Are there any off menu dishes available in the MDR?

[Jim_P]

Hi all, 

Just a quick question about the main dining room. I was on the QM2 last year, loved it, and Im about to board again next week. One of the things I found was that the MDR menus often werent to my taste. I dont eat seafood, and a lot of the dishes on QM2 are seafood based, and often there wasnt an alternative that appealed. I was wondering if Cunard, like a lot of other lines, has some staple dishes that arent on the daily menu that are always available that you can ask for? Some lines have steak or chicken schnitzel that are always available for example. Obviously no big deal if there isnt, as I can always get room service or go to the buffet later, but just trying to be a bit more prepared this trip. Thanks!

[Jim_Iain]

oops --- disregard

Edited February 10 by Jim_Iain

[TheOldBear]

There are several 'always available' menu choices, as I recall from 2022 they included

chicken

sirloin steak

salmon

tomato soup [had this several times after reviewing other appetizer and soup offerings]

Caesar salad

 

I think one difference between the 'club' and the regular Britannia menus is the BC menu shows the 'always available' items

[Jim_P]

Excellent, thanks. I love tomato soup so will have to remember that one.

Edited February 10 by Jim_P

[Germancruiser]

That´s the one thing about my beloved QM2- Cunard, that annoys me greatly- that the " Always availlable" part in the regular menues in Britannia have vanished. I just learned from The Old Bear that one can ask for them in Britannia. Really that was not a great idea- to remove these items from the menu.

[Jim_P]

Yeah, it's pretty poor form when cruise lines that cost less than half the price like Carnival have always available dishes on the menu for everyone. Especially when a lot of Cunard dishes are a little esoteric. I remember one night there was only a choice between a couple of seafood dishes and some vegetarian eggplant thing. Wish I knew then that I could have requested a steak or chicken.

[Germancruiser]

Exactly my thoughts. That is- quite simply rather " cheap" of Cunard. I hope they change that again- back to " normal"!

[Colin_Cameron]

4 hours ago, Germancruiser said:

... back to " normal"!

In 30+ years on Cunard I've only seen the 'always available' items printed on the menu a couple of times. So I think them not being printed IS normal.

 

[Craigrlewis]

If you get a good waiter on the first night they will tell you this and that you can mix and match mains from one option with sides of another.

 

 

[Winifred 22]

I have frequently asked for steak and chips if I don’t fancy anything and have always been brought them as other posters have said you can mix and match if the cheese soufflé ever appears a a vegetarian option I have that as a starter. My daughter always orders chips as an extra side with everything and was disappointed in in QG on her last cruise in May when she was brought  a plate of crisps with her steak .  

[Pushpit]

I checked about this during my QM2 trip in December, and the list provided by @TheOldBear above is what was mentioned verbally. The other item I recall was pasta dishes, such as whatever chicken and pasta dish was being offered in the Kings Court that night. All 14 menus from that trip are in my report of that trip and there wasn't so much sea food in there, to my mind, rarely more than 1 of the 5 main course items in Britannia, and sometimes none at all.

 

The other thing to bear in mind that seafood is an allergen group, so you could ask for the relevant menu for those with allergies, which is different to the "always available" menu and is given to you each night for ordering the next day.

 

 

[Victoria2]

27 minutes ago, Winifred 22 said:

I have frequently asked for steak and chips if I don’t fancy anything and have always been brought them as other posters have said you can mix and match if the cheese soufflé ever appears a a vegetarian option I have that as a starter. My daughter always orders chips as an extra side with everything and was disappointed in in QG on her last cruise in May when she was brought  a plate of crisps with her steak .  

We learnt many years ago, the universal word for chips, is 'fries'.  😀

 

So saying, the wait staff should have made sure what 'chips' were required...chunky/skinny/skin on/sweet potato etc and that would have made the order clear.

[NavyPanda]

Whilst not strictly 'off-menu' the Children's menu is always available. 

 

'Adult' choices on the menu include; Tomato Soup, Fruit Plate, Spaghetti Bolognaise, Hot Chocolate Brownie and Fresh Fruit Salad

 

childrens-menu.pdf (cunard.com)

 

[exlondoner]

2 hours ago, Colin_Cameron said:

In 30+ years on Cunard I've only seen the 'always available' items printed on the menu a couple of times. So I think them not being printed IS normal.

 

Where I have seen it from time to time is in the Daily Programme, though not, I think, in its current format.

[Pushpit]

The other thing you can do, very easily, is to have multiple starters, soups and desserts but then to leave out any main course, that's very easy for the wait staff to set on their gizmos and there will be no long waits between courses. This probably works best at lunch if looking for something lighter anyway, so a soup, a couple of starters and then straight to dessert. But add in a cheese plate that would be a fairly filling evening meal too.

[Winifred 22]

7 hours ago, Victoria2 said:

We learnt many years ago, the universal word for chips, is 'fries'.  😀

 

So saying, the wait staff should have made sure what 'chips' were required...chunky/skinny/skin on/sweet potato etc and that would have made the order clear.

Yes we have laughed about it . Not sure why it happened on this one occasion as they nearly always order chips with every meal as an extra and are annual QG guests so no strangers to the way it works. Seem to remember they were dining in the outside area so perhaps different waiters were serving. 

[Annabel50]

You only have to ask and in our experience you will be offered alternatives. If you have a special diet they will bring the menu for the following day the evening before and you can select something tailored to allergies or taste and if nothing is suitable they will go out of their way to accommodate.

[rsquare]

On 2/11/2024 at 9:26 AM, Annabel50 said:

You only have to ask and in our experience you will be offered alternatives. If you have a special diet they will bring the menu for the following day the evening before and you can select something tailored to allergies or taste and if nothing is suitable they will go out of their way to accommodate.

Also holds true for desserts.  As a diabetic, most of the desserts are off-limits for me given that they don't offer sugar-free desserts ("reduced sugar" doesn't do it for me).  When I get tired of the cheese plate, I never have a problem getting a plate of berries and cream, which my glucose meter tolerates.

[Jim_P]

Just to follow up this, just finished my cruise. The waiters refer to the things not on the menu as the "a la carte menu", so if theres nothing you fancy you just need to ask them what options are on the a la carte menu.