Gluten-Free Dining possible in Tamarind?

[floridanative1]

Has anyone on a gluten-free diet eaten at the Tamarind? I would love to try it if they can make the accommodations? I usually eat every meal at the MDR when it is possible because of my need for gluten-free diets, but I love Asian meals. :)

[sail7seas]

You could try but I'm imagining the menu and seeing lots of 'traps'.
You would have to try to speak with Chef.

[Jemima]

The Tamarind is located away from other kitchen areas and appears to have a smallish food preparation area.

[Boytjie]

The Tamarind is located away from other kitchen areas and appears to have a smallish food preparation area.

Tamarind has a separate kitchen (as does Pinnacle):

http://inlinethumb45.webshots.com/48684/2876360610102790654S500x500Q85.jpg (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2876360610102790654NDvqAo)

Taken on the Eurodam.

[goodroe]

My DH is on a gluten-free diet and we've found that the noodles and soy sauce onboard are problematic. We bring a small bottle of gluten-free soy
sauce with us. You might check to see if they use rice noodles. Unfortunately, this is why we usually eat dinner in the MDR.

[Arwen]

Has anyone on a gluten-free diet eaten at the Tamarind? I would love to try it if they can make the accommodations? I usually eat every meal at the MDR when it is possible because of my need for gluten-free diets, but I love Asian meals. :)

I have eaten in the Tamarind. I showed up the night before to find out if they could accommodate me. I was told, yes.

I had a wonderful meal, including some sort of "rice chips" that were sooo good. The fact that they could not use soy sauce made my meal slightly boring, but the taste was good as well as the presentation.

Two nights later we had dinner there again. This time, the chips looked quite different and tasted different.

Fortunately, I did not get ill the first time. The second time, the chips were much thinner and lacked that "wow" taste :(

So, it is a toss of the dice. The Tamarind should be able to do this, so a thorough going over the menu the night before should include going over what you will order, what ingredients are in it, etc. I did not do this. I just said I needed a gluten free meal and left it up to them. It is a good idea to bring your own gf soy sauce to give to the chef as you will have more to choose from.

And by the way, the MDR is not 100% safe either. On more than a couple of occasions I was given the right order, wrong plate. I always ask when I see my food covered with any kind of a brown sauce. Brown generally means there is wheat and/or soy sauce in it. Those few times, my waiter apologized profusely and quickly removed the food.

[floridanative1]

Thank you everyone for your posts. I have had 7 or 8 cruises with fixed dining, and so far I've had great luck in the MDR. I always check and when unsure wait for confirmation. The only problems with the wrong food coming out is during lunch time when I have an unknown waiter, but so far I have caught it myself except one time.

I know about soy sauce and have the gluten-free kind at home. My biggest difficulty is with modified food starch. At home, I never buy anything with it because the suppliers don't have to indicate if part of the starch is wheat starch.

I was diagnosed Celiac in 2003, and every year the labeling has gotten better. Chain restaurants, big name tourist restaurants (theme parks, etc) have gotten so much better about being able to let me know what I can order and what they can do for me.

I was planning to talk to the chef, but still debating making reservations at the Tamarind before boarding the ship.

Again, Thank you very much!

[sail7seas]

Tamarind has a separate kitchen (as does Pinnacle):

http://inlinethumb45.webshots.com/48684/2876360610102790654S500x500Q85.jpg (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2876360610102790654NDvqAo)

Taken on the Eurodam.

[B] Pinnacle does not have its own galley on the "S" ships. They share with Main Dining Room. Vista and Signature ships have their own galley.

[Boytjie]

[b] Pinnacle does not have its own galley on the "S" ships. They share with Main Dining Room. Vista and Signature ships have their own galley.

Thanks for the corrections; I have not had a behind the scenes tour on those ships and assumed... I no, never do that :)