What to do with Restaurant 2

Rumor has it that Restaurant 2 is changing theme. What would you like to see in it's place? Keep in mind that re-looking is not an option. Also keep in mind that they already do Italian and steak house in the Colonnade.

Personally, I would enjoy an Asian themed dining option. One similar to the MayaBay in Monte Carlo, one side serves Japanese while the other has a Thai menu. Of course this would be too much for such a small space, but perhaps they can create one outstanding menu from each theme and rotate evenings.

Does anyone out there support this idea or have any suggestions of your own?

One of the ideas that Seabourn is supposedly working on is to turn the restaurant over to guest chefs for 3-4 months at a time. At first that sounded like a good idea, but giving it more thought, amongst all the chefs I know personally, they could never break away from their commitments on land for such a long time.

Anything but a steak house or Italian. It seems every ship does those. That's what I liked about Restaurant 2. It may not have been to everyone's taste but at least SB tried something different.

Rumor has it that Restaurant 2 is changing theme. What would you like to see in it's place? Keep in mind that re-looking is not an option. Also keep in mind that they already do Italian and steak house in the Colonnade.

 

Personally, I would enjoy an Asian themed dining option. One similar to the MayaBay in Monte Carlo, one side serves Japanese while the other has a Thai menu. Of course this would be too much for such a small space, but perhaps they can create one outstanding menu from each theme and rotate evenings.

 

Does anyone out there support this idea or have any suggestions of your own?

 

One of the ideas that Seabourn is supposedly working on is to turn the restaurant over to guest chefs for 3-4 months at a time. At first that sounded like a good idea, but giving it more thought, amongst all the chefs I know personally, they could never break away from their commitments on land for such a long time.

We have had this subject and smothered it to death before if anyone has the time to search for the thread.

I think the only cuisine that was not suggested was Eritrean or a bagel bar

Anything but a steak house or Italian. It seems every ship does those. That's what I liked about Restaurant 2. It may not have been to everyone's taste but at least SB tried something different.

Agree.

Anything but a steak house or Italian.

Soup Kitchen ?

I love restaurant 2 the way it is, eclectic tapas style and different Theme restaurants get boring and are what the mass market ships offer.

I love restaurant 2 the way it is, eclectic tapas style and different Theme restaurants get boring and are what the mass market ships offer.

I agree, and, as it books out quickly, others must also.

It "seems" to book out but rarely is it full. Seems to have a lot of no shows or late changes.

I agree with Les Picantins' suggestion: ASIAN

The existing R2 recipes are boring and bland. The character of the new R2 should be driven by strong and authentic flavors of the East. If that's too much spice for some, fine with me.

Asian foods to Westerners can be an acquired taste while many of Seabourn's sophisticated and well traveled passengers have already developed a passion for authentic Asian food.

Happy sailing!

We were on 83 days of World Cruise 2014 and so many nights Restaurant 2 was booked for "private parties" where passengers could invite their friends, get a choice of menus, and not be charged anything extra. My husband and I wanted to go for our anniversary but it was booked. If Seabourn wants to let passengers have private parties, they should have a party room.

I agree with Les Picantins' suggestion: ASIAN

 

The existing R2 recipes are boring and bland. The character of the new R2 should be driven by strong and authentic flavors of the East. If that's too much spice for some, fine with me.

 

Asian foods to Westerners can be an acquired taste while many of Seabourn's sophisticated and well traveled passengers have already developed a passion for authentic Asian food.

 

Happy sailing!

plus 1!

I can already see the posts in a new thread should Restaurant 2 become an Asian one.

"Where's my chow mein?"

"The tempura is not as good as in Tokyo."

"The sushi is not as fresh as it should be."

"There wan't enough spice in my beef broccoli."

"There was too much spice in my beef broccoli."

"Why no Indian food in an Asian restaurant?"

"Who wants Indian food in an Asian restaurant?

"There weren't enough Thai choices."

"Too much Thai food and not enough Japanese."

"Too much Japanese and not enough Korean."

"No fortune cookies."

"Fortune cookies??? Are you kidding me?

Feel free to predict your own.

Whatever it becomes, I hope that it is well done. I guess that we should survey the recipes from corporate to obtain some understanding of what is possible.

