Cruising With Honey: dining

Something smell fishy? You batter believe it!

By Cruising With Honey - 13:42

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All you can eat - Pearl's Plantation

By Cruising With Honey - 23:04

Whether you call it a buffet or a smorgasbord or even (gasp) a pig’s trough, the Plantation Restaurant is the all-you-can-eat, self-serve eatery on the Pacific Pearl.

For those familiar with my high sea adventures, you’d know that I have pigged-out at the Pantry on the Eden (you can refresh your memory here and here) and also the buffet on the Carnival Spirit - I promise to upload this soon. While each was different, the premise is the same; walk around carrying your plate, stop at each station, sniff, pile, shuffle with the queue, balance your plate back to a table. Eat. Repeat. (and repeat, and repeat, ad nauseam).

After dumping our hand luggage, booking Salt grill and meeting Captain Lorenzo, my stomach gently reminded me by growling loudly “Feed Me” (yes, my tummy talks). So, after securing a table for the four Bad Mums, two of us trotted off, while the other two minded the table.

N.B I ate at Plantation TWICE. Both time for lunch. It is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and located on Deck 12. For my review of the Waterfront restaurant, click here and here.

First Impressions

To be honest, it was a lot smaller than both the buffet on the Carnival Spirit and the Pantry on the Eden. I was a little worried about the number of choices on offer, but soon discovered that there was plenty of variety.

Hot Food Selection

Soups - Over the three days I saw a few different flavours, but I really cannot comment on any of them as it was WAY too hot to eat soup, well for me anyway. However, they looked hearty and there were fresh, crusty rolls to accompany the slurping.

Stir fries - Noodles with mixed veggies and a different meat each day. The chicken stir fry on Day One was great! Not too oily, pretty authentic.

Roasts - Pretty good, nothing to complain about, BUT the Yorkshire puddings were an awesome treat. I hadn't seen these before on any of my cruises.

Mexican - THE BEST TORTILLA CHIPS EVER. I am not embarrassed to admit that the two times I ate lunch at Plantation, I reloaded on tortilla chips, TWICE. That’s four servings in total! The Mexican station was my favourite. Along with a big bowl of chips, there was bean and meat chili, the most delicious guacamole (seriously), sour cream and lovely fresh salsa. I would have been more than happy to eat this, and only this, for three days.

This is by no means a comprehensive description of all that was on offer, there were also fish dishes, other meats and pasta dishes.

Cold food selection

Sandwiches - I found Pearl had similar sandwiches, if not identical, to what we had on the Eden: roast vegetable, Cesar and roast beef. Very big, very filling and very flavoursome. Maybe a suggestion is to cut these in half as I found it hard to get through the big bread roll.

Salads - Pretty ordinary to be honest. Not bad, but rather lackluster. There were garden salads served in individual portions, which was a good idea, but to me were unappetising, I suppose I preferred the brilliant salad station on the Eden.

I'd like to make a special mention here about the cornbread. Please, please someone get me the recipe! It is freaking delicious. Maybe if you're reading this, and going on the Pearl sometime soon, you MIGHT be able to smuggle some off for me? I can supply zip-lock bags.

Desserts

I was a bit sad when I saw the dessert station was quite small – I mean have you seen the desserts on offer on Carnival Spirit? We have established I have a major sugar addiction, so dessert is my weakness, but once I got a little closer, I was happy with the offerings. Food makes me happy. There aren’t any big fancy cakes or huge tarts, but there are about four or five different treats to choose, all in individual servings. Standouts for me included the vanilla slice and the tapioca pudding (which I had two of and admitted to the head of Food and Beverage. He said it was fine and I shouldn’t feel guilty, so there).

There’s also lots of freshly cut up fruit and a small selection of cheese. And let’s not forget, the perennial favourite, tri-colour cubes of jelly. Everyone loves jelly, right? I wonder how much was left over though, as there weren't many kids aboard...

