Food Fit For A Princess!

Here is my review of the food I’ve just experienced on the Majestic Princess. I was lucky enough to try most of the dining venues and here’s what I thought of them…

World Fresh Marketplace (Buffet)

I ate in here for breakfast and lunch. I have to say there was nothing out of the ordinary here. Typical buffet fayre open all day. For breakfast there was full English, yoghurts, pastries, cold meats, cheese, fruit and everything else you would expect. Lunch had a selection of casseroles, roast meats, salads, & pizza  as well as foods more geared towards the Chinese market such as noodle dishes, soups and stir frys.

Concerto Restaurant (Main Dining Room)

We were booked in for Anytime dining and this was where we ate. We had great service and never a problem getting a table straight away. The menu choice was more than adequate. My favourites were shrimp cocktail with big fat juicy prawns, great fillet of beef and the most amazing chocolate dessert with a biscuit base and rich mousse with a sharp coulis. Princess like to celebrate where they are visiting, so there was an Italian themed night one night.

Breakfast is also served here and I had very nice (& very filling) buttermilk pancakes whilst my friend had the smoked salmon eggs royale which also looked delicious.

La Mer (French Bistro)

We ate here for lunch which was excellent. I had the salad Nicoise for starter which was actually more than enough for a main course with perfectly seared pink tuna steaks on top. For main I had chicken casserole, but not the saucy affair you would expect. It was more like roast chicken served with sauteed mushrooms and potatoes. They also served baguettes and savoury crepes. Everyone who ate here had nothing but praise. There is a small supplement to eat here for lunch and a $25 cover charge in the evening.

Harmony (Cantonese).

It’s clear that this addition is for the Asian market. The restaurant itself was modern & stylish and we received a warm welcome. The menu was quite unusual menu and included Cantonese herbal soup, braised cabbage with ham and chicken with a century egg (as seen on I’m a celebrity)! To start I went for the barbecued pork with jellyfish -although they had run out of jellyfish and shrimp with sugar snap peas and mushrooms for my main. I have to say it wasn’t as flavourful as I was expecting, however I understand this is more authentic than the Chinese food we get at home. My dessert was odd. It tasted like evaporated milk with some chopped fruit and candied peel. Wouldn’t rush back. There is a cover charge for this restaurant of $29pp

Crown Grill

Every Princess ship has it’s Crown Grill and I can certainly see why it’s so popular. We managed to get a space on our last night which we were really pleased about after the rave reviews we’d heard. It’s a typical Grill restaurant specialising in steak and they certainly know how to cook a steak! For starters I’d been recommended the black & blue soup which was basically French onion, however it was made with bourbon and had 4 different cheeses on top including a blue cheese. It was amazing! For mains I went for the rib eye which was delicious and huge! One of my dining companions had the fillet which was melt in the mouth and the steaks were served with no less than 6 accompaniments including chilli fries, creamed spinach, creamed potatoes and sauteed mushrooms. I was too full for a dessert, however one of my friends had the melt in the middle chocolate pudding and for those that can’t decide they offer a platter of mini desserts as pictured above. The cover charge here is $29pp.

Alfredo’s (Italian)

We ate lunch here and it was a traditional Italian menu including pastas, pizza, salads, antipasti etc. I had the tomato and mozzarella salad and a Caprese pizza. All very nice and authentic & an alternative venue to the buffet restaurant.

The things I didn’t manage to sample during my short cruise were the noodle bar, the lobster and dim sum bar and the afternoon tea. I received reports from some of my colleagues about all 3 and it was all good.

Overall the quality of the food was high and for me that’s something important when choosing a cruise. I would highly recommend Princess for food lovers. Apart from the Cantonese restaurant I think the cover charges are well worth the price. For more info on cruise line restaurants & cover charges click here.

And on my next blog – the beautiful port of Kotor.

Bye for now!