14 hours ago, Techno123 said:

In the UK (and I assume other countries) we produce rose veal

I deffo wouldnt make that assumption.  Whilst the awful "veal crates" were banned in the European Union in 2007, veal is still generally factory farmed there, to produce "white veal" rather than the more natural way we have in the UK to produce rose veal. 

[Techno123]

@Harters - I was trying to be kind about our friends on the other side of the Chunnel 😜😜). Also t don't want to make out that the UK has unblemished animal welfare. There are still some areas (like battery farmed chickens) which we cannot be proud of 😢

[Mrose11]

Just came off the Sirena

our favorites 

The sea bass in Red Ginger

The dover sole in Tuscan 

in the GDR I had a great vegetable lasagna and my husband enjoyed the sirloin

it would be nice if they had at least one special in the speciality restaurants occasionally 

Since the menu never changes in those venues 

[tigerfan75]

My faves…

Toscana:  Parmesan appetizer from the cheese wheel, Chef’s Special, Lasagne

Polo:  Always the Filet Minon, Onion Rings

Terrace Cafe:  Lamb lollipops, Humphrey Slocombe ice cream

Red Ginger:  Vegetable Tempura

[Kay S]

Okay, Lamb Lollipops going on my to-eat list.  This thread is so helpful for us newbies!

[machotspur]

On 5/4/2024 at 7:04 PM, Harters said:

The beef rendang was actively unpleasant and we complained about it to the restaurant manager. He said it was prepared and spiced exactly as it should be. Utter bollocks!

 

Well done to the OP for starting this thread - we are relative newbies with Oceania having taken just 2 cruises (Usually Silversea/Seabourn/Regent) but have just booked another O cruise on Regatta.

 

And Harters - it is excellent to encounter a phrase that I certainly understand (see above in bold) although those in the historically colonial lands may need some translation 😉

[Techno123]

18 minutes ago, Kay S said:

Okay, Lamb Lollipops going on my to-eat list.  This thread is so helpful for us newbies!

I just thought it would be a useful thread as people post in all sorts of places but I know to come back here before we go and @machotspur glad you are finding it useful and not utter bollocks 😂😂😂

Edited May 5 by Techno123

[clo]

On 5/4/2024 at 11:04 AM, Harters said:

The beef rendang was actively unpleasant and we complained about it to the restaurant manager. He said it was prepared and spiced exactly as it should be.

This isn't a dish I'm familiar with. What made it "actively unpleasant" compared to others of that dish you've had. I'm surprised the restaurant manager didn't offer to remove the dish and bring you something else.

 

[clo]

22 hours ago, Aloha 1 said:

Sadly, I've too many steaks overcooked/undercooked in our 10 O cruises on Riviera and Marina. No excuse for that.

Can't think of our EVER ordering a steak in a restaurant. But if we did and it was undercooked I'd just ask them to throw it on the grill for another one or two minutes.

[Harters]

2 hours ago, clo said:

What made it "actively unpleasant" compared to others of that dish you've had.

Much of the meat was very sinewy - inedible in large part. It should be fork tender. And there was an almost total lack of spicing with minimal use of lemongrass, chilli, galangal, coriander, etc. There was just a sweetness from coconut milk. 

[WESTEAST]

36 minutes ago, Harters said:

Much of the meat was very sinewy - inedible in large part. It should be fork tender. And there was an almost total lack of spicing with minimal use of lemongrass, chilli, galangal, coriander, etc. There was just a sweetness from coconut milk. 

Usually the Maitre d' or your waiter will pass by to inquire if your meal is to your liking and if they didn't and the manager you spoke to you did not offer a substitute meal, we would have definitely requested an alternative as this was inedible.  We have observed this happening and another meal was provided but do realize by the time it would arrive your partner's meal would have been eaten. 

[clo]

51 minutes ago, Harters said:

Much of the meat was very sinewy - inedible in large part. It should be fork tender. And there was an almost total lack of spicing with minimal use of lemongrass, chilli, galangal, coriander, etc. There was just a sweetness from coconut milk. 

Well, that's too bad. Maybe they were cooking for the nonos 🙂 And he didn't even offer to get you something else.

[Robb]

We eat about any thing........I have never had a dish on O that I did not enjoy, to a certain extent.  Never had anything that I thought worthy of sending back.  I always order my meats (steak and lamb) medium rare, always done to my taste.  Another option for those of you who like 'spicy' Asian dishes you should ask for some Sambal.  They will even get it for you at the buffet.  

 

The dish that I HAVE had some trouble getting to my likes is Eggs Benedict........I want a nice soft runny egg.  This is on all cruise lines we have traveled with, not just O.

 

I have enjoyed reading all the posts.   😊   Looking forward to some good eats on our B2B in September.

 

[FetaCheese]

Toscana 

1st O cruise 2016

Parmigiano Reggiano Wheel.  Still as fine a 

quality all these years later.

 

Question for pax on Sirena.  Is it available in Tuscan Steak ?

[Harters]

9 hours ago, WESTEAST said:

but do realize by the time it would arrive your partner's meal would have been eaten. 

Exactly. We want to have dinner together, so it's very rare that we'd send a dish back, preferring to eat what we can of a dish in  such circumstances. Last time was about four years back in Spain when I was simply served the wrong dish. The server also took my partner's dish away to be remade - as he said "you want to have dinner together". 

 

In this case, the manager didnt come to our table to ask how things had been until we'd finished with the main course and were considering dessert. And, in fact, my partner only mentioned the problem to him, not such much as a complaint, but so he could alert the kitchen that they may have a quality issue with the meat. 

