Now I have to start with an apology (and not just about the length of time this report has taken). No, apparently (and this is not how I remember it at all) I hardly took any food pictures on board the Magic, and no food notes?!! That doesnt sound like me, so I have no idea what went wrong to be honest . . . so the cruise section is going to be much shorted than expected!
I shall start by saying though that the food was just all superb! Anyone who has a cruise booked is SO lucky! We didnt have a bad bite to eat all week, from the counter service places on deck, to all the restaurants, to the room service (and yes we were eating about 5 meals a day to try everything!).
The highlight of the week (and something I have no photos of apart from one of us drinking?!) was the Palo brunch. I only booked it at the last minute when we got on board as we werent going to bother with it. It was superb there was an incredible amount of choice, from breakfast items to lunch items, to pizzas (even a dessert pizza!) to a million desserts. It was incredibly good quality, so much choice no one could leave hungry and I recommend it to everyone! It does cost $15 but it is worth every penny. It was lovely sitting there while we sailed in to Key West!
Speaking of Key West, we made an effort to try the frozen key-lime pie on a stick that we had heard so much about at our meets . . . well Tony liked it but I have to say I didnt. Usually I like Key Lime pie but this was a little soggy for me!
We also tried Palo for dinner, which was also excellent. The main course was my least favourite meal of the week I didnt like the sauce with the lamb but otherwise excellent, and again, really good quality food. These are the pictures of the meal though shame be upon me I forgot to take a photo of the famous chocolate soufflé!
Appetisers - I had mozzerella and tomato salad; Tony had calmari, which he had never had before and loved - it was really tender.
Main course:
My lamb
Tony had lasagna, which was a special that night
We ate several lunch from the counter service restaurants on deck Plutos dog house was our absolute favourite, especially the tacos - can you believe I had never had a taco before?! Now I make them all the time at home! I really recommend these for a quick lunch they were absolutely stuffed with food (so much so that whenever I ordered them Tony would get in the habit of going to get me a towel from the pool to put over my lap!!! Messy eater!
). This was the day I ordered two tacos plus chicken tenders and fries . . . just a light lunch then! Tony had a hot dog and burger, then tried my taco and had to go get himself one! Man looking at that we really are pigs!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is me with Daisy and my first ever taco, plus a hot dog (I remember telling her she was lucky I wasnt eating duck . . .!!). The hot dogs were nice enough tiny bit dry. The burgers from Plutos were also good, as was the pizza from Pinocchios (much nicer than normal Disney pizza, which I dont like).
Burger from Pluto's
I ordered mushroom risotto for lunch at Lumieners this was every bit as good as the one at Le Cellier. I love risotto!!!!!!! Tony had a really good burger this day (no photo yet again
).
I did do you proud with photos at the midnight dessert buffet though! Look at all this!!! This was the only point of the cruise that I regretted being on late dining as we just werent ready for all of this . . . that didnt stop us trying it though!!!
And the highlight of the night . . .
I also have a couple of pictures of some desserts from dinners over the week, plus our lovely server Marco (who I forgive for torturing us with quizzes the entire week which drove us insane all through dinner!!)
This was the Baked Alaska, which all the waiters carry around on the last night in a display!
To make up for the short reviews I emailed
DCL and got the recipe for my favourite meal of the week (which I also forgot to take a photo of?!) Blue Cheese and asparagus risotto. I could have eaten three plates of this it was soooooooooooo good!
Blue Cheese and Asparagus Risotto
3 W Shallots Finely Diced
14 oz Arborio Rice
10 floz Heavy Cream
2 oz Parmesan Grated
4 floz Brandy
6 floz White Wine
12 floz Vegetable Stock
300 mil Mascarpone
20 ea Asparagus 1cm sliced
6 st Celery
6 oz Blue Cheese
4 oz Softened butter 1/4" Cubes
8 oz Walnuts Crushed
6 oz Blue Cheese crumbled
Garnish
30 ea Asparagus Spears
10 oz Parmesan Shaved
10 oz Walnuts Crushed
Blue Cheese and Asparagus Risotto
Saute the Shallots, in butter add the white wine and brandy and reduce by 2/3rds add the Arborio rice and GRADUALLY add the HOT vegetable stock ,whilst stirring continuously on the heat. Once 2/3rds of the stock has been used, add the heavy cream and mascarpone,-then stir in the celery,and crushed walnuts-add the grated parmesan for consistancy and season with ground black pepper and salt--take off the heat and stir in the cut asparagus and softened butter--settle for 5 minutes before serving.
Assembly
Just before serving, fold in the cumbled blue cheese,Garnish with 3
Spears of Aspragus,Shaved Parmesan and Crushed Walnuts.
So that is the end of our three week adventure! Really sorry the cruise reviews are so rubbish! Again, I have no idea where all the photos went, I remember taking more than I have! I am already planning next years trip, and will return to do reviews of course! We have booked four nights in NY, followed by 12 nights at Disney. If anyone has any recommendations on where to eat in NY I am all ears! Currently I know I want to go to Serendipities, but thats about it!
Thanks for reading along!