Dining courses?

[dritan]

Hi

Just a fun one really. From looking on the menus, there are separate Appetiser and Soup/Salad courses. (this is different from RCL where they are grouped together as one course. So what do YOU do when ordering? Do you order one or the other, or do you go for both?

Also at breakfast time in the MDR, do the waiters walk about with the muffins/croissants/pastries from time to time, or are these ordered up front? ( My only previous MDR experience of brekkie was on MSC where this occurred. Hubby insisted on lido only breakfast and lunch during my last cruise, but he ain't about this time:p

Oh and one last thing? Chilled soups????? And chilled fruit soups, at that?? This must be a cultural difference between the Brits and the Americans, as I've never seen this in any restaurants here. If I where to dip my toe in the water, which chilled soup should I look out for?

Ta

[soldham]

Ya - but you drink your beer room temperature don't you ;)

The HAL chilled soups are great - especially the fruit ones. The raspberry and the melon are my personal favourites but they all are quite impressive IMO.

[kazu]

Hi

Just a fun one really. From looking on the menus, there are separate Appetiser and Soup/Salad courses. (this is different from RCL where they are grouped together as one course. So what do YOU do when ordering? Do you order one or the other, or do you go for both?

Also at breakfast time in the MDR, do the waiters walk about with the muffins/croissants/pastries from time to time, or are these ordered up front? ( My only previous MDR experience of brekkie was on MSC where this occurred. Hubby insisted on lido only breakfast and lunch during my last cruise, but he ain't about this time:p

Oh and one last thing? Chilled soups????? And chilled fruit soups, at that?? This must be a cultural difference between the Brits and the Americans, as I've never seen this in any restaurants here. If I where to dip my toe in the water, which chilled soup should I look out for?

Ta

Ta, you can order both the soup and salad. it just depends - I either order from both or if I prefer another appetizer, will choose another selection. kind of depends upon what the table is doing.

and yes, the waiters still go around with all the croissants and things in the MDR - you can order them too if you want, but it is oh so nice to pick and choose.

Chilled soups - I really like some of them. they can be quite delectable. depends upon your taste buds and what you like. i would definitely try one. If you don't like it, no harm done - but go ahead with your salad, etc as well and that way the worst that can happen is you don't finish your soup.

Some are very rich and some are very clean tasting. Your waiter will gladly tell you if he recommends or not.

have a great cruise :)

[dritan]

Will look out for the melon one - perhaps try it in the lido first.

We are starting to move with the rest of the world regarding cold beer. Goodness, we're even starting to drink Guiness cold filtered!!!!!

[jtl513]

We don't see chilled fruit soups in restaurants that I frequent here either. ;) Occasionally a gazpacho or a cold borscht, but I don't ever recall seeing a cold fruit soup. I always thought it was a European thing. :)

[dritan]

We don't see chilled fruit soups in restaurants that I frequent here either. ;) Occasionally a gazpacho or a cold borscht, but I don't ever recall seeing a cold fruit soup. I always thought it was a European thing. :)

Ah - so it's a posh thing then:)

Seems I will have to replace my Jamie Oliver cookbook with a Gordon Ramsey one soon!!

[Krazy Kruizers]

usually within a few minutes of sitting down in the dining room for breakfast -- one of the waitstaff will come along with a pastry tray

my favorite chilled soup is the poached peach -- got started on the chilled souops on cunard

[sail7seas]

You can order as much as you wish from the dining room menu. It really is a lot of food but if you want appetizer, soup and salad, your steward will happily bring that to you. :)

The steward either wheels a cart around the dining room serving muffins, danish and pastries or passea a tray. He will visit each table and serve whatever you select.
;) Try the chocolate croissants... delicious. :)

[CtheW0rld]

chilled soups - excepting the traditional ones such as gazspacho, borscht and viccysoisse - are very passe. basically, they are cream with some fruit puree' - very fattening, too.

i sometimes order just appetizers, but ask they be brought as a course, when the tablemates have their courses served. kind of like tappas style dining. the servers have never batted an eye.

