King's Court Specialty a La Carte dinning

[Folkfan13]

We just booked a Princess Grill suite and with the current promotion, we have one free night at the King's Court.    I know that it has various theme nights (La Pizza, Aztec, Bamboo, Coriander) but haven't found many reviews of each night (none for Aztec and La Pizza).    Are these nights worth exchanging them for the Princess Group restaurant?   Any reviews of the various theme nights are appreciated.  Thanks.

[tv24]

We love Bamboo and Coriander and usually sail in the Grills.  We actually prefer the cuisine in Bamboo and Coriander to that in Princess or Queens Grill because we like good Asian food, and these 2 do deliver quality Asian cuisine with somewhat inventive recipes.  Definitely worth a free visit, and we even pay the upcharge.

[exlondoner]

La Piazza is great, except helpings are unmanageable. We always share the antipasti. Coriander very nice too.

[Victoria2]

Not sampled the pop ups on QM2 but have on her sisters. Bamboo is our favourite and is delicious, followed by Coriander. If dining with friends not in QG, we will use our Diamond freebie in a pop up. Other than that, we order most of the menu in QG so don't bother.

We haven't bothered with the Italian pop up as we have had great Italian evenings [off menu and organised well in advance] in QG but as I don't know to what extent off menu ordering is available in PG, I would say the pop ups are well worth a visit.

[Folkfan13]

Thanks for the comments.   Hopefully others contribute to the thread too with comments on Italian and Aztec meals.

[PORT ROYAL]

24 minutes ago, Folkfan13 said:

Thanks for the comments.   Hopefully others contribute to the thread too with comments on Italian and Aztec meals.

Italian….  Was…

The “Special Cunard Pasta Dish” (forget the official title) - Look at the bottom of Menu.

A seafood delight, where the seafood (one selects from presented items) is flambé cooked and pasta boiled table side, married then served.  Pure occasion theatre.

[Covepointcruiser]

I would just order the Oriental or Indian dishes in the Queens Grill.   I am not sure if the Princess Grill is as flexible off menu.

[NE John]

27 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

I would just order the Oriental or Indian dishes in the Queens Grill.   I am not sure if the Princess Grill is as flexible off menu.

In PG, the kitchen made an off-menu Indian meal for us in the last night. It was excellent, like an Indian grandmother made it. 

[bluemarble]

11 hours ago, Folkfan13 said:

Thanks for the comments.   Hopefully others contribute to the thread too with comments on Italian and Aztec meals.

 

The Aztec theme is no more. There also used to be a Smokehouse theme which has been discontinued.

 

The three main themes are La Piazza, Bamboo and Coriander. There is a Nordlys theme for cruises to Norway, a Frontier theme for QE's Alaska itineraries, and a Riviera theme for Mediterranean cruises.

 

I recall one report here earlier of the Riviera theme being offered on a non-Mediterranean cruise. Haven't heard of Nordlys or Frontier being offered on non-Norwegian/non-Alaskan itineraries though.

[rmsEtruria]

19 hours ago, Victoria2 said:

Not sampled the pop ups on QM2 but have on her sisters. Bamboo is our favourite and is delicious, followed by Coriander. If dining with friends not in QG, we will use our Diamond freebie in a pop up. Other than that, we order most of the menu in QG so don't bother.

We haven't bothered with the Italian pop up as we have had great Italian evenings [off menu and organised well in advance] in QG but as I don't know to what extent off menu ordering is available in PG, I would say the pop ups are well worth a visit.

Curious (and ignorant, as usual):  how do you order from the Bamboo or Coriander menu when you’re in Queen’s Grill?  (But perhaps I misunderstood, although @Covepointcruiser at #7 seems to say the same.)

[Carnevale]

For those in regular staterooms are these pop ups available to us and, if so, what is the cost?  Thx!

[Victoria2]

1 hour ago, rmsEtruria said:

Curious (and ignorant, as usual):  how do you order from the Bamboo or Coriander menu when you’re in Queen’s Grill?  (But perhaps I misunderstood, although @Covepointcruiser at #7 seems to say the same.)

If you know what's on the menus, ask the M'd if they can replicate it in the Grill's kitchen. or wait untill the menu is in rotation and ask then.

I must admit, I only ask for the Mandarin Crispy Chilli Beef and to be fair, it does sometimes come with the chef's own twist on it but it saves us having to make a trip to the Lido pop up.

 

https://www.cunard.com/content/dam/cunard/my-cruise/dining/alternative-dining/bamboo/bamboo-sample-menu.pdf

 

However, we only dine pop up if with friends who aren't dining with us daily as the restaurant more than meets our needs eg, Indian evening/itallian evening/Chinese evening/ crispy duck gorge in etc.

Just ask your Head Waiter who will ask the M'd. He will sort it for you.

 

[Victoria2]

1 hour ago, Carnevale said:

For those in regular staterooms are these pop ups available to us and, if so, what is the cost?  Thx!

