Food on Riviera

[Harters]

19 hours ago, JPR said:

British passengers were not complimentary regarding what they deemed the poor attempts at fish & chips, mushy peas, shepherd’s pie, etc.

It's food that doesnt travel well. Just like American BBQ.

[Harters]

20 hours ago, LHT28 said:

What type of food was on British night??

Almost guaranteed to be what foreigners think as British food, rather than what we actually eat.  Any foreigner who has visited the UK in recent decades and actually got out of London will have encountered the richness of our cuisine, both traditional and seasonal.

 

I find it genuinely funny that the decades old stereotypes about my country are still trotted out.

 

Like  ToxM's husband, I'm a northerner. Fish, chips and mushy peas are hard-wired into our DNA.  I live about 30 minutes drive to the small town where there's the first record of fish & chips being served, in 1863.

Edited March 29, 2023 by Harters

[JPR]

I totally agree. Modern British cuisine can be excellent (though other than sweetbreads I am not a big fan of offal cuisine, as made famous by St. John restaurant in London…).

[LHT28]

30 minutes ago, Harters said:

Almost guaranteed to be what foreigners think as British food, rather than what we actually eat.  Any foreigner who has visited the UK in recent decades and actually got out of London will have encountered the richness of our cuisine, both traditional and seasonal.

 

I find it genuinely funny that the decades old stereotypes about my country are still trotted out.

 

Like  ToxM's husband, I'm a northerner. Fish, chips and mushy peas are hard-wired into our DNA.  I live about 30 minutes drive to the small town where there's the first record of fish & chips being served, in 1863.

Must  be in our DNA also   except  for the mushy peas

I am not sure  what Canadian food is  if we have one other than Indigenous  & it is  not served in many areas near us

I grew up with British/Irish grandparents  & Italian s/father

I like most cuisines

 

When in the U.K  I did not notice much difference in what we have in Canada  other  than more places  serving cream tea

DH s parents are British  

Kippers are not in his DNA  he would run screaming from the house  when his Dad would cook them 😉

 

Maybe no British cooks on Oceania  to show them the right way to cook things

someone needs to show them how to make scones  that is for sure

 

[Harters]

19 minutes ago, JPR said:

offal cuisine, as made famous by St. John restaurant in London…

Offal has always been an important part of British home cooking. But, until recent decades, not so much in restaurants. I suppose it's the sort of thing that, if you were having it at home regularly, you wouldnt really want to be ordering in a restaurant. I reckon chef Gary Rhodes was the pioneer who popularised Modern British cuisine, in the late 1980s, although, to foreigners,  Fergus Henderson whose Modern British career started a decade later is probably better known.

 

FWIW, this is  the menu of one of several bistro type places within a few minutes of home.It's representativeof the sort of food you'd expect in a neighbourhood place.

https://no4dineandwine.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/March-menu-23-1.pdf

 

[JPR]

British Night on the cruise is just as appealing as that menu!  
 

Not…

[artlee]

Last night was Polo. I hate to say it but the food was not too good. I had a cobb salad with steak that had lots of gristle and was anything but a salad — literally had one piece of lettuce, lol. The waiter had said it was not traditional cobb but i didn’t think it would be this far away from that. I should have taken a picture. My wife had surf and turf with small portion of lobster and a small filet that she said was tough. This is disappointing. Tonight is Indian night and we are typically fans. Maybe I’ll be brave and try it. 

[Harters]

33 minutes ago, JPR said:

just as appealing as that menu!  
 

Not…

Comes as absolutely no surprise. Based on playing on an American led food forum, I think many Americans can find Northern European food not to their taste. It must make it difficult for them when they visit. 

 

What might be really interesting is if O did an "American Night". I wonder what would be included. And would I recognise it as being American and would it appeal. Perhaps more to the point, would Americans recognise it as being American. 😀

[Woofa]

31 minutes ago, artlee said:

Last night was Polo. I hate to say it but the food was not too good. I had a cobb salad with steak that had lots of gristle and was anything but a salad — literally had one piece of lettuce, lol. The waiter had said it was not traditional cobb but i didn’t think it would be this far away from that. I should have taken a picture. My wife had surf and turf with small portion of lobster and a small filet that she said was tough. This is disappointing. Tonight is Indian night and we are typically fans. Maybe I’ll be brave and try it. 

