NCL Encore: Ocean Blue

NCL has a concept of freestyle dining meaning that you can eat when and where you want.  There are four included sit down restaurants onboard plus a standard buffet.  The NCL Encore has multiple speciality restaurants onboard where you pay a surcharge or ala carte prices when you eat there.  Tonight I got to try Ocean Blue which is a restaurant that focuses primarily on seafood and is ala carte pricing.  There are dining packages you can purchase or receive as a promo as part of your booking that cover the surcharge.

I started with scallops on pork belly.

The scallops we as well cooked as the ones at the Haven restaurant from dinner a couple of nights ago.  One of the pieces of pork belly were well cooked but two of them were not rendered properly and were too fatty.  Pork belly is a lot like a smoked pork shoulder.  You really need to take the time to render the fat to have it cooked properly.  This pork while flavorful, needed some more time in the roasting pan.

Next up was a wedge salad.  Unlike the caesar salad from an earlier dinner, this didn't have enough dressing.  I realize I sound like Goldilocks!!  If you want to sell a wedge with blue cheese, it really needs to bring the blue cheese for my taste.  I asked for some dressing on the side and it was perfect.  Crisp, cold romaine with thin sliced onions and tomatoes.

I was able to try the roasted beet salad my wife ordered.  This was a fantastic dish featuring three kinds of beets and schmears of balsamic dressing.  Each beet was served on a small amount of a feta-like cheese.  They respected the beets which doesn't always happen with a beet salad.

My main was grilled halibut with a mango chutney.  I am a little bit spoiled when it comes to Halibut since the best halibut  I ever had was in Seward Alaska.  If you have not eaten halibuts cheeks put them on your food bucket list.  What is on your food bucket list?  Enter a comment to let me know,

My fish was a bit dry but was seasoned properly.  They also had a butter sauce which in retrospect is what I wished I had ordered to moisten up the fish.

Much like a steakhouse, you could get side items with your mains.  I went with brussels sprouts and lobster mac and cheese. Neither side was outstanding.  The mac and cheese while creamy with a crispy topping was missing any real lobster flavor.  The brussels were braised and then dressed in a sweet balsamic glaze.  All the brussels weren't cooked to the same level of doneness which detracted from the dish.   

The desserts were really good here!   I ordered the apple tart.  Flaky, crispy pastry with lots of sliced apples in cinnamon sugar.  Topped with vanilla gelato and a meringue stick.  Every flavor you would want and expect in a great apple dessert.

I was able to try the key lime pie my wife ordered.  It was creamy and full of lime flavor and topped with bruleed meringue.

Finally a chocolate dessert!!

That wrapped up a great meal at Ocean Blue.  We had only planned on one dinner here but all of use agreed we would need to come back one more time.  Just for science.  ;-)

Thanks for reading!!  We dined at one other speciality restaurant which will be in an upcoming blog.  

Three Course Lunch!!

The cabin I stayed in allowed me to eat in a special restaurant each day for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  It is a rarity these days on cruises where you can have three sit down meals every day.  Most cruise lines only offer that for breakfast (sometimes brunch) and dinner, where lunch is only in the dining room on sea days.  When you stay in the Haven on Norwegian you can have sit down service for all three meals.  Today was a chance to see what they had for lunch.

I started with Seafood Frito Misto which was an assortment of fried seafood and veggies including scallops, fish, calamari, mussels, onions and zucchini.  The batter was very light.  I think they use a batter that is at least partly rice flour so it some out close to a tempura.  The most surprising item on the plate was the mussels. I have had those prepared many ways although mainly steamed.  I had never had them fried in the shell. The surprising thing was that they were not overcooked.   I think they steamed them, then once almost cooked through  it when they battered them for frying.  They still had a chewy meaty texture I like in a mussel.  While the seafood was all good, the best item was the thinly sliced zucchini.  I had never had zucchini prepared this way even when getting tempura at a Japanese restaurant.  The texture was almost like potato chips since they had been sliced so thin. 