Decor

As the Pearl is retiring in a few months from P&O, I expected to see a tired, daggy dining room, so I was pleasantly surprised with the seating and colour scheme. Bright and airy, it was a lovely and comfortable - and the perfect place to have a chit-chat.

Drinks

There are big glass urns that have juice (apple, orange) next to the dessert station as well as iced water flavoured with citrus. I thought this was a lovely, chic touch, as not only was it free and looked great, but you could serve yourself and to have to wait at the bar to get a non-alcoholic drink with your lunch. The bars were very busy, especially at lunch, so I found it convenient to just run up and grab a tumbler of juice. There’s also a few of those standard hot drink dispensers (coffee, tea, hot chocolate) and water/ice machines.

Cleanliness

The staff were extremely efficient in clearing tables quickly. Seriously, these guys and girls are angels.

In a nutshell, the Plantation restaurant has many choices. It might not be very fancy and it might not have a plethora of options, but it has enough and the food was tasty, fresh, clean and plentiful.

There is ONE thing however that I grapple with, and I fear I do not practise proper buffet-etiquette very well. Which way do you enter/join a buffet line? I can be rather oblivious sometimes, so find myself accidentally stepping in front of someone or waiting at the wrong end. What are the rules? Agh, the conundrums that keep me up at night!

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dining

Eating at Sea - Waterfront review (Breakfast Edition)

By Cruising With Honey - 16:47

They say you should "Eat Breakfast Like a King, Lunch Like a Prince, and Dinner Like a Pauper.

Well, if you spent a day on a cruise ship with me, you'd soon realise that:

I eat at least 7 meals in 24 hours
I start off eating like a princess and end the night smashing down pizzas in bed like an ogre.

Over the three fabulous nights on the Pearl, my girlfriends and I ate breakfast twice at the Waterfront. One of the mornings, Sunday (I'd stayed up to watch the sunrise), I skipped breakfast all together. My lovely Bad Mums did bring me back some toast and fruit from the buffet, but I had such horrendous sea sickness, that all I could do was lift my head from the fetal position and swallow a mouthful of water with my medicine.

However, I did break fast like a Pampered Princess on Saturday morning and before we disembarked on Monday morning. For the Waterfront dinner review, please click HERE.

Breakfast 1

We arrived just before 9am and were seated immediately. There was a hum of activity, and pretty soon we were handed a menu. There are two sections:

Sweet - Just Like You

Savoury - You Can't Say No to Bacon

Here's a tip: You can order from both, and as many items as you want. You can omit things from your dishes as well, just ask nicely.

Now, before you place your order with a waiter, another waiter - laden with a tray of pastries, breads and muffins - arrives. As a sweet tooth, I love this feature, plus it helps me to choose my 'real' breakfast while I'm chewing flaky yum yums. The platter includes an assortment that any fussy eater would find at least one thing that they'd like. I always go for a croissant (oh, one day Paris) or a fruit-filled danish. As an added bonus, the pastries are only mini-sized, so you can have two (or three or four) and not feel like too much of a glutton.

At the same time, another waiter takes your coffee, tea and drink order. You can order orange, apple or pineapple juice. You can even ask for a mix of juices if you want to be special. The coffee is the percolator variety, so if you're after a proper coffee, grab one from Charlie's Bar on Deck 5 or The Cafe on Deck 12.

As a tea aficionada, I was in desperate need of a good cup of tea. I knew one cup would not cut it, and as I was acting the Pampered Princess, I asked the lovely waitress if I could get a pot. Yes, I know I'm demanding, but in my mind, it would save the lovely server countless trips back to the Pampered Princess. I only ever get served a meal on my birthday and Mother's Day in my house, so if I wanted to be little self-indulgent, then I wanted the motherfunking pot. I got the pot.

The food - I ordered the Wild Berry and Ricotta Pancakes with Rosewater Marscapone. As I'm ethnically Arab, the word 'rosewater' flashed at me and kick-started the salivary glands. I was delighted with the pancakes which were light and fluffy. The marscapone was nicely perfumed with the rosewater, but I would have added a few more drops of the heavenly essence.

