Blu on the Silhouette

[BosoxI]

The service was very good, the maître d'hôtel was excellent, as were the two sommeliers.  Most of the meals were fine but nothing to write home about, and the restaurant is quite noisy, making conversation difficult depending on where our table was located.  We did B2Bs on the Silhouette this month, so we dined in Blu twenty one times.  We learned that  what was described on the menu was not always what was delivered to the table.  Grilled trout turned out to be two skinless filets of fish which might have been trout but could easily have been tilapia.  They were served in a bowl, and looked to be poached, and certainly were not grilled.  Lump crab risotto:  there was no sign of lump crab, in fact there was no sign of real crab.  Instead eight or ten threads of what our local supermarkets sell as Krabmeat to distinguish this man made concoction from real crab were  laid across the risotto.  That was what was passed off as lump crab.  A waiter told us that Krabmeat was also used in the crab cake appetizer which was to appear on the menu later in the cruise.  Apparently, anything that was supposed to have crab in it actually had this ersatz mixture.  One night my wife mentioned to our server that I had been salivating all afternoon over the prospect of digging the marrow out of the veal shank in the osso bucco being served that night.  We were immediately informed that the veal was off the bone.  Osso bucco is a classic Milanese dish.  The marrow in the bone is a prized delicacy and without the bone, there is no osso bucco. It's that simple.   Surely, a professional chef knows this.  How can Celebrity pawn this off on it's customers, most of whom are well traveled and surely know what defines osso bucco.  Incidentally, for those who have forgotten their high school Latin, osso means bone. 

 

We continued for a third leg but in a veranda on the Reflection.  We ate every night in the MDR and we had splendid meals each time.  The meat which tended to be tough on the Silhouette was as tender as it could be on the Reflection.  Lamb chops were perfectly prepared and I almost didn't need a knife to cut them   I had a second order and they were equal to the first.  Given the choice between Blu on the Silhouette or the MDR on the Reflection, sign me up for the MDR.  It has occurred to me that the MDR on our September cruise on  the Equinox was also excellent.  And Luminae is quite average,   So why pay extra for Aqua or a suite?

 

To be sure, there were some excellent items  served in Blu.  The steak tartare was excellent, the best I've ever had.  The salmon tartare was also outstanding.  Sweetbreads were served one night and fortunately, I had the foresight to order a double portion.  They were well prepared and served on breaded slices of tomato.  Very good, a real delicacy, and hard to find.  But overall the meals in Blu were passable, not at all memorable, with few exceptions.  My advice is if you see one of your favorite dishes on the menu, be sure to ask what goes into them.  Any restaurant can run out of certain items and restaurants on a ship are probably more prone to shortages.  When this happens, isn't it appropriate for the cooks to inform the wait staff who should advise the diners that changes have been made? 

[Silkroad]

Thank you for your review. Having had mixed feelings about our sole cruise in Aqua, (on an m-class ship) we’ve wondered whether to give it a try on s-class. We had simply lovely meals in Silhouette’s MDR this summer. We also had lovely meals in Reflecton’s MDR last year. Your description of faux crab being used when the menu says “crab” is one of my pet peeves on land, or at sea. There’s no excuse for trying to pass off faux crab as the real thing. Staff should absolutely be honest about the menu, especially in Blu and Luminae, which are marketed as a cut above the MDR. We’ve not dined in Luminae, as our sole cruise in a suite was just prior to that restaurant’s creation. It’s interesting that you noted how noisy Blu was, as we’ve had many people tell us Blu is a tranquil oasis compared to the MDR. Based on your recent experience, we may wish to stick with the MDR.

Edited January 1, 2019 by Silkroad