QUICK BITE: Playmakers Sports Bar on Odyssey of the Seas

We had a very good lunch at Playmakers which is the sports bar onboard the Odyssey of the Seas.  The UDP package gave us a $20 credit per person towards food. And we made the most out of it.  Onion ring tower!!  Two kinds of wings!!   Chicken planks!!  Tuna Poke Nachos!!   Truffle Burger!!

QUICK BITE: Sorrento's Pizza on Odyssey of the Seas

First lunch or second breakfast?  Who is really tracking?  

Sorrento's is the pizza venue on board.  They are open nearly 24 hours a day with hours of 11:30 AM to 3AM.   I thought it was just a place to grab a slice.  I didn't know they also had a great selection of antipasto.  

The pizza was pedestrian. I have had much better crust on other cruises ships. Princess and Carnival come to mind.  The special.pizza of the day (Prima Vera) was the best of the two, lifted by terrific toppings of marinated tomatoes, peppers,.spinach and onion.  It had a good kick of heat. 

The real gem of this place is the antipasto.  So many things to try.  

The marinated olives were my favorite. If you have never tried marinating olives with oranges, stop what you are doing and add it to your "to do" list.  This was not the first time having them this way, but it was the best.  Something about the sweet citrus that goes so well with the brininess.  The marinated roasted peppers and eggplant were also delicious. They were combined with some spicy peppers which raised the whole dish up several notches.  The stuffed potatoes were surprisingly tasty.  Small yellow potatoes that had been boiled and them had some the potatoes scooped out and combined with cheese. Then that mixture added back as stuffing.  There were also stuffed and fried mushrooms.  While these had a good flavor, they were served cold.  If they had been warm, it would have been a winning dish.  

So while this place may be "known" for it's pizza, you should really go for the antipasto.  It is a shame this isn't located on the pool deck although I understand why they have it near the casino.

Izumi Dinner on Odyssey of the Seas

Izumi is the sushi restaurant on Odyssey of the Seas.  We were able to eat here as part of the Unlimited Dining Package (UDP).  

When you get the menus, they also bring you some warm and well salted edamame.  

These were very tasty and the salt gets your palate ready for the meal.  

The UDP allowed us to have the prix fix menu.  This started off with a very nice but standard miso soup.  

Some nice pieces of tofu in a very well seasoned broth.  

The prix fix let us have one starter each and two mains each.    After talking to the waiters he recommended the Crispy Chicken Kara-Age and the Shrimp Firecracker Spring Roll.  

The was chicken thighs in a soy, ginger and mirin marinade.  They are they coated with what I think was corn starch and then deep fried.  Served with a Thai chili sauce on the side.  

I have a few followers of this blog who will know what Hawaiian Fried Chicken is like. This was the ships version of that dish. The biggest difference was the sauce.  When I have made this the sauce is thinner and made with lemon juice, soy sauce and rice wine vinegar.  A very tasty and satisfying dish.  

The springs rolls were crunchy come shaped bite that had shrimp and a spicy sauce inside. 

For the mains we only picked one which was the chef's sashimi plate. 

A great assortment of large pieces of salmon, tuna and yellow fish. There was also some shrimp.  Standard sides of wasabi and ginger.  

We asked fhe waiter to work with the chef on the other three mains we should try. This is what was presented.  

This is the seared tuna tataki roll.  Large pieces of seared tuna with scallions and a ponzu sauce. 

This is the Futomaki roll.  It had a variety of tun@, salmon and whitefish and was tempura fried and topped with a champagne sauce.  The chili strings had a bit of heat which could add with each bite.  

This is the Champagne Lobster Roll.  Blanched lobster, avocado and Daikin with a champagne sauce. This was my favorite of the night.  

Ended the night with one of my favorite ice creams: Green tea!!

While it could have been creamier, the flavor was spot on. Not too sweet!!

A fantastic meal!!   If we had more sea days we might try this for lunch but it will need to wait for another cruise. 

QUICK BITE: Breakfast at Coastal Kitchen

Good Morning from Cozumel!!   Having breakfast at Coastal Kitchen and then a day of visiting some resorts.  

I ordered the Baja Eggs and French Toast.  

Baja Eggs were over easy with fresh sliced tomatoes, avocado and jalapenos. Sides of salsa and sour cream.  

The French toast was custardy and dusted with cinnamon sugar.  Warm maple syrup and flambeed banana on the side.  

What would you have ordered?

Lunch at Chops Grill on Odyssey of the Seas

Chops Grill is the steakhouse onboard the Odyssey of the Seas.  This is a speciality dining restaurant that has an extra charge.  On our first sea day, it was open for lunch.  We paid $174/person for an Unlimited Dining Package which let's us have lunch and dinner at any of the speciality restaurants on board all cruise.  Normally the cover charge is $25/person at Chops. So what did we order?

Started with the Collosal Shrimp Cocktail.  

Four meaty, well cooked shrimp in a horseradish-heavy cocktail sauce.  Exactly as a shrimp cocktail should be.

Next was mushroom soup.  

If you have was some of my other blogs, mushroom soup is one of my "go to" items on a cruise.  If it is offered, I will order it. I have rarely been disappointed. And that didn't change with this soup.  A delicious soup with tons of rich mushroom flavor.  It had been pureed so it was creamy - without having any added cream.  There were also subtle hints of garlic and truffle - but not enough to overpower the star ingredient.  

Next was a steak salad. I loved how they served the filet separately from he salad.   You could add as you needed without wilting the greens. 

Also ordered the burger.  I was nervous about this because our waiter said he could only have it cooked to medium well.   If that was the case, I would rather eat cardboard!!  But he said he would "negotiate" with the chef for medium. And he was a good negotiator.  Still had some pink - not as much as I would like - but it was still flavorful and juicy.  

