Tandoor (and Indian food in general) on the Carnival Magic

It's a little frustrating sometimes trying to get a feel for how things will be when you encounter so many contradictory perspectives. One thing I keep in mind is that someone who's looking for a thick, juicy steak isn't going to be happy with the same things as an avowed vegan, vegetarian or pescatarian. It took a few hours of reading past threads to finally stumble on any significant discussion of the food at Tandoor. It's a relatively unique cuisine that is still is not as universally favored as, say, Italian is, and so the fact that we like it means we're not going to get a good feel for how much we'll like our food choices aboard the Magic from a casual reading of reviews... we'll have to dig deeper.

 

As I understand it, though, it's lunch only - correct? I know there is always an Indian vegetarian dish on the menu in MDR, but are there other Indian vegetarian or seafood options we're likely to find at the buffet for dinner?

By far the most ethnic, flavorful and best food on the ship, we absolutely loved it! Ate it everyday we were on the ship and in one port it stayed open a little later as everyone came back from port and we were able to grab a late lunch that day. It is only open during lunch time (opens either at 11:00 or 11:30, cant remember and closes I think at 2:30) but would love if it stayed open later (at least until 6:00 like Guys).

 

Many people do not have the palate or the interest to try a more ethnic food/dish for whatever reasons and that makes for less reviews/opinions when it comes to the Tandoor. We have traveled all over the world and have had the opportunity to try foods in many cultures, Indian is one of our favorites and Tandoor is outstanding.

 

There is a nightly Indian/vegetarian dish on the main menu in the MDR I believe. It is good but not quite as good as Tandoor.

You can go to zydecocruisers website and he has all the menus, so you can get a feel for what you are in for.

 

But yes there is always at least one seafood dish in the MDR and plenty of options on the buffet. One thing I like about the American Table menu is that it has an ethnic dish from each of the ports you stop at.

 

I've heard that you can request an Indian dish in the MDR each night (non vegetarian) but that's depending on the crew.

 

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Spendor cruise March 12-19th. Great ship, great spa and great food.

The Tandoor especially was excellent. Never a line, everyone else munching on burgers!!

I wish every Carnival ship had the Tandoor. Just amazing, delicious food. We had it every day!

:):)

Mongolian Wok, BBQ pit also very very good.

Who needs Guys Burgers when you the Tandoor! Way Better food.

The Indian Veg dinner in the MDR is as good or better than any Indian food I've eaten not made by my mother or in India. This is coming from a fat Indian. You can take that for whatever you want.

 

The Tandoor is also very good and a regular for me at lunch time.

 

I believe there is an option to preorder Indian meals in the MDR (lunch AND dinner). Can't offer more than that as I've not done it, but I believe it is an option.

We loved the Tandoor and ate there every day. The dishes were flavorful and well made. Like others already stated, I wish they would stay open later.

On the Carnival website, you can view the menu for Tandoor.

I loved Tandoor! I had fish with a chopped Mediterranean salad everyday for lunch and the funny thing is I usually don't like fish other than shellfish.

The freshly bake Naan bread straight from the Tandoor oven is worth killing for. Wish I can have some right now. It's that good. Also try the pineapple and mango chutney. Simply delicious.

I loved the Tandoor. I was sad we didn't find it earlier in our cruise--we would have eaten there every day. We sailed on Magic before the upgrades and found the food choices then rather lacking and the Tandoor was one of my favorite things we had. And yes, at least back then it was only lunch.

Tandoor was a very pleasant surprise for us on Magic. Did not expect much from an included, small venue but everything was fresh and well prepared. While Indian is not my favorite cuisine, I enjoyed everything we tried and DH was in Indian heaven! I too wish it was open more, but at least on our cruise it was never busy.

I was on Magic in 2013 and knew about Tandoor, but was surprised at how good the food was. With all the 2.0 upgrades, I thought Tandoor was gone and was pleasantly surprised to see it in Breeze last week. IIRC, in 2013, tandoor was open only on sea days, but in Breeze, it was open every day. They have fish on most days at tandoor, but no Indian seafood options at Dinner.

We ate at the Tandoori restaurant on the the Dream and I am looking forward to trying it on the Magic. Coming from Vancouver Canada with a lot of multicultural cuisine I loved it!

 

 

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Always trust the Indian food as it's made by those who understand the food.

Only time we've seen Indian on the regular buffet has been on the longer itins Lunch rotation. On the Miracle that doesn't have a Tandoor.