Artlee, did you send it back/let someone know?  

[ToxM]

Sadly the worst example of misunderstanding of food on O was halloumi. That great bacon cheese was not even slightly grilled to bring out the bacony superweaponised core and was a rubbery mess when it was slapped onto my plate. 

 

i wanted to fling it onto a grill myself and show the chefs how it should be done. 

 

It was sad but clearly a case of a chef not understanding the secret of Halloumi. 

[JPR]

2 minutes ago, Harters said:

What might be really interesting is if O did an "American Night". I wonder what would be included. And would I recognise it as being American and would it appeal. Perhaps more to the point, would Americans recognise it as being American. 😀

Well, there could be examples of California Cuisine” popularized by Alice Waters of Chez Panisse (e.g., farmers market items like arugula and other bitter greens with baked goat cheese), various styles of American barbecue and “soul food” as well as New Orleans specialities like gumbo, shrimp etoufffe, blackened redfish, creole dishes, muffelata sandwiches, chili con carne, Nashville hot chicken, Thanksgiving Turkey meals, Maine Lobster, Dungeness Crab, California sand dabs, Grand Central Station Clam Pan Roast, Florida grouper,  etc.

 

The new restaurant on Oceania Vista looks like it may take a bit of this approach.

 

[Harters]

Interesting list, JPR. I've visited all the east coast states over the years, as well as several adjacent ones, but never been further west..

 

It's good to see that, as in the UK, regional dishes would feature heavily. I'm  very familiar with the New Orleans and Cajun dishes, as well as the Nashville Hot Chicken (although I found it a bit too spicy for me, so only had it once - on the last trip to the city). And roast turkey and fantastic simply cooked seafood in New England. And, of course, great pit BBQ right across the Southern states - as I said upthread, that's a cuisine that simply doesnt travel well - even to other parts of the States.

Edited March 29, 2023 by Harters

[LHT28]

57 minutes ago, artlee said:

Last night was Polo. I hate to say it but the food was not too good. I had a cobb salad with steak that had lots of gristle and was anything but a salad — literally had one piece of lettuce, lol. The waiter had said it was not traditional cobb but i didn’t think it would be this far away from that.

It is not what normal people think of  when you say Cobb Salad 😉

 

[artlee]

37 minutes ago, Woofa said:

Artlee, did you send it back/let someone know?  

we had late reservations and by the time we got our main courses it was probably 9:30. I just wanted to go to bed and call it a day. You are right that I should have said something but I just didn’t want to deal with it so late in the evening.  I wouldn’t have wanted to wait for a replacement. 

[artlee]

It is not what normal people think of  when you say Cobb Salad 😉

 

i didn’t have my phone to take a pix but it was kid of comical. Picture:

 

A piece of lettuce in the middle of the plate

Cubes of steak on top (including gristle)

6 cherry tomatoes in a strait line up the left hand side of the plate next to the steak

4 scallion stems in a strait line next to the tomatoes

on the left side of the steak stack:

6 1/4 inch cubes of avocado in a strait line up the plate

A soft boiled egg at the bottom center of the plate.

Something else on the top right I couldn’t distinguish, lol

Voila

 

[LHT28]

3 minutes ago, artlee said:

It is not what normal people think of  when you say Cobb Salad 😉

 

i didn’t have my phone to take a pix but it was kid of comical. Picture:

 

A piece of lettuce in the middle of the plate

Cubes of steak on top (including gristle)

6 cherry tomatoes in a strait line up the left hand side of the plate next to the steak

4 scallion stems in a strait line next to the tomatoes

on the left side of the steak stack:

6 1/4 inch cubes of avocado in a strait line up the plate

A soft boiled egg at the bottom center of the plate.

Something else on the top right I couldn’t distinguish, lol

Voila

 

YUP  creative license I guess

 DH  had runny egg  on his

He was not  a happy camper 😉

 

[susiesan]

2 hours ago, artlee said:

It is not what normal people think of  when you say Cobb Salad 😉

 

i didn’t have my phone to take a pix but it was kid of comical. Picture:

 

A piece of lettuce in the middle of the plate

Cubes of steak on top (including gristle)

6 cherry tomatoes in a strait line up the left hand side of the plate next to the steak

4 scallion stems in a strait line next to the tomatoes

on the left side of the steak stack:

6 1/4 inch cubes of avocado in a strait line up the plate

A soft boiled egg at the bottom center of the plate.

