Lucysnan Posted September 25, 2023 #326 Share Posted September 25, 2023 Happy Birthday Megabear, have a wonderful day 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Interestedcruisefan Posted September 25, 2023 #327 Share Posted September 25, 2023 4 minutes ago, JeanieC,Aston said: Hi No,,,after x3 awful meals in the MDR we had Fish & Chips in the Quays or the (actually better food)in the buffet. In the last 18 months I have been on Britannia which was hands down better than my Iona cruise this year in both food and service. Twice on FO Boudicca from Liverpool,,,,the best MDR food I had in those 18 months and service second to none. Twice on Celebrity Silhouette where P&O could take lessons in Service and food The best buffet restaurants at sea. Im on Marella Voyager in a couple of weeks,I’ve heard good things about it’s food and service…..I’ll let you know the result,,,,,,but I won’t be swayed by any blind loyalty to a cruise line…….. Fair enough. I used to enjoy meals in the buffet and Quays but actually went the other way and we actually started preferring the MDR for evening meals We ate there early or later on and either got lucky with the food or service as had zero complaints Or else I say again maybe you got unlucky But it's hard to get unlucky 3 times I admit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Selbourne Posted September 25, 2023 #328 Share Posted September 25, 2023 52 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said: Not comparable to normal MDR we are discussing then Whilst I am in the camp that is generally happy with the P&O MDRs from both a food and service perspective (once you can eventually get in, if on Freedom Dining on certain ships), I do feel that the choice has diminished. The formal night menu posted above is far superior in choice to any formal night menu we had on Britannia or Iona this year and the standard menus look far better as well. I don’t have a problem with ‘traditional’ options, in fact I quite like them (had a nice Prawn Cocktail when out for lunch yesterday 😂). For me, it’s more about the totality of the choice. Nowadays, I can usually find a main course that I’m happy with, but 1 or 2 days per cruise none appeals. In the past (as evidenced by those menus) I would be torn between 2 or 3 per day. As for Silver Service, we’ve been cruising with P&O long enough to remember it, but I prefer plates meals for the reasons that others have stated. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Interestedcruisefan Posted September 25, 2023 #329 Share Posted September 25, 2023 (edited) 5 minutes ago, zap99 said: In many parts of the UK, Macaroni cheese pie is traditional. Yes just googled it. Must be places weve never lived or got family I've never been served it I didn't even think it was Italian let alone had British roots. Thought Mac and cheese was something Americans ate tbh Edited September 25, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Megabear2 Posted September 25, 2023 #330 Share Posted September 25, 2023 31 minutes ago, pete14 said: I wish people would stop using steak and kidney pie / pudding as an example of how bad the menus have become. Made well, it can be a wonderful thing. Beautiful food can be made out of cheap ingredients, something we should be celebrating and not sneering at. Back in the day, when the late Gary Rhodes had a fine dining restaurant on Arcadia, Steak and Kidney pie was on the menu. When served to me, it was a piece of fillet steak and a small kidney pie. Although it was extremely good, I did have an initial sense of disappointment that it was not the real thing. I remember the bangers and mash. The latter was mustard mash and the sausages were venison. Very tasty but most definitely not bangers and mash! By the way, where has venison gone? I'm very partial to venison and apart from in the Limelight Club it's disappeared since the pandemic, even on Cunard I struggled to find it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Interestedcruisefan Posted September 25, 2023 #331 Share Posted September 25, 2023 1 minute ago, Megabear2 said: I remember the bangers and mash. The latter was mustard mash and the sausages were venison. Very tasty but most definitely not bangers and mash! By the way, where has venison gone? I'm very partial to venison and apart from in the Limelight Club it's disappeared since the pandemic, even on Cunard I struggled to find it. For some reason I've never really enjoyed venison when I've tried it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Selbourne Posted September 25, 2023 #332 Share Posted September 25, 2023 2 minutes ago, Megabear2 said: By the way, where has venison gone? I'm very partial to venison and apart from in the Limelight Club it's disappeared since the pandemic, even on Cunard I struggled to find it. Oh deer (sorry - couldn’t resist it) 😂 Happy Birthday 🥳 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Interestedcruisefan Posted September 25, 2023 #333 Share Posted September 25, 2023 Happy birthday by the way from me Megabear - assuming the others are correct? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zap99 Posted September 25, 2023 #334 Share Posted September 25, 2023 4 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said: Yes just googled it. Must be places weve never lived or got family I've never been served it I didn't even think it was Italian let alone had British roots. Thought Mac and cheese was something Americans ate tbh In South West London, in the 50's Macaroni Cheese Pie was quite a Local dish. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Megabear2 Posted September 25, 2023 #335 Share Posted September 25, 2023 Just now, Interestedcruisefan said: For some reason I've never really enjoyed venison when I've tried it There you go then - each to his own! If we are at home for Christmas, rarely nowadays, we have venison and reindeer for lunch. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zap99 Posted September 25, 2023 #336 Share Posted September 25, 2023 1 minute ago, Megabear2 said: There you go then - each to his own! If we are at home for Christmas, rarely nowadays, we have venison and reindeer for lunch. You eat Rudolph on Christmas day ?.😶🌫️ 1 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Megabear2 Posted September 25, 2023 #337 Share Posted September 25, 2023 2 minutes ago, zap99 said: In South West London, in the 50's Macaroni Cheese Pie was quite a Local dish. It's a Greek speciality too. Ss a result a lot served in North London, particularly around the old Highbury stadium. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Megabear2 Posted September 25, 2023 #338 Share Posted September 25, 2023 Just now, zap99 said: You eat Rudolph on Christmas day ?.😶🌫️ We have him sent down from Scotland in a big frozen polystyrene box packed with ice. He's very nice roasted or slow cooked. Guess we are philistines eating Bambi and Rudolph on one day! 