Can preorder a Non-Vegetarian Indian dinner entree. The meat changes nightly. I remember having lamb, chicken and fish. One of the vegetable proteins gets swapped out for the meat. Do not preorder the 'meat' Indian as it confuses the heck out of the hostesses etc.

Tandoor is only open for lunch. It's one of my favorite lunch options on the ship, along with the Blue Iguana burrito bar. There are some things I really like about it (the assortment of chutneys they have are great and I love the pineapple variety) but there are some dishes I've had from there that just seem... subpar, at least compared to Indian restaurants I have dined at on land.

 

I can't remember specific dishes, but some of the things I've tried off the Tandoor buffet just seemed odd and often under-seasoned compared to what I normally find in Indian fare. I've wondered if it isn't because of the setting, they do some sort of Indian fusion dishes. Or, they could be completely authentic and I'm just not used to that. Either way, while Tandoor is sort of hit or miss (for me anyway) it's still generally very good.

 

Now, the Indian vegetarian meals in the MDR for dinner is a whole other story. It's always perfect and delicious and I've never been unhappy with it at all. I will usually order it several times over the course of a week.

I am another who loves Tandoor. When we are looking for our next cruise to book, we always look to see if there is a Tandoor on the ship.

We love the Tandoor. And one of us usually orders the Indian veggie meal in the MDR on one of the nights. Soooo much food! Believe me, as a meat and potatoes guy, you won't miss the meat!

I like it but a bit spicy for me so I tone it down with rice.

 

Always empty lunchtime so wonder how come they keep it as it is not very popular.

I like it but a bit spicy for me so I tone it down with rice.

 

Always empty lunchtime so wonder how come they keep it as it is not very popular.

 

On the Dream, I saw a lot of the ship's officers eating at Tandoor. It may not have long lines but it's definitely not empty. At least from what I've experienced.

I can understand why there might be a perception that Tandoor isn't "very popular" but I suspect it has a good amount of patronage, considering it's location. On the Dream, prior to the dry dock, it was in the back along with the deli. I'd bet that just as many people ate at Tandoor as did the deli. The reason it probably seems less popular though, is because Tandoor is a simple buffet. You can walk up, get your food and be done in literally seconds. For the deli, there is frequently a line because the workers make the food to order, and that probably would lead a person to assume more people use the deli than Tandoor. But, I'm not sure that's the case.

I like it but a bit spicy for me so I tone it down with rice.

That reminds me of a story. I remember when I first met my former co-worker Ramachandra. He had been in the US on an H-1B for about two years. He walked into the lunch room and was attracted by the smell of homemade Indian food. (I think I made a shahi paneer.) He came over to look and blurted out, "Where's the rice?" as if the idea of eating a curry like that without rice was inconceivable. Perhaps that's the way things are in the part of India he's from or all of India perhaps. He sure made it seem, throughout his years with us, that rice is the meal, the curry is more of a condiment for the rice. Of course that's pretty consistent with the ethic of other Asian cuisines: In Japan, the rice (or the noodles) is the meal and whatever bits of fish or vegetables you put on it is just a condiment; the condiment isn't supposed to be the bulk of the meal. We typically do things the other way here in the US (and to be fair, in other places), with the bulk of the meal being a big piece of meat. Anyway: Perhaps that's why the food was very spicy. Others have used the word "authentic" to describe it. If they're making most of the dish the rice, then it makes sense that the curry or whatever is spicier than it would be if you were just eating the curry straight.

We eat Indian regularly and were terribly disappointed to discover the Tandoor restaurant at the end of our cruise on the Dream. The food was hands down some of the absolute best on the ship. My DH was ecstatic to find out there was one on the Magic and I have a feeling that we will be heading directly there for lunch as soon as we board in two weeks. (I am so hoping it's open that first day!)

Tandoor is one of the reasons I selected the Splendor for our October cruise, I love Indian food and I'm probably going to have lunch there everyday.

For those of you that have experienced it on the Splendor or other ships, how spicy can they make it?

I like my food very spicy sometimes and find that most places version of spicy is actually a medium for me ;)

 

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Do they serve lamb?

 

There was an Indian man on one of my cruises and he got the Indian dish every night and let others taste it. I thought it was horrible.

I'm willing to try anything once. Was so happy I had Tandoor on Dream, then Magic, and soon Pride!!!