It was served with a sauce which at first I thought would be thick like a cocktail sauce.  Instead it was the consistency and flavor of what you would get in a bouillabaisse.   Thin and so flavorful.  I would guess they used shellfish to flavor it.  Such a great idea instead of aioli or cocktail sauce.

I next tried the lobster bisque.  While it could have been hotter, this had a deep flavor.  I would compare it to the base roux that you would build when making a gumbo.  There was a nice chunk of lobster tail meat in the middle as well as a drizzle of creme fraiche.  

For my main, I had the brie cheeseburger.  In an earlier blog I had stated how delicious the burger at American Diner had been.  This one topped that.  It was just as cleverly put together with a meaty, seasoned patty, topped with creamy brie.  I loved that they also included some of the rind which added lots of nutty flavor to the burger.  And the lettuce was on the bottom bun!!  They avoided one of my pet peeves of burgers!! 

Too often burgers are over complicated where a chef thinks about what else can they add to the burger. where instead they should be considering what should be removed.  I really don't need to see another "Texas BBQ Burger" with a fried onion ring.  Last I knew, Texas is not the home to onion rings.    This burger had everything it needed and nothing it didn't.  Served with some thin, crispy fries made it complete. 

QUICK BITE: What Does Room Service Breakfast Look Like On A Cruise?

If you have cruised before, you know that room service is available on most of the major lines.  The offerings can vary, often depending on the type of cabin you have.   Some cruise lines only offer continental breakfast while other lines offer some hot options.  While the food itself can be complimentary, the cruise lines will sometimes charge a service fee for delivering,  I was staying in a cabin on NCL Encore that had some hot options available.  There is nothing like having room service breakfast with a view!!

Scrambled eggs, crispy bacon and home fries.

Fresh melon and crispy red seedless grapes.

Embarkation Day on NCL Encore!!

After about 10 days from being back from Australia, it was time for another trip.  This time it was a seven night cruise on the brand new ship NCL Encore.  I'll share many of the food and drinks I tried on the ship.

For embarkation day lunch, I ate at American Diner which is an ala carte restaurant onboard the ship.  They have some standard pub foods and interesting salads. I had read some reviews on line indicating that the lobster sliders were really tasty. So I knew I had to start with those.

These were the perfect twist on a classic lobster roll.  Firstly, they were served on a hot dog bun which is the way you will find lobster rolls in the best places in Maine.  Secondly, the roll was nicely toasted, which kept the filling from making the roll soggy.  Lastly, there was lots of sweet chunks of cold water lobster including some tail meat.  And there was a thin garlic aioli that was drizzled on top, giving some contrast to the sweet lobster. They kept this slider all about the lobster, without cluttering it up with gloppy mayo, celery or loads of lettuce.  It was one of the best lobster rolls I have ever had.

I also tried a flank steak.  There was a terrifically seasoned chimichurri with a nice balance of parsley and garlic.  Unfortunately, the steak was either of very low quality or had been tenderized several times too many with a mallet.  Instead of having a toothy, meaty flavor,  it was like a low quality minute steak.  Somewhat grisly.  Pleasant flavor.  Not pleasant texture.

For my main, I ordered a cheeseburger. 

Cheeseburger at American Diner on NCL Encore

This burger was terrific!!  Started with a big meaty well seasoned patty that was cooked to medium rare.  You would tell they had seasoned it before hitting the flat top. It also had some nice crispy edges which is a sign they really paid attention to how they were cooking it.  Too often you find that restaurants end up steaming burgers which really takes away any chance of beefy flavor.  Those crispy. almost burned edges from the flat top grill really add that umani!! 

