Kaiseki just won't do

[nolatravelgirl]

Interesting that Kaiseki can be such a different experience between the different ships. I only had one SS cruise that just wrapped over 4th of July but plenty of Seabourn. The lobster was the highlight but the steak was so thin that it was practically impossible to serve it medium rare. We were very disappointed with most of the food on board. 

 

[Rick Hawaii]

On the Moon and dined at Kaiseki. Unfortunately, it clearly didn’t meet our expectations. We’re from Hawaii and are use to a certain level of taste and preparation. With sushi, everything comes down to the preparation of the rice. At Kaiseki, the rice was close to a ball of dough. The quality of the fish was average at best and the Beef Ramen was tasteless. In comparison to Umi Uma on the old Crystal, Umi Uma was far, far superior!! Sorry, JMO.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

On 7/28/2023 at 11:47 AM, Rick Hawaii said:

We’re from Hawaii and are use to a certain level of taste and preparation.

 

Oahu has some of the best Japanese food in the world outside of Japan. Kaiseki was highly disappointing.

[mieu]

We dined a few times at Kaiseki while on Silver Moon. We really enjoy and appreciate well prepared Japanese food, but found the dishes poorly executed and the flavor profile hardly reminiscent of authentic Japanese cuisine. Very disappointing.

[markham]

If a vendor of anything touts their wares enthusiastically and yet delivers far less the consumer of those same wares has every right to be annoyed. Vendor sold A, consumer expected A, bought A and got B.

 

So cruise ship or otherwise, rules do apply, Silversea claims to be luxury, Kaiseki dinners are priced with a surcharge, and the menu’s contents and descriptions are a nonsense. As discriminating diners have explained.

 

No one needs be surprised. Simple as that.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

 

 

[mieu]

We do not expect high-end restaurant quality food when dining on a cruise ship. Rather, we hope to dine on thoughtfully conceived and well-executed food on a ship that promotes a luxury experience, such as Silversea. We’re very familiar with Japanese cuisine, and our experience is that a highly skilled and specialized chef is not requisite to prepare a tasty and authentic meal. We love Japanese cuisine, but found the food at Kaiseki curious and embarrassing.

[canderson]

I think I may have mentioned this a long time ago, but Kaiseki seems a very ill chosen name for these restaurants.  Kaiseki implies a very special style of Japanese cuisine, and these restaurants don't even begin to measure up to that.  If were to take one of these restaurants off a SS ship and drop it anywhere in Japan with the Kaiseki name, I'm not sure whether you'd be met with more anger or more laughing.

[pavementends]

Can't think why Tillie's comment would be objectionable. As far as I can tell there is not a required party line here.

 

My (original) post and my complaint is NOT that Kaiseki wasn't Japanese enough and not that it wasn't kaiseki. I was expecting an interesting asian-influenced dining experience that warranted a surcharge over the included restaurants- which, I might say, I found highly enjoyable. On my ship (Moon) and my cruise Kaiseki didn't deliver.

 

I will be back on Moon later this year and I am very much looking forward to the experience- although I don't expect to try a surcharge restaurant again.

[spinnaker2]

Last night we dined at Kaiseki.

 

It was not Seishin where we enjoyed terrific tempura vegetables!

 

The meal was not exceptional. Not worth the upcharge for this experience.

The tempura was weird. Some kind of fried something or other. Ugh.

 

The only thing that was very, very good was the chocolate dessert, and not remotely Japanese.

[drron29]

I agree that the evening meal in Kaiseki on the Dawn and Muse is not worth the upcharge and is a poor example of Japanese cuisine.

However on the Muse the Kaiseki evening meal is worth the upcharge being a Teppenyaki experience. certainly not the best we have had but usually we pay way more than $US 40 for a Teppenyaki meal featuring lobster, Waygu and fish.

Edited March 29 by drron29