Requesting the chef prepare a special dish.

[wingit]

A couple of weeks ago on the Westerdam my husband and I met the Executive Chef, Andreas. He is Austrian. We got to talking German cuisine and he offered to make me a special German dish. All I need do is put in the request, giving him one day's notice, and he would have it made for me.

So, that's what I did. What he had suggested for me was Spatzle with Cheeses. It was really delicious and a fun treat to have a dish prepared especially for me.

The next day I sent him a thank you note and our compliments to him and his staff (cc to his superior).

I'm sure others on this board have had similar experiences, but this was a first for me and thought it might be of interest.

[jhannah]

What a nice gesture by the chef. He offered. I think that's different from a passenger making aa request. I don't think I personally would ask for a special dish. Their plates are quite full as it is (pun intended) so I wouldn't want to add to their workload. And if more of us started doing it, it could get out of hand quickly.

[wingit]

Originally Posted by jhannah

What a nice gesture by the chef. He offered. I think that's different from a passenger making aa request. I don't think I personally would ask for a special dish. Their plates are quite full as it is (pun intended) so I wouldn't want to add to their workload. And if more of us started doing it, it could get out of hand quickly.

I agree. I doubt I would have made a request if he hadn't so graciously offered. I think even with one day's notice it sort of throws a bit of a monkey wrench into the system.

[willowoodf]

On one of our last cruises we were talking to assistant dining room manager when he stopped by at our table and we asked if there was going to be watermelon pie offered as a dessert on the cruise. He hadn't heard about it but asked us detailed questions on how it was made. The next night, our table had a special dessert just for us, watermelon pie! What a wonderful surprise! He said there was enough left we could have it the next night if we wanted, which we did! His name is Sebastian and he was wonderful.

Mary

[willowoodf]

Here is a pic of the most wonderful watermelon pie.

[IRL_Joanie]

Originally Posted by wingit

A couple of weeks ago on the Westerdam my husband and I met the Executive Chef, Andreas. He is Austrian. We got to talking German cuisine and he offered to make me a special German dish. All I need do is put in the request, giving him one day's notice, and he would have it made for me.

So, that's what I did. What he had suggested for me was Spatzle with Cheeses. It was really delicious and a fun treat to have a dish prepared especially for me.

The next day I sent him a thank you note and our compliments to him and his staff (cc to his superior).

I'm sure others on this board have had similar experiences, but this was a first for me and thought it might be of interest.

Isn't Chef Andreas a sweetheart!! I loved him!!
100_1361.jpg

Joanie

[trophy_23]

At one of the cooking demos we attended a guest asked if the chef could prepare gluten free crab cakes and she was told absolutely, with minimum 1 days notice. I can imagine that would throw a wrench in the plans, though as I would assume most of those things are made in large quantities?

[Jade13]

Originally Posted by wingit

A couple of weeks ago on the Westerdam my husband and I met the Executive Chef, Andreas. He is Austrian. We got to talking German cuisine and he offered to make me a special German dish. All I need do is put in the request, giving him one day's notice, and he would have it made for me.

So, that's what I did. What he had suggested for me was Spatzle with Cheeses. It was really delicious and a fun treat to have a dish prepared especially for me.

The next day I sent him a thank you note and our compliments to him and his staff (cc to his superior).

I'm sure others on this board have had similar experiences, but this was a first for me and thought it might be of interest.

Oh wow, Chef Andreas is still on Westerdam. We really liked him. Westerdam was one of our best HAL cruise experiences (2007).

There was a group keeping "Kosher", so basically only do vegetarian while cruising. They had a rough start because there was one menu for their 20 night cruise and they were told they had to order 24 hours in advance (they didn't know one night what they wanted to eat the next night). They never had this problem with Princess so met with Chef Andreas. After that he made new Veggie Menus and everything worked out the rest of the cruise. Months later someone posted here they were a Vegetarian and impressed with the menus on Westerdam. So that was all due to Chef Andreas revamping the Veggie offerings.

[chrismch]

Gluten free menus are available. I learned this from someone who sailed with us on our last HAL cruise. She was given the menu a day in advance to decide what she wanted.
I haven't made a special order on HAL but I have on Celebrity. I asked for an entree that was on the menu a few days back as I enjoyed it so much. It wasn't on the next day's menu but they made it for me and also did an order of creamed spinich for our table. That's what a maitre d' does. Although making a recipe you brought aboard might be a bit of a stretch. I've only heard of that happening on Crystal.

[woody14h]

2 years ago on the Volendam, I had commented to the Asst Maitre'D that HAL did not have a sushi selection as Celebrity does. The next night there was a plate of sushi delivered to the table. It wasn't great but it was a great effort. Just HAL trying hard to please. We're on the Westerdam next week and maybe there might be some sushi for a different appetizer. It is very difficult to decide between HAL and X so were use destinations and time slots as criteria.

[realnurse2]

The wine steward always seemed to stop and chat at our table- must have been our shining faces Since he was Phillipino we got talking about various dishes we enjoyed, one of them being Pansit. He said there was no problem since the cooks were mostly also from the Phillipines and they made this dish for the Phillipino crew. With a days notice I had my Pansit and it was terrific. Always willing to please!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Originally Posted by willowoodf

Here is a pic of the most wonderful watermelon pie.

Watermelon pie not on our last cruises.

[sevenseasnomad]

Originally Posted by chrismch

Gluten free menus are available. I learned this from someone who sailed with us on our last HAL cruise. She was given the menu a day in advance to decide what she wanted.

I have a severe gastrointestinal reaction to mushrooms. My TA notifies the line at the time of booking. Every cruise line I've ever sailed with has given me the next night's menu so I can choose. If I happen to want a dish normally prepared with mushrooms, the chef leaves the mushrooms or mushroom sauce out and replaces it with other ingredients that compliment the flavor. I have always appreciated this extra service.

[realnurse2]

I have a severe allergy to nuts and Hal has always tried to accomodate me. I usually pick my dinner from the next days menu before I leave the dining room in the evening. Then my food is prepared seperately to avoid contamination. However if you are in my situation you can get a little paranoid because I sometimes think something gets lost in the translation. Like the time I asked for a piece of dessert without nuts and the waiter or someone just cut the nuts off the side and served it. Luckily I didn't eat it !