Something else on the top right I couldn’t distinguish, lol

Voila

 

Was it a deconstructed Cobb salad?🥑🥩🍅🥗

[Acrusa]

A few years ago on Nautica we where served Japines marinated steak. 

In Brooklyn this would be called a Roumanian Tenderloin  tasted great

 

[chloemonkey]

On 3/28/2023 at 9:43 AM, artlee said:

food is such a subjective thing. What I hate someone else loves, etc. We are currently on the TA to Trieste. This is day 7 of 23 for us. So far we find the food to be average at best. We sailed Riviera in Dec 21 and were generally pleased which encouraged us to take this cruise. So far we have only been in Toscano’s, Grand Dining Room, Waves, and Terrace Cafe. My wife liked her lobster dish in Toscano’s. My veal piccata was tasty but a bit tough. The Terrace Grill has had several Market takeovers where a theme took over the entire cafe — Indian, British Bermuda, etc. the British one ran 2 strait days. Again its personal taste, but not ours. I didn’t realize British food was a thing? We had mexican night, and asian lunch which were fine but nothing special. During Mexican night the grill at Terrace that had fixed steaks/fish/lobster/chicken was replaced with a Churro stand. My wife had had grilled shrimp and lobster there on another night and was looking forward to more but she would be disappointed. Two nights in the main dining room were fine but I can’t say memorable. Two nights we did not find anything on terrace or the main dining room that appealed to us so we had pizza at Waves which turns into a Pizzeria at night. It was excellent!! Today at lunch a passenger was hand feeding her dog in between her own eating. Not a dog owner so maybe this is ok? Overall, I am finding myself question whether the best cuisine at sea is actually pretty close to the standard fair from Princess/Holland/RCL/NCL/etc. I hope the balance of the trip changes our mind. I was going to book the next cruise while on board but having second thoughts. I’m sure others may have a different opinion and I totally get that, but this is ours so far.

art

So happy to hear that your experience is very similar to ours having disembarked the day your cruise began....we did two cruises B2B and the last week had resorted to nothing but Polo or Jacques, a few times at Toscano or PIZZA!  Thankfully we qualified for so many specialty options....as we had become pretty much over the Grand Dining Room or Terrace Cafe options.....but of course each time that I mentioned this - I received so many responses arguing.  As you said, food is subjective.  But although we love great food, Michelin Star options on occasion....we are truly happily satisfied with just regular food prepared well....which we found to be hard to find on our last three weeks onboard - with the exception of the specialty restaurants mentioned.  Not sure if I am quite as anxious to book that Around the World cruise right now....but of course love the service and suites on Oceania enough to give them another chance or two.

[Oceangoer2]

On 3/28/2023 at 11:10 PM, LHT28 said:

Wonder what they would serve on Canadian night ??😄

Beaver tails...LOL.  Canadian bacon.  Quebecois meat pie.  Western steak.  Probably more but can't think of them now.

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, Oceangoer2 said:

Beaver tails...LOL.  Canadian bacon.  Quebecois meat pie.  Western steak.  Probably more but can't think of them now.

The do serve Canadian  Bacon  or at least they used to

Beavertails would be good

[jackdeb]

O could try to make tourtiere, Habitant pea soup, and poutine 

[AMHuntFerry]

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

The do serve Canadian  Bacon  or at least they used to

Beavertails would be good

They still have Canadian bacon...yum!

[WayneLaR]

Everyone does realize that no Canadian, at least any I know, refer to peameal bacon (back bacon) as Canadian bacon?  (whether it has the peameal crust or not)

[Oceangoer2]

12 minutes ago, WayneLaR said:

Everyone does realize that no Canadian, at least any I know, refer to peameal bacon (back bacon) as Canadian bacon?  (whether it has the peameal crust or not)

Written for those who know our bacon as 'Cdn bacon', and not Peameal or Back bacon.