I think...but may not be correct...that R2 was to be a tasting sort of menu. I would even appreciate a true tasting menu [not 3 soups on one dish] of impressive measure. Pan Asian, nifty.....Italian always appreciated and little of that cuisine on the MDR,...others seem to adore steakhouse cuisine despite beef being readily available.

Don't worry Wripro, Seabourn will probably go ahead with their idea that was explained to me on my last trip. I would just personally prefer asian but that's not the plan.

I'm actually a bit concerned about their idea of turning Restaurant 2 over to guest chefs for 3-4 months at a time. From a professional point of view, I can't imagine any worthwhile chef being able to break away from his or her commitments on land for that long of a period.

Now if they decided to modify this idea, it could work. How? Here's how... There are professional networks of chefs such as Euro Toques or The James Beard Foundation. Personally I believe Euro Toques to be more credible as the criteria to be a member is much more strict. Should Seabourn associate themselves with one of these networks, create a fabulous menu in tandem that is to be followed permanently, then invite different chefs from this network for shorter periods of time who will then offer some of their signature dishes. This could also be very beneficial to their cuisine team as they would have the opportunity to work (and learn) side by side with some outstanding professionals.

How about a food truck? Seems like a good fit as a) they are used to moving around and b) they are used to cooking in confined spaces.:D

Could always hermetically seal it all and make into smokers' corner...

Brilliant idea--- then the chef could also use it to cure his own meat. Who needs applewood smoked bacon when you can have Benson and Hedges Bacon instead.

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"Guest chefs/professional networks of chefs" sounds like a euphemism for "surcharge dining." I hope I'm wrong.

We dined twice in R2 on our recent Quest trip and the "tasting" concept made a pleasant change even though that style of slightly theatrical (pretentious?) dining isn't usually our thing. We also noted that while R2 was supposed to be "fully booked" it was half empty most nights.

Making it a generic "Asian" restaurant wouldn't necessarily be an improvement. Define "Asian" for a start.

We dined twice in R2 on our recent Quest trip and the "tasting" concept made a pleasant change even though that style of slightly theatrical (pretentious?) dining isn't usually our thing. We also noted that while R2 was supposed to be "fully booked" it was half empty most nights.

I am not sure if the same applies on the bigger ships, but there were always empty tables in the "fully booked" R2 on our recent Legend cruise. We were told this is because they restrict themselves to preparing a certain number of meals (I think it was 30 - 40) and had nothing to do with tables available.

I love restaurant 2 the way it is, eclectic tapas style and different Theme restaurants get boring and are what the mass market ships offer.

The term "eclectic tapas" is a great description, but we agree the dishes are a tad overdone and may be intimidating to some guests because they don't want to admit they have no idea what they're eating. Does anyone think it would work to have tapas that you can recognize - and choose yourself instead of a fixed menu? As with tapas, you could pick what you want and try everything that appeals (and by "tapas" we don't mean just Spanish dishes). Do keep the adventure making dishes from around the world, but back off the mystery of which dish is what.

Grumpy Wombat's point is a good one. Vietnamese (gets my vote), Thai, Malay, Chinese (with its own variants), Indian, Nepalese etc. Anyone who thinks that "Asian" is all of these is way off track. You either do one well, or not pretend it's something it's not.

Ha ha, we were told in sometimes excruciating detail what every molecule of food on the plate was made from, how, with what, etc. I know it's all part of the "theatre" but we found it a bit precious sometimes. The food tasted great, let that speak for itself?

We've dined at the Nobu Japanese restaurant on Crystal and while we enjoyed it I have to admit it lacked the Wow factor but that may be because East Asian isnt our favourite cuisine given a choice. Give me a good Indian or Italian any day. I think because it's impossible to cater to all tastes the current R2 approach is probably the best one to keep most customers happy.

The sad fact is most people just want what they are familiar with. Hence so many Italian restaurants and steak houses on ships. Yes, R2 may be a tad theatrical but they tried something different and I applaud them for that. Plus I think most of the food was very good.

The sad fact is most people just want what they are familiar with. Hence so many Italian restaurants and steak houses on ships. Yes, R2 may be a tad theatrical but they tried something different and I applaud them for that. Plus I think most of the food was very good.

wripro - you may be right about most people, but they are provided for in the dining room and the colonnade. I have to agree with those who are suggesting Asian (which encompasses quite a lot of differing cuisines) food for restaurant 2, with 3 or 4 different menus in rotation, perhaps? Thai, Indian, Malaysian etc. etc.