Qsine On Summit

[The Flying Pirate]

We just got back from the Summit and I am working on a full review which will share but I wanted to make a separate review of the Qsine Restaurant because it was in a word, Outstanding.

 

For those of you that want more than one word, here is as Paul Harvey used to say, "The Rest of the Story."

 

We looked into Qsine on the website and were thoroughly confused by what we found. When we boarded the ship we actually didn't have any intention of booking any of the specialty restaurants because we weren't that impressed with the menus.

 

Once on the Summit we went to the Galley tour offered on the first day, which on our cruise was a sea day. At the end of the tour they had the various Specialty Restaurants set up in the Normandie's dining room. One of the Waiters from Qsine was there with a display of some of the menu items. After his presentation we changed our minds and decided to give Qsine a try.

 

After seeing his presentation and then experiencing Qsine, I suggested to the staff that they tape the waiters presentation and put it online. The current website doesn't do the place justice. It is billed as a journey around the world through food. It was more than just a meal it was an experience.

 

One thing we noticed was that even after the galley tour it was very easy to get reservations. It might have helped that we were booking for Thursday night which was the second Formal Night aboard. It is also the night that Lobster is available in the main dining room. I personally don't care for the taste of Lobster and can't understand what all the fuss is about, other than to brag to your friends about eating what depending on where you live can be a very expensive dinner....

 

The night of our reservations, we arrived at 6:30 and were promptly seated. The first thing we noticed was the dining room looked like something out of Alice in Wonderland. All the lighting was from table lamps mounted upside-down on the ceiling. The plates were rectangles, the glasses more or less cylindrical but with a hand blown shape to them. When the waiter brought the menus he said "you may have noticed the lights, we are going to turn hour perception of food upside down."

 

The waiter was from Honduras and was incredible; he was funny and just a crazy man. He proclaimed himself as "more than a waiter, I will be your tour guide on tonight's journey."

 

The menus were brought over and they were all on iPads. The first page was cocktails, and at each entry you could see how the drink was made and then if you shook the iPad it was "mix" the drink on the screen and show you a picture of the finished product.

 

The main food part of the menu was another section and the names of things, the descriptions etc made it difficult to choose what to have. The waiter, make that "tour guide" suggested since there were six of us, we should choose 7 items off the menu as everything is served family style and made for sharing.

 

After quite a discussion among everyone, we finally selected 7 items.

[The Flying Pirate]

First to be served was the "Disco Shrimp" a shrimp salad, with cucumber and avocado served in a dish that looked like the top of a martini glass set in a square base filled with ice to keep it chilled and flashing LED lights. The presentation was just crazy and the taste was excellent. The dish had a little bit of spice that the closest thing I can compare it to is chipotle.

 

The waiter arrives with our order of Disco Shrimp

[The Flying Pirate]

 

Try that picture again of the waiter with the Disco Shrimp

[The Flying Pirate]

Next up was called lobster and escargot. It was the strangest thing we ate tonight, but a couple people including my Grandma really like lobster and snails so it was added to the list. It came out as a tray of meatballs made from a mixture of lobster and snail meat soaked in a butter sauce and served with a side of dinner rolls that were in the shape of ice cream cones. I thought the dinner rolls were better than the meatballs. But then I have never cared for the taste of lobster or snail.

[The Flying Pirate]

The next course was a tower of tacos. They were more like fajitas in hard shells, although the shells were different they tasted like ice cream cones. They were filled with steak strips, green peppers and onions, diced tomatoes and topped with guacamole made fresh at the table

 

 

The waiter prepares the Guacamole for the Tower of Tacos right at the table. It was outstanding.

[The Flying Pirate]

Next up was the Persian Kebabs, which were delivered on what would best be described as swords. The waiters carefully pulled the swords out and put the chicken and vegetables on a bed of saffron rice. The chicken and vegetables were marinated for 24 hours and were out of this world. The saffron rice was quite good, and had taken on some of the flavor of the marinade

 

 

The Persian Kebabs being served. The Marinade was amazing!

[The Flying Pirate]

As we were discussing how amazing the kebabs were the waiter brought out what is called the Mmmmm & Mmmms, although the waiter just called it the Barbie house. It was a box about two feet wide by 16" tall that was divided into compartments, not unlike a doll house. In each compartment was a component of a traditional Middle Eastern meal. One of the surprises was the lamb chops, I had tried lamb before and hadn't thought too much of it, but these were absolutely delicious. There was also some really tasty hummus, falafel, olives in a marinade, a couple goat cheese dishes, grilled chicken skewers.

 

 

The Mmmmmm & Mmmmmms better known on the Summit as the "Barbie House" as it appears at the table when served. It was fun trying all the different foods in each compartment.

[The Flying Pirate]

The sixth stop on the tour was filet mignon. It was served on a painters pallet, with 5 sauces to try with your steak. My wife’s favorite was a macaroni and cheese, while I liked the red wine sauce the best.

 

It was appearently so delicious I forgot to take a picture of it......Oh well I guess we'll have to do another cruise so we can finish the photo album...:p

[The Flying Pirate]

The final dish was called the Taj Mahal, and was served as a steel "tree" with 5 cone shaped cups as nests in the tree. Each cup was filled with a different traditional dish from India. Having just been to India I was curious to see how they would do with Indian food, and we were happy, although I can't say surprised that they were quite good. The curried chicken was my favorite.

