QUICK BITE: French Toast Burger at The Galley on Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady

Who's ready for some breakfast?  It was my favorite bite from The Galley on the MerMaiden voyage.  And same this voyage.  

French Toast Burger!!   Simular to the flavor of a McGriddle.  Thick slices of pillowy, cinnamon french toast surrounding a smashed burger, scrambled eggs and bacon.

QUICK BITE: Afternoon Tea at The Sip on Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady

Afternoon Tea is available on sea days at The Sip which is the champagne bar onboard Scarlet Lady.  There are two options.  For $19 USD you can just have tea and the tower of savory and sweet snacks.  Or for $35 you can get the above plus a glass of More Chandon champagne.  We elected for the latter.  Went not do it right?

You have your choice of tea.  I went with a green oolong.  My wife got mint tea.  They had several to chose from.   Then the tower arrives.  

Three tiers.  The bottom was all savory including a slightly sweet open faced cucumber sandwich. A "bar" with a thin layer of lover mousse topped with pickled watermelon.  And a watercress sandwich.  The cucumber was my favorite, suprising with the sweetened cream cheese.  

The middle tier was all sweets. 

The rainbow cake was a super moist and flavorful chocolate cake.  The one shaped like a shell was also chocolate with a hint of hazelnut.  There read also a cream puff with some fluffy sweetened whipped cream.  My least favorite was the macaron. I expected some kind of fruit flavor but instead it was just sweet.  

The top layer was scones. One savory with onions and scallions and the other traditional.  Served with more like a whipped unsalted  butter (instead of colored cream) and strawberry jam. 

Both scones are drier than I prefer.  And the savory one needed a boost of flavor. Neither terrible, especially with the jam and butter.  

QUICK BITE: Virgin Voyages Room Service

Most aspects of the Virgin Voyages cruise experience is very different than the mass market lines.  And that goes for how they deliver room service.  Ordering is about the same. You order via their app.  And you get an approximate timeframe.  Then what shows up is not on a tray.  Instead a crew member shows up with this. 

And inside is a few other things. A sealed containers with any food your ordered.  the small one is some muesli.   Canisters with any beverages (in this case coffee).

And a caddy that holds the canisters. 

And what was inside the red sealed container? Some lonely piece of banana bread. 

And when you are done, you package it back up and set outside your room. No big trays to clutter your room.  Much easier for the crew to transport as well. 

The Wake on Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady

The Wake is the steak and seafood restaurant on the Scarlet Lady.  Of all of the restaurants onboard, this might be considered the "fanciest" - although there is still a resort casual dress code.  Men can wear dress shorts and sandals. I think the big "no no" would be a bathing suit or anything that shows armpit hair. Always best to avoid that in any restaurant.  

The menu does have a selection of seafood and steak that is included plus some shellfish and oysters that have an extra charge.  

They start out with a bread service.  

I thought it was strange to serve with a spoon, but it is actually the perfect method to get a portion of bread.  The bread was pillowy and soft, topped with coarse salt. The butter was a whipped version with hints of Bourbon cheese.  

First course was the Hamachi Crudo.

Thin slices of raw fish with some pickled rhubarb and basil.  There was also a sauce, similar to a mignonettte which had more of the rhubarb flavor.  Our server said it also had some rose water which made me a little nervous since that can sometimes be overdone and become perfumey.  Yes - that is a word.  But in this casez the sauce added a mild sweetness with balance of the sour rhubarb. 

Next was the roasted bone marrow. 

This had pickled onions and parsley.  Well roasted and tasty!!  I thought there might be more marrow based on the size of the bone. The brioche bread was perfectly toasted.  An unusual combination where each crunchy bite melted into your mouth.   The bread would have also been great in a grilled cheese.  

Mains were the pan roasted salmon and a salt crusted dorade.

Our server asked how the salmon should be cooked and the first option was medium rare. How wonderful since that is how salmon should be cooked. And it came out just that way.  Most and flavorful. 

I had never heard of dorade before.  Looking it up on the interwebs, it is a type of bream.  It came incased on a salted pastry crust.  Tableside, through a series of maneuvers, our server unveiled what was inside.  

A perfect filet, already deboned and without skin.  I am not sure of the cooking technique but I was most impressed. I have had salt crusted fish where the fish is encased in a saltpaste and then baked.  That is also served tableside and filleted. Here is what the fillet looked like on my plate.  

Perfectly seasoned and not salty as you might expect. The fish was served with  clarified melted butter that has some shallots and capers. That really took the fish over the top. 

Sides were butter mushrooms, twice baked potato and grilled asparagus. 

The mushrooms were terrific.  Savory and meaty.  The potato was more like an au gratin potato.   Very creamy and delicious but not what I was expecting as something called "twice baked". 