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeanieC,Aston Posted September 25, 2023 #339 Share Posted September 25, 2023 Hi A lot of cruises now serve Lobster Mac n Cheese as a side dish. I don’t eat pasta but my wife says it’s really nice. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Bill Y Posted September 25, 2023 #340 Share Posted September 25, 2023 33 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said: Really interesting point about descriptions making a difference Trout v Hampshire chalk stream trout 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Bill Y Posted September 25, 2023 #341 Share Posted September 25, 2023 15 minutes ago, zap99 said: In South West London, in the 50's Macaroni Cheese Pie was quite a Local dish. In them days my mother used to produce macaroni cheese whereas the spaghetti just came out of a tin 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Interestedcruisefan Posted September 25, 2023 #342 Share Posted September 25, 2023 7 minutes ago, JeanieC,Aston said: Hi A lot of cruises now serve Lobster Mac n Cheese as a side dish. I don’t eat pasta but my wife says it’s really nice. I've seen it in the buffets a lot Will give it a taste next time. I honestly thought it was a kids type meal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Megabear2 Posted September 25, 2023 #343 Share Posted September 25, 2023 1 minute ago, Interestedcruisefan said: I've seen it in the buffets a lot Will give it a taste next time. I honestly thought it was a kids type meal A big speciality on Celebrity, it's often a very large portion too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scirocco Breeze Posted September 25, 2023 #344 Share Posted September 25, 2023 I'm genuinely happy with good old fashioned dishes just as much as more modern choices, as long as they are well cooked. P&O now have my opinion on the food, for all the good it will do. I encouraged the many other people complaining around the ship to make P&O aware too. The more people point out there's a problem, the more likely they are to address it. Maybe. And there ends my P&O experience. Sad it's over in spite of the food. Looking forward to jumping back on Princess next month! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zap99 Posted September 25, 2023 #345 Share Posted September 25, 2023 1 hour ago, Interestedcruisefan said: I saw one of the Great British recommendations on the old MDRs for main course as Macaroni and Cheese? Is that really a traditional Great British dish? Never realised And does anyone really choose that as a go to main course? When we go into town to go to the bank and wander around the shops we often go into the local pub for lunch. I often have Mac and Cheese with garlic bread as a main. Funny old world. In Pizza Express on Saturday...for my main I had....Pizza. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AchileLauro Posted September 25, 2023 #346 Share Posted September 25, 2023 24 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said: For some reason I've never really enjoyed venison when I've tried it P&O can be a bit hit or miss when it comes to cooking venison and game dishes. The worst dish that I have ever eaten on all of the cruises we have taken with P&O was wild boar sausage. Now I've eaten wild boar dishes numerous times both at home and in France and always enjoyed then, but on this occasion the sausages were truly bad. I would go so far as to say that they were inedible. On the other hand a spatchcock partridge dish that we had on board some years ago was probably one of the nicest meals that I have ever eaten on a cruise. The Chefs definately got that dish right. We regularly eat venison at home so are quite fond of it. On the odd occasion that we've had it on a cruise in various forms it's been O.K. but not brilliant. I tried grouse for the first time on a cruise a few years ago. Nothing wrong with the cooking or presentation just not to my own personal taste. Still it was very nice to have the opportunity to try something new to me. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dermotsgirl Posted September 25, 2023 #347 Share Posted September 25, 2023 I made a comparison between non formal nights from 'before' and 'now' for main course choices, based on the menus in posts #195 and #294 'Todays' menu in post #195 shows 8 main course choices. This includes 2 always available options and 3 vegetarian dishes. 'Yesterdays' menu in post #294 also shows 8 options. But it doesn't show the 3 always available dishes of steak, salmon and chicken. So 11 options in all. Out of the 11 choices there is just one vegetarian dish. Therefore I conclude that for meat and fish eaters there is now less choice in the main dining room. As there used to be a separate vegetarian menu, if vegetarians now have to select from the standard menu, then there is less choice for them too. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dermotsgirl Posted September 25, 2023 #348 Share Posted September 25, 2023 44 minutes ago, Selbourne said: As for Silver Service, we’ve been cruising with P&O long enough to remember it, but I prefer plates meals for the reasons that others have stated. I prefer the plated meals too. When we first started cruising the placing of the vegetables on the plate for the silver service was done with a bit of panache. Latterly, it was just dumping a spud and a sprout on the side of the plate, even if it didn't go with the meal! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrierjohn Posted September 25, 2023 #349 Share Posted September 25, 2023 1 hour ago, Interestedcruisefan said: The other standard MDR menus didn't noticeably stand out as being a wider choice to me tbh Not a lot different And some very basic courses on there as well tbh Egg mayonnaise? For example Spanish oranges ? Not sure which menus you were viewing, but IMO they were the classy ones I remember, which are far superior to the current ones. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Bill Y Posted September 25, 2023 #350 Share Posted September 25, 2023 6 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said: I prefer the plated meals too. When we first started cruising the placing of the vegetables on the plate for the silver service was done with a bit of panache. Latterly, it was just dumping a spud and a sprout on the side of the plate, even if it didn't go with the meal! Yes fish and chips, fish served plated with a garnish of five chips then silver service of root vegetables, once everyone had been serves you could ask for more chips. But in them days the waiters had less tables to cover and you did not spend ten minutes staring at dirty plates. When they first went fully plated the service was terribly slow presumably due to the reduction of staff, 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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