[pinotlover]

4 hours ago, Harters said:

Exactly. We want to have dinner together, so it's very rare that we'd send a dish back, preferring to eat what we can of a dish in  such circumstances. Last time was about four years back in Spain when I was simply served the wrong dish. The server also took my partner's dish away to be remade - as he said "you want to have dinner together". 

 

In this case, the manager didnt come to our table to ask how things had been until we'd finished with the main course and were considering dessert. And, in fact, my partner only mentioned the problem to him, not such much as a complaint, but so he could alert the kitchen that they may have a quality issue with the meat. 

1. The dish was obviously prepared for the NoNos.

 

2. The onboard chefs have zero control over the quality of meat and other products they serve. Miami alone makes those purchases either by current availability and/or budgetary considerations. The chefs cook what Miami sends them. The next resupply is almost certainly already sitting on the dock awaiting the ship; and the resupply after that is already purchased and enroute. All that sinewy  meat isn’t going to be ground up for hamburger. It will be cooked the best they can. 
 

3. The NoNos have won the day. Adding samba, tobasco, and other additions to a meal results in entirely different flavors and tastes than having a dish prepared with the proper herbs and spices the dish calls for. If a dish needs a bit of herbs de Provence, thyme, curry, oregano to enhance the flavors, or add more authenticity , it should be done during cooking. Having the NoNos continue to say “ Just add tobasco, I want mine bland”, doesn’t solve the issue.

Edited May 6 by pinotlover

[Harters]

39 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

Adding samba, tobasco, and other additions to a meal results in entirely different flavors and tastes than having a dish prepared with the proper herbs and spices the dish calls for.

Absolutely, pinot.

 

And, in many cases, you cannot add the spices when the dish has been plated and is front of you. You taste and realise that coriander is lacking. You cannot say "please take this away and put more coriander in" as that would be a spice that should have been added at the beginning of the cooking process.

 

From time to time, I go to, say, a South Asian restaurant and am asked how spicy I want the dish. In such circumstances, "spicy" always means chilli heat and never the range of other spices that will be in the dish. The server may  ask if I want it mild, medium or spicy. Of course, if I've not been to that restaurant before (or even if I have but havent eaten that dish), then how can I know what they regard as mild/medium/spicy. My stock answer is to say I'd like it prepared as the chef would prefer to prepare it (or how s/he would prefer to eat it). 

 

I remember once being in a Thai restaurant near home and was asked the "mild/medium/spicy" question. I replied "spicy". Server asked if I wanted "Thai spicy or English spicy". Thankfully, I replied English as the dish came right at the upper end of my chilli tolerance 

[clo]

3 hours ago, pinotlover said:

3. The NoNos have won the day. Adding samba, tobasco, and other additions to a meal results in entirely different flavors and tastes than having a dish prepared with the proper herbs and spices the dish calls for. If a dish needs a bit of herbs de Provence, thyme, curry, oregano to enhance the flavors, or add more authenticity , it should be done during cooking. Having the NoNos continue to say “ Just add tobasco, I want mine bland”, doesn’t solve the issue.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[Vineyard View]

I am reading a lot about the lack of spices….control from Miami…..no opportunities to choose local produce/proteins from local ports…..pretty disappointing to read.  
Where/on whom, do you recommend that people look to sail to avoid the No no’s?  I am not being snarky, but honestly curious. 

[Harters]

6 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

Where/on whom, do you recommend that people look to sail to avoid the No no’s?

I suspect the answer is pretty much "nowhere". I'd regard it as pretty much guaranteed that any mass catering operation (land or sea based) is going to dumb down to offer food that is acceptable to the widest group of people.

 

To a significant extent, I sail with O because it generally offers decent food and we can gave a nice dinner together every night of our holiday. But I don't expect it to be as good as the neighbourhood restaurants I regularly go to at home. 

[Bob from Florida]

An additional consideration.  O offers small culinary classes for a reasonable price where some of the dishes offered in the specialty restaurants (i.e. Ginger and Toscana) are demonstrated and recipes are provided.  You will have the opportunity to recreate the offerings during the class.  For a non-cook, I was personally interested in creating a dish that I would (the next day) compare at the actual restaurant. I came somewhat close.  

[Yesimapirate]

8 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

I am reading a lot about the lack of spices….control from Miami…..no opportunities to choose local produce/proteins from local ports…..pretty disappointing to read.  
Where/on whom, do you recommend that people look to sail to avoid the No no’s?  I am not being snarky, but honestly curious. 

Take it with a grain of salt ( I assure they use salt in their dishes).  You're reading a very small sampling of people who like to be heard and may have unreasonable expectations.   When you read comments like "that tasted nothing like what it's supposed to and I knoe because I live in a town with lots of ethnic restaurants", I'd suggest you immediately disqualify the comment.   Similarly,  when someone says something is the best thing they've ever eaten.  The truth is it's going to be somewhere in between.   

 

A ship is serving thousands of meals a day, in relatively small kitchens, while moving.  Many of the ports are places that aren't visited by NCLH vessels more than occasionally.   On top of that, there are massive supply chain issues to get that many ingredients to one port in a short time frame.  Add in the different regulations and the fact that they're a public company and must have some sort of budget for food and it really isn't reasonable to expect farm to table, local meals from every port.  

 

If you're looking for fine dining or authentic food with a menu that changes daily, maybe that local ethnic restaurant is more appropriate.   While you can debate whether it's the best cuisine at sea, they never claim to be the best meal youve ever eaten.   I wouldn't stress.   It's vacation.   Relax, have reasonable expectations and enjoy.  And if you decide it's not for you,  based on your own experiences, try a different line until you find one that makes you happy.   

 

 

[PrivateIdaho]

While the food can be quite good, cruise food, is still cooking for the masses. Is it the finest cuisine at sea? I think Explora Journeys is a step ahead.