They smartly kept the shredded lettuce on the bottom of the bun which kept the freshly toasted brioche bun from getting soggy.  Two slices of american cheese and some pickles complimented the burger perfectly.  The thin fries were very crispy and I could tell they had been salted immediately out of the fryer which is the key for getting flavor into any deep fried foods.  The slaw it came with wasn't my favorite.  They seemed to be trying for a horseradish slaw which is a great idea - just not executed properly in this case.  The cabbage had been shredded too finely, much like the texture of the cole slaw at KFC.  Don't get me wrong.   I have enjoyed KFC slaw in the past.  That was because the dressing they use has lots of flavor, which overcomes the almost minced cabbage.  In this case, the slaw had a very muted horseradish flavor but not other detectable seasonings.  It needed more acid and mayo to have it come together. 

Dinner tonight started with a shrimp cocktail.  I was impressed with the size of the shrimp which I would guess were jumbo in size.  The texture was good and the cocktail sauce was spicy enough.  Instead of the shrimp having a "fresh from the sea" taste, they were overly salty for my taste.  I think when they cooked them, the water had been over salted or possibly had been used for other batches and gotten over reduced.  In either case, it was a shame to see a waste of such a good product.

Where the shrimp had gone wrong, everything was put together especially well for my next appetizer which was the tuna tartare.  The chunks of fresh tuna were the star, plated evenly over a bed of seaweed salad.  Seaweed salad is one of my favorite dishes when I have sushi so to see them utilize it in this dish got me very excited.  Traditionally, seaweed salad is dressed with a sesame dressing.  And the one they used here had a great balance of the sesame oil and rice vinegar.  It was served with a raw quail egg which was the perfect binder for all the ingredients.  When you mixed it all together, the tuna was really complemented by the acid in the dressing and the creaminess of the quail yolk.  Such a smart dish!!

I also tried the braised short ribs which were served on small potato cakes.  The short ribs were so tender than a knife wasn't needed - as it should be.   While I appreciated the use of the potato cakes, they weren't very well seasoned and added no texture to the dish.  I would have preferred a crunchier item.  I think a raw item such as sliced radish would have worked well, adding both crunch and a bit of a bite to contrast with the rich short ribs.  A very good dish which only needed one tweak. 

The caesar salad came with lots of salty anchovies which I loved.  And the dressing was also well seasoned and creamy.  Unfortunately, they had used about twice as much dressing as needed which removed any chance of the romaine being crunchy. 

For my main, I went with the sea scallops.  While I was expecting the scallops to be larger, they were well seasoned and cooked medium rare which is my preference.  The addition of the fresh cherry tomatoes and kalamata olives was a great contrast to the meaty scallops.  There was also a creamy butter sauce bringing it all together.

Dessert was a chocolate mousse cake.  When I ordered this I thought it would a somewhat generic dessert that you see on most fine dining menus.  It seems that almost every restaurant feels a need to have a chocolate mousse or flourless chocolate cake. 

 This dessert was so well composed.  The chocolate mousse was velvety like you would expect.  It was covered in a dark chocolate sauce, with more of the sauce dripped on the plate.  On the top was a blossom of chocolate petals with a surprising "bud" that was a fresh lychee nut.  That was additionally garnished by a mint leaf and topped with a crispy rice cracker.  The freshness of the lychee is what made this dessert shine.  It served as an interesting alternative to the standard vanilla ice cream you see with these type of chocolate desserts.

After dinner, it was time for some live music in "Q" which is an ala carte restaurant onboard.  I wasn't able to try any of the food this cruise, but they had some great drinks.

This was the sidecar  - one of my all time favorite cocktails.  They used a bit too much lemon juice for my taste, but I loved the taste of the 12 year old brandy.  And who doesn't like a sugar rim?

This was the smoked peach margarita which was "on tap".   I saw these on tap cocktails at most of the bars onboard. I hadn't seen it on other cruise lines.  I think NCL is doing this to streamline bar service when it is busier.  The cocktail had some great peach flavor and smoke.    The hibiscus salt helped contract the sweetness.

What a great first day on the ship!!   Thank you for reading!!   Look for upcoming blogs with more of the items that I tried during the cruise.

QUICK BITE: Where Can You Find A Great Calzone in Tampa?

While out running a few errands, my wife and I decided to stop for lunch at one of our favorite pizza places in Tampa.  This one happens to be in the plaza across the street from our house.