They are alternative, chargeable dining venues for all. Can't help with the cost as we use our Diamond freebie.

[TowandaUK]

2 hours ago, Carnevale said:

For those in regular staterooms are these pop ups available to us and, if so, what is the cost?  Thx!

This info shows up in the thread kindly posted by blue marble which details the daily programmes. Coriander is advertised as $25 cover charge. 

[rmsEtruria]

8 hours ago, Victoria2 said:

If you know what's on the menus, ask the M'd if they can replicate it in the Grill's kitchen. or wait untill the menu is in rotation and ask then.

I must admit, I only ask for the Mandarin Crispy Chilli Beef and to be fair, it does sometimes come with the chef's own twist on it but it saves us having to make a trip to the Lido pop up.

 

https://www.cunard.com/content/dam/cunard/my-cruise/dining/alternative-dining/bamboo/bamboo-sample-menu.pdf

 

However, we only dine pop up if with friends who aren't dining with us daily as the restaurant more than meets our needs eg, Indian evening/itallian evening/Chinese evening/ crispy duck gorge in etc.

Just ask your Head Waiter who will ask the M'd. He will sort it for you.

 

Thanks, Victoria2! Mandarin Crispy Chili Beef does sound good (although we’d like Indian even better!).

[Victoria2]

8 minutes ago, rmsEtruria said:

Thanks, Victoria2! Mandarin Crispy Chili Beef does sound good (although we’d like Indian even better!).

Be little devils and have both!!😄 We do.

 

 

An 'Indian evening' doesn't necessarily follow Coriander, just as Italian doesn't follow La Piazza. I had a great Nasi Goreng in July with a definite QG chef's tweak. Delish!

Just ask!

Edited October 12, 2023 by Victoria2

[Victoria2]

The paella was pretty good too. A little heavy on the chorizo but apart from that, again, delish!

[3rdGenCunarder]

On 10/11/2023 at 9:36 PM, bluemarble said:

 

The Aztec theme is no more. There also used to be a Smokehouse theme which has been discontinued.

 

The three main themes are La Piazza, Bamboo and Coriander. There is a Nordlys theme for cruises to Norway, a Frontier theme for QE's Alaska itineraries, and a Riviera theme for Mediterranean cruises.

 

I recall one report here earlier of the Riviera theme being offered on a non-Mediterranean cruise. Haven't heard of Nordlys or Frontier being offered on non-Norwegian/non-Alaskan itineraries though.

 

I just booked Nordlys for my Northern Lights cruise. It's offered every night, so people hoping for Coriander or Bamboo will be disappointed.

[Fsulaw1]

On 10/13/2023 at 8:53 PM, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

I just booked Nordlys for my Northern Lights cruise. It's offered every night, so people hoping for Coriander or Bamboo will be disappointed.

How do you book in advance?  I haven’t been able to determine this.

[bluemarble]

1 hour ago, Fsulaw1 said:

How do you book in advance?  I haven’t been able to determine this.

 

I was about to post this quote from the "Alternative dining" section of the "Dining" page in My Cunard as the answer to your question. This has been our past experience with how it works.

 

"Bookable from 14 days before departure."

 

But then I see bookings are open for our QM2 14-night round trip crossing next June within the "Dining" section of My Cunard. Or I should say the first seven evenings of that voyage are bookable in the Kings Court Alternative Dining venue. They are showing Bamboo for the first four evenings and Coriander for the next three evenings. Nothing showing yet for the final seven evenings. So, I'm not sure how they determine when bookings open for Alternative Dining now.

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 hour ago, bluemarble said:

 

I was about to post this quote from the "Alternative dining" section of the "Dining" page in My Cunard as the answer to your question. This has been our past experience with how it works.

 

"Bookable from 14 days before departure."

 

But then I see bookings are open for our QM2 14-night round trip crossing next June within the "Dining" section of My Cunard. Or I should say the first seven evenings of that voyage are bookable in the Kings Court Alternative Dining venue. They are showing Bamboo for the first four evenings and Coriander for the next three evenings. Nothing showing yet for the final seven evenings. So, I'm not sure how they determine when bookings open for Alternative Dining now.

 

It's Cunard. You're looking for logic?????

 

BTW, for anyone thinking about Nordlys or the Alaska popup that sounds similar, DO IT! I think Nordlys was the best dinner I had on QV.

[rsquare]

PDF versions of all of the alternative dining menus are available at https://www.cunard.com/en-us/activity-types/dining/dinner-at-the-lido.  They include two that I have never seen before, Frontier (Alaska theme) and Riviera (vaguely Mediterranean).

 

The Coriander menu doesn't show the Indian wine that we had with dinner 5 years ago on the Queen Elizabeth; it was more interesting than memorable.  But as others have noted, the quality of the Indian food in Coriander is first rate.