For my third course (pastry, pancakes being first and second), I ordered the Creamed Maple Scrambled Eggs with Crispy Bacon and toast. Warning! Do NOT order this if you do not have a sweet tooth. I love maple syrup and there was a copious amount on this dish. I absolutely loved the presentation and the bacon was super crispy. The eggs were very creamy, but I couldn't get through it all due to the pool of sweetness - and maybe because I had already eaten two courses!

All four of us really enjoyed breakfast, no complaints only compliments. Courteous, efficient staff as always. However, I did notice the staff were all super busy, so there wasn't any time for pleasantries and the usual chit-chat I engage in with everyone. Then again, I could talk underwater.

A standout dish was the Persian Feta and Smashed Avocado with Poached Eggs and Bacon on Soy and Linseed bread Mrs S ordered. It was totally smashing.

Breakfast 2

We'd been up to watch the sunrise on our last morning, so we arrived at the Waterfront quite early, about 8am. By the time we had finished eating, the Pearl had already docked at White Bay 😞. I was feeling rather sorry for myself that the weekend was over and knew the only thing that would make me happy was cake. So I ordered it, well not cake, but bread - banana bread. Well, it's kinda like cake and it made me supremely happy. Once again, bathed in maple syrup, I'd warn against ordering it if you do not like sweets for breaky. Nice texture, not too heavy and good banana flavour.

For my savoury selection, and tempted by the word 'polenta' (I had the best polenta with my dinner a few nights before), I chose the omelette with polenta and sausages. NB The disembarkation day menu was limted and had different dishes to the menu I posted at the top of the page. I'm sad to report, the polenta was tasteless, season-less and gloopy. I picked around it for a while and gave up. The dish wasn't to my palate, but I'm sure others would enjoy it.

And that's breakfast. Great service, great selection and wonderful tea. Once again, I have to reiterate how lucky I felt beings served a THREE course breakfast. No whinging, no serving the kids, no washing up and no cooking. Enjoy the treat of eating Breakfast Like a King (or Princess) when you're aboard, and if you're still hungry, run up to the Plantation buffet and grab something else or maybe just a cappuccino out on the deck.

Signing off, the no-longer-Pampered-Princess.

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dining

Eating at Sea - Waterfront review (Dinner Edition)

By Cruising With Honey - 18:04

Do you know what really grinds my gears? When food is described as faecal matter.

Allow me to step up on my soap box and spruik my two cents - or more.

I can't accurately tell you how many times I have read a description of a meal as excrement on cruising forums, Facebook pages and reviews. What I can tell you, it has been more than just a few times - and I've had a gutful.

In no way am I saying that all food experiences on cruise ships are positive; everybody has different tastes, expectations and standards. However, describing a meal or dish as akin to human or animal waste is completely and utterly unconscionable.

The other word I read too often is 'disgusting'. Disgusting food to me means that it's rotten, mouldy, covered in hair or animal droppings, rancid and only fit for the rubbish.

Food that is not up to one's palate or standard can be described as: flavourless, bland, unappetising, cold, inedible etc. Obviously, there are many other synonyms, and until you've seen starving children in famine or war stricken areas literally eating mouldy scraps of bread and crying from hunger, you have no right to call food 'disgusting' or refer to it as s**t.

(If you'd like to read more about my relationship with food and eating on cruise ships, click here )

End rant.

For the Plantation restaurant (aka the buffet) review, read here, and I've already written up my review of Salt. Once again, I didn't sample Room Service - I'm never in my cabin long enough - so I can't review that. For Breakfast at the Waterfront, click here.

Over the three nights on the Pearl, my girlfriends and I ate breakfast twice and dinner twice at the Waterfront. New cruisers may not know the correct process to book a table at Waterfront, so here's a tip:

At the Waterfront, it is ANYTIME dining, but you can choose an earlier or later time frame. Once you embark, call the restaurant or just head down to the Waterfront and book your table for dinner at the time you want/is available. All you need is your room number. Once you've done that, you don't have to worry about it for the rest of your cruise as your time will be reserved. We booked an earlier time for dinner for two reasons:

If you want to watch a show, an earlier dinner will ensure you aren't rushing and. This means you can have dinner and also watch a show.
If we got peckish later on, we could always grab a bite at Plantation.

