Top chef menu...what do you think?

[cocobakerchica]

First off, full disclosure. I am in the culinary field(pastry chef), and I don't watch "Top Chef" or any of the culinary reality shows(there's enough drama and madness going on in a professional kitchen in my real life, I don't need to watch it on TV too). That said, I skipped the TC menus, mainly because I thought some of the dishes were too gimmicky and kind of silly(especially the desserts). On my last cruise(May of this year), I finally decided to try the beef cheeks, because I really like that cut and I was curious to see how a super high volume producing kitchen would handle it. I'm glad I did, because they were quite good(I'm reading they can be hit or miss, the ones I had were a hit; super tender and full of flavor). Still not sold on the TC tie in, and I believe Celebrity needs to move on from it. I agree with many posters that while many of the meals work better in a land based restaurant that may do a hundred or so plates a night(more or less), the jump to several hundred per ship kitchen can definitely degrade the results.

[CruiserN1]

We cruised Summit 4 weeks ago and we had the Top Chef Menu on night 4.

 

Ugh, we cruise on Summit in November and was hoping to hear this menu had been dropped there also. We are cruising Thanksgiving week, so maybe there's some hope that the Thanksgiving menu will force the TC menu out (Thanksgiving is day 5).

[CruisingChick]

Ugh, we cruise on Summit in November and was hoping to hear this menu had been dropped there also. We are cruising Thanksgiving week, so maybe there's some hope that the Thanksgiving menu will force the TC menu out (Thanksgiving is day 5).

 

You might get lucky. They could get rid of it by then, or because you are on a Holiday sailing maybe they will replace it with another menu.

[Fish Lover]

In BLU the top chef night was the only meal we didn't like. It sounded good in theory but the execution was terrible. We both had the halibut (I think it was) baked in parchment with a lobster stew (wonderful sauce but thick with unwanted potatoes and vegetables). The fish was so dry and tough that it was barely edible. The appetizers (frogs legs, just baked...not prepared with any flavors...just like skinny chicken) and spring rolls if I recall (fell apart, tough, tasteless with an really spicy hot dipping sauce) and the deserts were entirely unappealing.

[russg140]

This is my first hearing of the TC menu and am not sure how we missed it/how it was marketed on the ship (last being Millenium). We ate in Luminae, so maybe it isn't available there (?). Sorry to hear it is a bust and not so sorry I've missed it.

[Redtravel]

I have tried the Top Chef menu several times. Each time I ordered a different thing. Sadly, I have not found a decent item. I now avoid Top Chef night. I eat in the Buffet or Specialty. If the ship is in port overnight, I eat off the ship. I hope that the Top Chef menu is gone on my next X cruise this winter.

[SuzCruise]

We were on the Reflection last November on the actual Top Chef cruise with the chefs whose dishes appear on the menu posted above, although if I recall correctly some of the dishes seem to be different. The dishes I tried that night in Luminae were great. But our waiter told us some of the Top Chef contestants were actually in the kitchen instructing the chefs on how to prepare and plate their dish. It seems that might be needed, and without that guidance the X chefs just can't pull off the dishes. It's a fun night when you are on a Top Chef themed cruise with the contestants doing events around the ship the entire cruise, but it seems odd to have that menu on a regular cruise that has nothing to do with Top Chef.

[Byron_1978]

It was completely dropped on our recent cruise on the Eclipse, according to our waiter it had been off for some time, and according to the Maitre D feedback was never great and was even worse after the menu revamp.

 

So maybe I just have different taste buds than most people here :D

But if I see the menu now, I won't be complaining if they drop it on Reflection to next year...