Cappy's Pizza is a local chain in the St Pete/Tampa area with five locations   Lunch was at their Tampa Palms location.  We have had their pizza here many times, but never the calzones.  Today was the day since they have a lunch special with a calzone and a drink for 5.99 as of the writing of this blog.  The calzone comes with mozzarella and up to two other fillings.

I went with meatball and mushroom!  It was the width of the plate and came with a savory marina for dipping.  The calzone came to the table piping hot and had been brushed with garlic butter.  The aroma of that hot garlic butter was mesmerizing!!

Unlike many calzones I have had before, this had a very thin crust although the dough was sturdy enough to hold the filling.  Too often calzones are a lot of dough with very little filling - or at least the ratio of bread to filling is way off.  They solved that at Cappy's!!  You can see there was ample cheese inside.  The mushrooms appeared to have been sauteed in even more butter and you could really get that umani!!  I wish the meatball had been more pronounced in texture and flavor.  I knew it was there, but it added nothing to the calzone.  I think next time I would get Italian sausage to add some kick.

One of my favorite items at Cappy's is the amazing Greek salad.  They also have caesar and a green salad which I also imagine are very good.  But I also get the Greek since it is so good!!  They serve it with two scoops of potato salad which I never knew was a Greek tradition until I had my first Greek salad in Tampa fifteen years ago.  When mixed together, the potato salad adds a creaminess to the slightly sweet dressing.  Combined with the very crunchy iceberg, kalamata olives, thin sliced sweet onion, shaved green pepper and roma tomatoes creates a flavor pop in your mouth!!   There are also some pepperoncini which are served whole.  That makes it easy for anyone who wants to make it a little more spicy without needing to be throughout the whole salad.  I also love that the salad and bowl are cold.  Too often a restaurant will serve you a salad in a dish freshly warm from the dishwasher.  If the salad was meant to be cold, that is quickly taken care of by the heated plate.  I appreciate that Cappy's make an extra effort to keep the salad a good temperature!!

QUICK BITE: The Simple Deliciousness Of A Publix Sub

I am sure everyone has their favorite sub shop in their area.  Some are chains or you may have a local place that is your "go to".  If you live in the Southeast, you are likely familiar with Publix which is one of the largest supermarket chains in that area.  All Publix have a deli counter which sells you normal sliced meats and cheeses.  In addition, they also make freshly made-to-order subs.  This is my "go to" if I am in the mood for a great sub.  What are the components that I need?  Super fresh bread.  Several choices for that bread.  Freshly sliced meats.  Lots of choices for toppings and sauces.  Publix hits all the marks for me.  I recently was having some work done on my car.  The mechanic was just a short walk from a Publix so it seemed like destiny was calling me.

I went with a sub that was on sale.  It was the Boar's Head Italian for $6.99 US.  In addition to the normal italian meats, I added provolone, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, banana peppers and sub sauce.  SUb sauce is a combination of oil, vinegar and italian seasonings.  Sort of an elevated italian dressing but not as liquid.

If you are close to a Publix or happen to be travelling in the Southeast, you will want to check it out for lunch.  Many of their locations have cafe seating.  It will be a surprising place where you can get your great next sub!!

QUICK BITE: What Is On The Breakfast Buffet At The Melbourne Marriott?

Before checking out of the Melbourne Marriott and starting our long trek home to Tampa, we tried the breakfast buffet.  It was one of the most  varied buffets I have seen.

I am sure many might ask whether I saw vegemite a lot in Australia.  The answer is no.  I don't think this is something that Australians really eat - or at least the younger generation doesn't.  The first time in 2012 was at the gift store at the airport.  For this trip, the first time was one this last day in the Marriott buffet.  I had tried it in 2012 and it is salty and somewhat bitter.  Not pleasant in 2012 and I wasn't looking for a repeat performance.

One of my favorites:  Muesli!!

And you can always make your own Voodoo Donuts Bacon donut!!