For breakfast, you just arrive at the Waterfront and wait for a table. It's usually only a few minutes, however make sure you go before 9.30am.

Dinner 1

We were seated promptly and soon enough were handed menus. A waiter came around after a few minutes to bring us bread. On this night, the Specials of the day had a Swedish theme, so in addition to the regular menu, there was an entree, main and dessert in that vein.

Here's another tip

You can order an entree in a main size, or a main in an entree size.
You can also order more than one entree, main or dessert.
You can also order MORE sides or any other dish if you're still hungry.

Entree - Salmon, mash and dill from the 'Viking' daily specials. Absolutely scrumptious. I honestly could have eaten three of these. I'm not a huge seafood fan, but this was not overpowering in a fishy way. I particularly loved the pairing of mash which was deliciously seasoned with dill - a herb I love and complements salmon perfectly.

Main - Roast chicken with all the trimmings. Who doesn't love a roast? And I didn't have to slave over a hot oven, peel all the potatoes and stuff it. While I'll eat the red meat, I prefer white meat - and boy did I get a big hunk of breast. It was cooked very well and not dry whatsoever. I love gravy, but this one was too salty if I'm to be honest. I still polished that plate though.

Dessert: Chocolate cake. Anything with chocolate I love, however sometimes chocolate cake can be dry OR very heavy. This was neither. You'd be excused if you looked over at my table when dessert arrived and believe you just saw an amazing magic trick called, 'disappearing cake'. Why? Because I literally inhaled this light, creamy, incredible cake in about two seconds. I'm actually a little embarrassed how quickly I ate it - manners went out the window. I wanted more, but refrained this time. Now I regret it. I want that cake again!

I won't go through what my companions ate, but there was a wide variety including meatballs, fish, pasta and savoury crepes. Dessert options included fruit, ice cream, cakes and a cheese platter.

Dinner 2

Tonight's specials had a Spanish theme.

Entree - Cheesy-croquets, shaved radish with a creamy, tangy dipping sauce. Nice, crispy, not oily. However, the portion was too small as an entree, it was more an appetiser size. I'd suggest at least three or bigger croquets.

Main - Steak, polenta and roasted veggies. The steak was large and could be cut with a butter knife and there was the smallest amount of gristle. The red wine jus was flavourful and seeped into the veggies wonderfully. Now, the polenta. I've never really enjoyed it, but this was so damn good. The outside was nice and crispy, the inside creamy and seasoned very well.

Dessert - A meringue nest with fruit and cream. I can't remember what it was called, but it was like a mini pavlova. The trick with meringue is to not have it gritty or too crunchy. This was neither. Lovely crisp shell and fluffy inside. Sweet and exactly what a meringue should be.

There were no complaints from the ladies who sampled burgers and grilled fish. There was minor negative feedback in regards to the crab cakes - a little too fishy.

I have to include here the joy Mrs T felt when she got her trio of ice-cream. Isn't she adorable?

There are a few things - other than the food - I'd like to address.

Decor: A little dated, but comfy chairs. The level of cleanliness was outstanding.

Service: Our waitstaff at dinner were all amazing. The head guy came to check on us numerous times, and nothing was too much for them. They accommodated our every request, the food was brought out quickly and efficiently with the utmost courtesy and professionalism. The waiters did appear to be very busy and it appeared they were understaffed.

The extras: It's the little things like singing 'Happy Birthday', remembering our names and sharing a joke that made our dinners so enjoyable.

All in all, dinner at Waterfront was great! I didn't cook, clean up or have to serve anyone. I was grateful for the delicious meals and appreciated the effort the chefs and staff put in.

