I’ve mentioned before that the food is one of the highlights of a cruise on the Diamond Princess. The buffet is open from 5am till 11pm and there’s always something interesting on the menu. Some days, there will be a carvery or Asian soup on the pool deck and you can always get a pizza or a hot dog. Occasionally, there will be a Pub Lunch in one of the dining rooms.
The four dining rooms serve the same menu at dinner but they each have an individual theme. We’ve been going to the Vivaldi and feel comfortable there. Tonight was Formal Night and our waiter had hinted there would be something special on the menu. And there was. I started with Tian of Crab, Scallop and Shrimp with caviar and papaya dressing. Fantastic! There were two kinds of caviar: the large one like salmon roe and a fine, orange one. The waiter said it was Goldfish Roe. Huh! Could this be true? How would they collect it? It must have taken a dozen goldfish to produce the serving that I had. I had visions of sweatshops in China where they employ children to squeeze thousands of goldfish, all in individual bowls, to collect the tiny dribbles of eggs to send to wealthy Americans looking for a new taste experience. Or the waiter (from Thailand) might have got the name wrong and meant to say Golden Caviar. I prefer the first idea.
Then I had Goat Cheese and Apple Soup with Grape Tempura. It was described as chilled goat cheese, honey and yogurt cream with crispy grapes. It was the winning dish at the 3rd annual Bacardi bartender and chef cruise competition, and it certainly deserved to win.
For the main course, we had Lobster Tail and King Prawn. Each night we have a choice of 4 appetizers, 5 soups and salads, 2 pastas, 10 main courses and 8 desserts. And it’s all included in the fare. For an extra $25 you can go to the Sterling Steakhouse or Sabatini’s, but why bother.
We’ve given the entertainment the flick tonight and going to bed early. It’s Melbourne tomorrow and we’ll get off to walk around the town. Then it’s a leisurely cruise up the coast for a crack-of-dawn arrival in Sydney on Friday.
The four dining rooms serve the same menu at dinner but they each have an individual theme. We’ve been going to the Vivaldi and feel comfortable there. Tonight was Formal Night and our waiter had hinted there would be something special on the menu. And there was. I started with Tian of Crab, Scallop and Shrimp with caviar and papaya dressing. Fantastic! There were two kinds of caviar: the large one like salmon roe and a fine, orange one. The waiter said it was Goldfish Roe. Huh! Could this be true? How would they collect it? It must have taken a dozen goldfish to produce the serving that I had. I had visions of sweatshops in China where they employ children to squeeze thousands of goldfish, all in individual bowls, to collect the tiny dribbles of eggs to send to wealthy Americans looking for a new taste experience. Or the waiter (from Thailand) might have got the name wrong and meant to say Golden Caviar. I prefer the first idea.
Then I had Goat Cheese and Apple Soup with Grape Tempura. It was described as chilled goat cheese, honey and yogurt cream with crispy grapes. It was the winning dish at the 3rd annual Bacardi bartender and chef cruise competition, and it certainly deserved to win.
For the main course, we had Lobster Tail and King Prawn. Each night we have a choice of 4 appetizers, 5 soups and salads, 2 pastas, 10 main courses and 8 desserts. And it’s all included in the fare. For an extra $25 you can go to the Sterling Steakhouse or Sabatini’s, but why bother.
We’ve given the entertainment the flick tonight and going to bed early. It’s Melbourne tomorrow and we’ll get off to walk around the town. Then it’s a leisurely cruise up the coast for a crack-of-dawn arrival in Sydney on Friday.
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