[Cruz'n Couple]

Chilled soups are always one of my MDR highlights. Don't think that Lido has chilled soups, or at least not that I have noticed.

My husband is counting down the days till he can have someone walk around with the pastries before he even orders his breakfast!!!

[tjcox9]

The chilled soups on the Statendam recently were more room temperature than chilled. So, perhaps you Brits would enjoy them on that ship!! ;) After ordering them on two different occasions, I just gave up on them.

We've also been known to order them for desert when no desert appeals. Makes sense since some of them are made with ice cream according to the ones we've seen made in the Culinary Center.

[SilvertoGold]

Chilled fruits soups. Yum!!!!!! My very favorite HAL food.

We like the following: Roasted Peach with Ginger, Raspberry, Strawberry with Green Peppercorn Cream, Blueberry, Marrionberry, Three Berry, Plum, Apricot with Snow Egg, Sour Cherry, Cranberry, Pumpkin, Pina Colada, Passionfruit/Guava, Coconut with Nutmeg, Banana.
Each ship makes a variation, some more fattening (more cream), others thinner and more fruity.

Never really liked the chilled vegetable soups: some were just way too salty.

[trvlcrzy]

I love the strawberry with peppercorn cream. I ordered another as dessert (I was in the anytime dining room, so other tables were still on the soup course!). At first my waiter thought I was joking as I was looking at the dessert menu... but I really wasn't inspired by anything on the dessert menu that night.

We had the cold coconut with nutmeg soup once on the Ryndam... WOW. It was divine. We ordered extras of that as well (mom, DH and me).

The gazpacho didn't thrill me. I expected it to have chunks of the ingredients in it, but it didn't. (I've had it somewhere on a cruise when it was chunky...hmmm, memory is failing me increasingly lately)

[Taxguy77]

Ya - but you drink your beer room temperature don't you ;)
The HAL chilled soups are great - especially the fruit ones. The raspberry and the melon are my personal favourites but they all are quite impressive IMO.

Bit their rooms are cooler. :rolleyes:
Gaspacho is the only cold soup I ever liked, and even in Spain much of it is mediocre. :(

[Nancyquilts]

I love the chilled fruit soups. You know what they say, "Life is short, eat dessert first".
As for the appetizers, salads and soups, I usually order a combination of two, if there are two I like. I've been known to order two appetizers if they sound great.;)

[matandbri]

Our first cruise the menu was listed Appetizer, Soup, Salad, Main Course and then the dessert menu. So even though they have changed it we usually order that way. Of course my DH often orders two of whatever he feels like ;) I haven't tried a chilled soup yet that I like.

[legalslave]

I love all of the soups on HAL! The cold soups are excellant, I seem to prefer the hot ones. I like to order appetizer, soup, salad, entree and dessert most of the time. There are times I like more than two of the appetizers. Then I will order one of each appetizer and leave out the salad. Eat whatever you will enjoy eating! It doesn't matter what anyone else does.

Diane

[c-cruise]

The portions are pretty small on the appetizer, soup and salad so I usually order all three or some combination equaling three. Love the chilled soups as well! Something we don't eat at home so almost always go for them when cruising.

Anybody else like the Watermelon Pie dessert? Never ordered it until our last HAL cruise and liked it so much that I had to have 2 :D

[Live4cruises]

I'm a big fan of HAL soups too, both hot and cold. One of my comments about the soups on Westerdam a few months ago was that the soups were served the correct temperature. Hot ones were HOT and cold ones were COLD. I know that's the luck of the draw and the kitchen. I generally order some combination of two appetizers/soups/salads, although that can vary from 1 to 3. :o
I'm pretty sure cold soups aren't available on the Lido; they would have to be in individual serving bowls in the chilled foods area, and no memory of that is coming to mind. But never fear about ordering something in the MDR that's an experiment for you - if you don't care for it, another serving of something more to your taste is merely a request away!