The mind boggles when I imagine the magnitude of what goes into preparing and cooking all the meals on a cruise ship, and I'm always intrigued as to how they manage to feed so many people! Maybe one day I can get a behind-the-scenes tour of the galley? Kudos to all involved!

Have you eaten at Waterfront on the Pearl? How was your experience?

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dining

Certainly worth its Salt

By Cruising With Honey - 01:24

People ask me all the time, "What's the first thing you do when you get on board a cruise ship?"

Invariably, I head straight to the cabin to dump my hand luggage.

The second thing, if I'm on a P&O ship? Book dinner at Salt Grill.

I don't care if I have to wait a few nights, the fear of missing out on tantalising my tastebuds at Luke Mangan's restaurant at sea is too much to bear.

Having eaten twice at Salt Grill, the first time on the Eden and another time as a guest aboard a ship inspection, I can wholeheartedly say there was NO way I'd pass up another opportunity to guzzle a few bowl-fulls of truffled mashed potatoes. I had gushed about the mash almost non-stop from the day we booked the cruise, my travel buddies were ready to fill my gob with the luxurious side dish just to shut me up.

Anyway, as soon as we had our hand luggage safely stowed, we made a beeline to the lovely staff out on the top deck who were taking Salt bookings. It would have only been 2pm at the latest, and yet we were lucky to get a booking for the Sunday night. Lesson here: Book as SOON as possible. I literally yelled, "Take my money" and thankfully, we secured a late evening booking for the Sunday night.

There was a hum of excitement in our cabin when Sunday night, or night 3 on the Pearl, came around. My friends had not eaten at Salt before, so I was terribly excited for them. We spent a little extra time dolling ourselves up and headed up to dinner.

Now, I had only eaten a green apple all day - not so that I could eat more at dinner - due to suffering from seasickness. Thankfully, the meds kicked in just before dinner and I was able to enjoy the upcoming feast.

If you've read my other review, I described the ambience as you enter Salt as just little bit more luxe than the rest of the eateries on the ship. Once you step inside, the whole atmosphere is different, more elegant, subdued and calmer. It's a refreshing escape from the bustle of a cruise ship. Now, I don't want to compare ships, but due to Eden being a newer ship, the Salt restaurant is a little more swish on her. A few extra finishes, the decor and its position - inside on the lower decks. On the Pearl, Salt is on Deck 12, and where we sat at the back of the restaurant, you could see out onto the pool. Not that any of this bothered me, it just was a little more casual. The other main difference was that I had a clear view of the kitchen, which I actually enjoyed. There's something almost magical for me watching chefs at work - I even asked our waiter if I could get a behind-the-scenes tour of the kitchen. Obviously I couldn't be accommodated, but a girl's gotta try, right?

Talking about the waiters, I could not fault the service. Binu, who waited on us, was the ultimate in professionalism and courtesy. Nothing was too much for him. From taking many photos of us (well, we are four women and it's pretty hard to get a photo we all think we look good in) to suggesting a nice bottle of wine, he was absolutely fantastic and sold the Salt brand perfectly.

But now, the food

We started out meal with the warm, soft bread and dukkah spice dip while we perused the menu. As there were four of us, our waiter said we could order four sides to share with our mains as well as an entree each. After a few minutes, Binu realised it was almost impossible for four women to only choose one entree from the mouthwatering list, so as well as our individual selections, he brought out a few extras for us to sample. My greedy little eyes gleamed with gluttony as it dawned on me I'd be able to sample five different entrees. And while that was utterly indulgent, my main focus was getting the gnocchi all for myself.

Let me tell you about the gnocchi. Forget all your preconceptions about that glue-like stodge you buy at the supermarket or eat at the local bistro. That's not gnocchi. (Try saying that three times). Unless you have a Nonna who makes it fresh for you to wolf down, then you haven't had gnocchi.

Luke's gnocchi can only be described as little pillows of heaven. Panfried simply in butter and tossed with little shoots of asparagus and corn kernels, it was divine. I tried to savour each mouthful, but if truth be told, I inhaled them so quickly, when I looked down at my empty plate, I was a little sad. This dip in mood lasted only a microsecond though as I still had my friends' entrees to sample, plus the extra one in the middle.