As is the case with most steak house, you can order shareable sides at Chops. 

Clockwise from the top is asparagus, mashed potatoes, gruyere cheese tator tots and Mac and cheese.  The asparagus was my favorite.  Cooked  al dente and well seasoned.  The mashed potatoes were creamy and seasoned with just enough salt.  Potatoes are a starch that crave salt.  The gruyere tots were disappointing.  There was not the strong gruyere flavor I was craving. Maybe a hit of salt would have helped.  The mac and cheese was creamy with well cooked elbow noodles.  Subtle hints if cheddar and maybe a swiss.  Overall a great lunch!!   

Down the Rabbit Hole At Wonderland on Odyssey of the Seas

Wonderland is a restaurant on the Royal Caribbean Odyssey of the Seas cruise ship. As you may have guessed, it is themed after the Lewis Carroll books about Alice and her adventures down the rabbit hole.  

The menu is playful with lots of whimsy and references to characters and themes from the books.   You can just take a look at the cocktail menu for a preview of what lies ahead.

 

Your own adventure starts when you receive the menu.  

"But it is blank", said Alice.

"Take this magical brush and water and reveal what lies ahead", said the Mad Hatter.

There are themes of Sun, Ice and Fire for starters.  The mains are themed for Earth and Sea.  

We had a terrific waiter who I will call Milo - because that is his name.  He asked us if it was okay for him to select the starters and we could choose our mains.  That sounded adventurous to us so we were onboard.  

 We started with the Bird's Nest. This came to your table in a dome full of smoke.  

And then the reveal.  

This was essentially two deviled eggs with a blue cheese spread and a dollop of siracha.  The flavor was too muted for me.  With two strong featured ingredients, I expected more of a punch in the mouth.  Instead it tasted like an egg that was not salted.  Somewhat disappointing based on the buildup and presentation. The most interesting part of the dish was the "nest".  This was made of thin strips of filo pastry that had been formed into the ring and flash fried.  It didn't have much flavor, but did add to the "wow" factor.  Unfortunately, this was not a winning dish.  I think if they had added just a little sea salt or a bit more siracha, it would have been much better. 

Next was the Mad Hatter's Purple Potted Shrimp.

This has a whimsical presentation being served in a purple tea cup. It was a large shrimp coated with finely shredded filo as the breading.  And there was a surprise when you lifted up the shrimp. There was a delicate sauce with a hint of scotch bonnet peppers.  Not enough to knock.yoir socks off - but enough to cut the richness the fried seafood.  This was a tasty dish. 

Next was liquid lobster

This was meant to be consumed in one bite.   It was a portion of lobster tail in a rich bisque then topped with Russian caviar.   A very satisfying bite and one of the best single bites of food I have ever had.  

Next was Tomato Water.  

This was another dish made to be consumed in one shot.  It was the water from a tomato that was filtered down to just the liquid - no pulp or other parts of the tomato to make it red.  It had some small peppers and was topped with a bread foam.  When you drank it, it was like you were having a bruschetta.  Very creative and tasty.  

Next was Crispy Crab Cones. 

This was a crunchy cone made from a wonton wrapper.  At the bottom of the cone was two kinds of crabmeat and it was topped with a luscious creamy avocado "ice cream".   Definitely another one where you needed to eat in one bite to get all the flavors at once.  Great combination of textures and flavors. Crunchy from the wonton, slighty briney from the crab, creamy from the avocado and a hint of freshness with the ohba leaf.  What is an ohba leaf?  I also had to look it up.  It is a leaf often used in the presentation of sushi.  Sometimes it as a serrated edge and the sushi is placed on top.  Here a smaller leaf was used as a garnish.  

The it was time for main courses. I chose from the earth menu. This was the Rib "I" Luscious Short Rib.  

The playing was unusual in that it was upside down. And surrounded by various sides you could dip the short rib into. There was sweet potato, a vinegary pureed beet, miniature heirloom tomatoes and an apple puree.  All were tasty and interesting to try with the short rib.  I would say that none of that added to or detracted from the dish.  Milo told me I shouldn't need a knife to cut this, and he was absolutely correct.  This was a succulent and huge - and as the menu foretold - a luscious piece of meat.  Juicy and full of flavor. And the addition of the bordelaise pan sauce brought it all together. 

My wife ordered the Branzino in Crispy Bread from the sea menu.  

This was a clever way to have a crispy "skin" without leaving the skin on the fish.  The Branzino was combined with some basmati rice.  The ratio of rice to fish was off. Needs much more fish. The best part of the dish?  The tamarind spice emulsion!!   The sauce alone took this from just being an ordinary dish to something to remember.  Without it, this would have been disappointing.

For dessert, Milo asked if he could choose - as he had for the starers.  We were in!!

This was "The World".

This was a chocolate dome. "What is inside this world", asked Alice.   

"Let me show you", said the Mad Hatter as he poured melted caramel over the top.  

Inside was cold and creamy salted caramel ice cream along with peanut butter ganache and chocolate mousse.   All this flavors with the warm caramel made this one of the best desserts aI have ever had.  You really wanted to get that perfect bite.  

Milo also brought the Mystical Mushroom Garden. 

This was full of whimsy.  The mushroom stems were hardened meringue.  The pink caps has a slight hint of pink peppercorn.  The red cap was a moist pistachio cake.  The orange was a delicious mango sorbet.  And all "growing" on "soil" which was a combination of chocolate, red velvet and freeze dried fruit dust.   Very creative and tasty. 

So if you find yourself having a chance to eat at Wonderland, definitely take a trip down the Rabbit Hole.  Just ask Alice.