What's for dinner? Eating at the included restaurant on Viking Sea

I am sailing on the Viking Sea cruise ship from Bergen Norway with stops in Iceland, Greenland and Canada.  Our first night, we ate in the main restaurant - coincidentally named The Restaurant.   The menu is setup like most other lines today where there is one section of everyday items - things that you can order any night you eat here during the cruise.  This included NY Strip Steak, chicken and salmon.    The desserts listed are also always available so you if you are trying to pick between multiples, you can always have that second choice the next night.  Or get your favorite again. 

Viking Sea menu from The Restaurant

The second page of the menu was in three parts.   The first part was a destination specific three course menu that is supposed to represent the region you are in.  Since we were departing from Norway, they must love their cod salad and meatballs.  The second sectionwas the items only available that evening.  And the third was a three course Vegetarian menu. 

Viking Sea menu from The Restaurant

Upon recommendation from our waiter, I started with the crab souffle.  While the souffle was well prepared and fluffy, it had little to no crab on crab flavor.   The red pepper sauce it was served on also lacked any depth of flavor.   It screamed out for a hint of acid or salr - anything.

Since on most cruise lines, you are able to order multiple appetizers and entrees, I put together my own surf and turf.  I ordered the NY strip steak and the scallops.

The scallops were served on a sunchoke puree which was well seasoned and creamy.  The scallops were topped with pine nuts which was a welcome crunch.  The scallops themselves were well seasoned and cooked to medium which I prefer.     A well done composed dish.

Viking Sea Scallops

One thing I have found on cruises, is it can often be hard to get red meat (sometimes any protein) cooked to your preferred temperature.  Not the case with the strip steak.  I ordered medium rare and it came out that way.  It has been simply seasoned with salt and pepper and topped with butter.  Delicious steak that was one of the best I have had.  The frites that came with it were not great.  They appeared to have been fried well before the steak was done and were cold and not crisp.  I ate a few but quickly returned to the steak.

Viking Sea NY Strip

Out table ordered a few desserts. The highlight was this green tea ice cream - although I think it is really gelato.  Velvety smooth and not sweet like some green tea ice cream I have had before.  Almost savory and a nice end to the meal.

Green Tea Gelato

Creme Brulee

Mango Tango