 

 

The Waiter bringing the Steel Tree for the "Taj Mahal", you can get an idea of his vibrant personality. I am pretty sure they keep him heavily caffeinated!

[The Flying Pirate]

Then after eating all that dinner they brought over a giant cone that when opened revealed several rubrics cube like toys that were the dessert menu. We selected 3 desserts. The Cupcake Affair, the Chocolate Tombstone and the surprise.

 

 

The cone arrives at the table, inside are the dessert menus...

[The Flying Pirate]

 

When the cone was lifted, these puzzle toys were revealed, which were in fact the dessert menus.

[pattyj 1204]

Looks like you had a Great experience. Too bad you forgot to take a picture, but what a great review. Thanks for posting. Pat

[The Flying Pirate]

First up was the Cupcake Affair. The cupcake affair was a project. It was served with a plate of unfrosted cupcakes with what looked like a fishing tackle box which contained the frosting, sprinkles and other various toppings. My Wife took charge of the Cupcake decorating which was fun and quite tasty, we shared one since we had just finished a 7 course meal and had two other desserts to try.

 

 

The first of the cupcakes to be decorated and savored.

[pattyj 1204]

Forgot to ask how you liked the Summit, that was the first ship we sailed on. and Loved it so much.

[mbw1024]

Great report. We were on the same sailing and ate at Qsine the first night. Loved it!

[The Flying Pirate]

Next up was my favorite, the Chocolate Tombstone. I felt like I had died and gone to heaven with this one. The chocolate tombstone was simply amazing, unless of course you don't like chocolate. The bottom was a thin rice crispy like treat, topped with Nutella, then a layer of chocolate mousse topped off with a layer of dark chocolate. This was so good it could be said that Nobel prizes have been awarded for less. This cake may very well be the key to world peace.

 

 

The Chocolate Tombstone, my mouth is watering just uploading the picture...

[The Flying Pirate]

The Surprise turned out to be bread pudding. My dad thought it was excellent, but I thought it paled in comparison to the chocolate masterpiece.

 

The final stop was called "Strawberry Fields Forever" and an assistant waiter came around with a box roughly two feet by two feet. It had real grass growing out of it. And stuck into the grass were sticks with Strawberries that had been dipped in either white or dark chocolate then covered with sprinkles. Then carefully hidden in the tall grass were plastic eggs filled with chocolate, strawberry or vanilla creme brûlée.

 

 

 

Another Waiter delivers the "Strawberry Fields Forever"

[The Flying Pirate]

The whole dinner took almost three hours and was just incredible. It was unlike any meal I have experienced on land. Even if you could find a restaurant that could match the meal I can only imagine that the cost would be ludicrous. It was well worth the $40/person that they charge for the experience.

 

We only went once during the week, but we talked to others that ate there 3 and 4 times. I am glad we only went once, I can only imagine how much weight I would have gained had we ate there multiple times!

 

 

Another member of the waitstaff poses with the iPad Menu under the crazy lights of Qsine.

[newcruisergal]

Beautiful pictures, you've really captured the fun & whimsy of the Qsine experience!

 

Compared to Normandie we didn't feel the food quality/preparation/spicing in Qsine was worth the $40 per person upcharge, but the service was outstanding and it was a very fun evening :)

[Andy&Mary]

Great pictures! We were on the Summit in December and absolutely loved Qsine! Much better than Normandie where we had disinterested service and good, but not excellent, food. (I'm comparing Normandie to all of the other specialty restaurants on the M-class ships)

[Superweezie]

We loved Qsine but we love places like that in general. I'm glad you enjoyed yourselves. Our favorite was the meatballs but they were by no means small bites.

[The Flying Pirate]

I can't compare Normandie since we elected not to try it, as I am not a fan of French food, but I can tell you were some great Pizza places in Paris are!

 

I think the service and the presentation at Qsine are a big part of the experience. The meal wouldn't be nearly as much fun if you had it delivered room service ;)

[pattyj 1204]

Makes me wish I was going on the Summit again. What a wonderful restaurant review. Maybe there will something similar on the Solstice for our next cruise. Thanks for sharing. Pat

[The Flying Pirate]

Forgot to ask how you liked the Summit, that was the first ship we sailed on. and Loved it so much.

 

I just saw this as it got mixed in while I was posting the rest of the review. We liked the ship, it was nice. I am putting together a full cruise review which I will add here shortly.

[librarylady19]

Next up was my favorite, the Chocolate Tombstone. I felt like I had died and gone to heaven with this one. The chocolate tombstone was simply amazing, unless of course you don't like chocolate. The bottom was a thin rice crispy like treat, topped with Nutella, then a layer of chocolate mousse topped off with a layer of dark chocolate. This was so good it could be said that Nobel prizes have been awarded for less. This cake may very well be the key to world peace.

 

 

The Chocolate Tombstone, my mouth is watering just uploading the picture...

 

our thoughts exactly. This was a fantastic journey through Qsine. Im sure it was very helpful for folks who hadnt been there and brought back fomd memories for me. Your waiter was a doll!!! They should put him in the ads!

 

We have eaten in Qsine 3 times and the Summit experience was definitely the best. This is one area where I think the setting is actually nicer on the M class ships due to the setting in the former Conservatory.

 

Thanks again for sharing your photos.

Edited February 8, 2013 by librarylady19