Tempura Prawns: I really can't eat deep fried anything, but these huge prawns were coated in a delicious batter that was far from oily. The delicate meat was perfectly seasoned and accompanied well with a little spicy rocket salad and wasabi dressing.

Prawn Toast: Topped with smoked corn salsa, this dish certainly packs a punch. Again, not oily and quite a sizeable entree. Maybe there was so much as we were brought out two plates?

Grilled Arrow Squid: with pickled celery, apple and black olives was imaginative and original. The lemon aioli was charmingly zingy.

With entree over, my one-track mind was, again, on the truffled mash. Will it live up to my friends' expectations? Has the memory clouded my judgement? I mean, what if they didn't taste as good as the first time? The buildup was almost insufferable.

Our mains were placed before us (I had the lamb, my dinner companions chose the tenderloin, sirloin and scotch) and our many sides along with them. With a wink from our waiter, my mash was set before me. There was enough truffle oil to make any girl happy (I think Binu made sure there was an extra swoosh of oil just for me). With the first mouthful, everything around me dissolved into a blur. Okay, I know I sound just a tad over-dramatic, but if you've had these pureed spuds, you'll know what I'm talking about.

Truffle and Parmesan French Fries: Utterly addictive with just the right amount of crunch.

Crushed Peas with Mint: Vibrant, fresh, creamy and a nice balance to the heavy meat.

Roast Curried Pumpkin, Feta and Coriander: Big, bold flavours. Not my favourite as I found the texture of the pumpkin a little too mushy.

Tomato salad, Basil and Feta: Juicy, ripe, sweet and cleansing.

At this point, I have to make a confession.

You're not going to like it, but I have to get it off my chest. Not one of us finished our mains. Nor our sides. Unfortunately, our 8 eyes were bigger than our 4 stomachs. While we all can't stand food going to waste, we sheepishly looked at each other - even tried to force each other to try some off our own plates - and quietly and apologetically told Binu to clear the table. The next day, as we discussed what we were preparing our kids for dinner, we lamented our failure to finish our Salt meal.

And then there was dessert

Hardly able to take a breath, let alone another mouthful, they arrived. But who can say no to a sweet ending? Now, at the beginning of the meal, I had opened my big fat gob and told Binu while I MUST order the Gooey Chocolate Tart, I hadn't ever tried the cheesecake. So, being the generous, hospitable host, he brought this fat piggy TWO desserts. My guilt had now reached its peak.

Floating Island: Described as "absolutely perfect" the Frangelico anglaise was the crowning glory to this whimsical dessert.

Luke's Liquorice Parfait with Lime Syrup: Tangy, sweet, bright, a mix of flavours that shouldn't work, but magically complement each other delightfully. A must try.

Strawberry Cheesecake: With disks of jelly, sorbet and freeze dried strawberries, this was the most playful dessert. Sprinkles of popping candy were scattered on the plate, there was some gold leaf and the mini meringues melted in the mouth. I'm always wary of strawberry anything as the artificial flavours usually used are not nice. But the concentrated strawberry flavours were flawless. The cheesecake texture creamy and left a full-mouth feel without being heavy.

Chocolate Tart: Delectably decadent, it is the perfect chocolate dessert. The caramelisation on the bananas had a slight bitter taste which worked well with the caramel ice cream and sweetness of the honeycomb. My only criticism is that the serving is too big. Sadly, I could only get through half.

To say it was difficult to move after our marathon eat-fest is an understatement. Maybe we shouldn't have ordered so much, but it was an absolute treat to enjoy such an incredible dinner, and even more so to share the experience with my beautiful friends. These three mothers, who just like me, are rarely given a night off and even more rarely enjoy such an extravagant meal. As much as I loved the food, to see my friends happy, relaxed and content gave me even more pleasure.

Thank you Luke, the amazing waitstaff and all chefs for creating a night we will always remember.

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Something smell fishy? You batter believe it!