The asparagus was my favorite.  Cooked perfectly al dente and served with a mustardy hollandaise!!  Some of the best I have ever had!!

No room for dessert and we also had to get to one of the evening shows.  

Extra Virgin Italian Restaurant on Scarlet Lady

When we sailed on the Scarlet Lady for the first time it was a four night cruise.  We weren't able to go to every restaurant.  We made up for that on this current sailing. 

Extra Virgin is the Italian restaurant onboard.  The menu is broken into the traditional courses you would see at an Italian restaurant on land.  

Virgin labels it "Elevated Italian" and I think this fits.  The menu doesn't have the Olive Garden's "all you can eat pasta bowl" but I am also not expecting a meal equivalent to Michelin chef in the Tuscany region of Italy.  Somewhere in between which makes sense for a cruise line that has to make so many meals per day.  There has to be some balance. 

There is a bread service which was some very garlicy toasted bread.  Not quite as dense as an Italian bread.  And the typical olive oil and balsamic presentation. 

We started with the crispy artichoke. 

This was in a tempura-like  batter.  The artichoke had a great flavor of mellowed garlic.  You just pulled the delicate leaves from the bottom. There was a grilled lemon which was a nice balance to the fried batter. I found the garlic aioli was not  needed.  

Next was mini meatballs. 

These tasted like they had a combination of beef and veal.  Surrounded by a savory tomato sauce and topped with smoked mozzarella.  

Next was some terrific wagyu beef carpaccio.

How do I know it was wagyu  Because the menu said it. Seriously, whether wagyu or not, it was so delicious.  Tender sliced beef with a truffle oil dressing, sunchokes and a little parmesano reggiano.  Really tasty.  Some of the best I have had anywhere.  

Also tried the chicken liver mousse.  

When it first arrived, I thought I was being punked since it looked like the Big Pink Doughnut you can get in the Springfield area of Universal Studios in Florida.  But it was actually a very tasty mousse.   There was some tarragon and fennel for freshness.   I didn't get any of the promised grilled ciabatta but it wasn't needed. 

Our next course was a chef's charcuterie platter.  

Theee was prosciutto, salami and mortadella with pistachios.  There were also three cheese.  A relatively mild blue cheese alongside a parmesan and pecorino.  There were four sides of honey, roasted eggplant, quince jam and my favorite which was some roasted nuts with rosemary. I can't remember having nuts roasted this way before.  The rosemary essence went so well with the nuttiness.  Will have to try this at home.  

Main courses were the pappardelle ragu and a strip steak.  

The pasta was well cooked to Al dente and the Bolognese was flavorful.  The steak was also flavorful but wasn't a NY strip. I think it was flank steak.   I was actually fine with this since that cut has so much more flavor.   It might have had a bit more salt than most diners would like but I thought it brought out the beefiness. 

Dessert was something I had never had or even heard of: Affogato.   

A cart appeared with three different gelatos. 

 You picked one (I went with whiskey cream).   Them you can add meringue, chocolate chips or pine nuts.  Then it is drizzled in espresso.  Then topped with sambuca whipped cream. 

So delicious!!  How had I never heard of this before?   Maybe I will try espresso and soft serve on my next cruise.

The Wake Brunch on Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady

Some great dishes at The Wake!!  This was a brunch menu.  

Started with a poached shrimp. This had a schmear of cocktail sauce along with horseradish jelee.  Well cooked shrimp with a moderately spicy cocktail sauce.  

Also tried the clam chowder. I had this on our prior sailing and it was just as good.  

Creamy broth with a fresh seafood flavor.   

Also tried the citrus salad.

Mixed greens dressed in a citrus vinaigrette. The Ruby res grapefruit was super sweet and tasty. 

The  wedge salad was great for fans of deviled eggs or egg salad. 

Creamy egg salad on crisp romaine.  Sharp blue cheese to balance it out. 

Also tried two Benedicts.  The Wake (pork belly) and avocado.  

Both had perfectly poached eggs. 

Needed a little salt to bring out the egginess.  Yes - that is a word.  

The pork belly was closer to a fried pork tenderloin.  It adds more crunch than porky flavor.  The real star (beyond the egg) was the sauteed spinach.  So flavorful with just a hint of garlic and onion.  

Dessert was an apple tartin and coconut Panna Cotta.  

The apple tartin had a good apple flavor and a Carmel topping.  I loved the creaminess of the Panna Cotta.  Too often these have too much gelatin.  Not here.  Rich and creamy.  I would have liked a bit more toasted coconut to boost the flavor.  Overall, very good desserts.  

This was our second visit for brunch, having sailed on this ship in October 2021. It definitely lived up to those high expectations if the first visit.  I would like to see a few new items when we sail again.