Royal Carribbean Independence of the Seas: The case of the missing Kidney and the food must have been hot at some point?

17-25th May
As an experiment, we deserted our usual smaller cruise ships, and went for a short holiday on the second biggest cruise liner in the world. You can get an idea of the size on
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=independence+of+the+seas+2014&es_sm=119&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=Tu2NU7L5KMu_POzNgJgI&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1920&bih=869#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=PRGLG-9_0q-K2M%253A%3BW6wx4vd5kOMM1M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.royalcaribbeanblog.com%252Fsites%252Fdefault%252Ffiles%252Ffriday-photos%252FIndependence%252520of%252520the%252520Seas%2525203-2014%252520415-rcb.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.royalcaribbeanblog.com%252F2014%252F05%252F03%252Ffriday-photos-saturday%3B1024%3B695

When it is full, which it was on this occasion, it is carrying about 3800 passengers plus crew. You can imagine the logistics of trying to feed that many people about three times a day. It is a slick production line with a very American slant. The way the pricing of some cruise ships work is that the basic price is quite good, but you have to pay a bit extra if you want to go to some specialty restaurants, and in the case of the IotS, the drink is pricey, with a cheap bottle of wine costing over $30 including 15% service. Wine by the glass is about $10. Whilst these prices may seem expensive to UK eyes, this is seen to be the norm for US customers. Drink on board some of the UK favoured cruise lines is more in line with pub/restaurant prices. Expensive bottles don't bear thinking about.
So, if you don't want to pay extra (and what you get by paying extra does not really seem worth while unless you have a very special occasion), there is no problem. There are four levels of breakfast service ranging from coffee shop type outlet, to buffet, scrum buffet and silver service. At best there are three types of lunch: pizza cafe/sandwich, served and appalling scrum buffet. There are three dining rooms open for dinner. There is either the traditional two sitting multipassenger fixed table, or a much sought after choose your own time with potentially tables for two. So on paper it sounds ok.

We had chosen what is called 'my time' dining where we had designated time for dinner well in advance. For some bizarre reason the restaurants are named after Shakespearean tragedies and we found ourselves placed in the King Lear restaurant. What we did not bargain for us having to queue for a table and at 8 o'clock, which was a popular time for my time dining, we often had to join the queue about 20 deep. It looked a bit more scary than it actually was and  once the staff came to know us as a couple wanting a table for two in a particular area they usually plucked us out of the queue and positioned us in our desired area fairly quickly.  There was one particular evening after a very popular show in the theatre, when the queue promised to be particularly long. By queueing before the main crowd came out I managed to get our table and the staff left us to our own devices. One disappointing element was the formal nights, and I think it was not reasonable to make people queue up in their formal dress. I guess if we had opted for a fixed table at a fixed time, none of this would have happened. The choice of food in King Lear was excellent, and we were mostly pushed to make up our minds. There was always a fish, vegetarian and hunk of meat option. Whilst portion sizes are not huge, because there is so much food served in the day, the meal sizes are more than adequate, and if you wanted something in addition, the staff did not make it a problem. Staff in the restaurants were universally excellent: I could find no fault.
Here are some examples of dinner served in the King Lear.

The departure meal of soup, a big hunk of American steak, and Bailey's Creme Brûlée.

On another night there was a traditional (not for the ship or the crew, but for the largely British guests) steak and kidney pie. I found no kidney in mine, but there was no point in sending it back, so I put it down to 'lost in translation' and regarded it as steak and mushroom pie. 

I have to say that we what are delighted by and large with the food in the King Lear restaurant. However hot seem to be an alien concept, with food rarely scoring over 7 the CHOF scale. We mentioned this to the staff, and for one night, there was a marginal improvement, mainly because the plates were scorching hot. As the food was plated out somewhere in the bowels of the ship, transported to deck 5, we just accepted that this was simply going to be a lost cause. I think that because few people complain the thing is just accepted, that the food is never going to be hot.

One of the tricky aspects of IotS is the Windjammer cafe and Jade. This is the big open self service buffet that operates at breakfast, lunch, tea and probably dinner (but we never used it for that). It is huge and for days in port and early breakfasts, it was the only choice. It is a very slick operation, geared up to dealing with feeding huge numbers of people in the minimum possible time. In fact it makes the point of reminding the customers that they should vacate their tables as quickly as possible to allow the next guests to take their place. This is not exactly what you want to hear when you're eating. Coupled with the huge number of people is a huge choice and although there is a bit of a scrum in getting served you will succeed eventually.  Somewhat perversely for breakfast it seems to be the place where you could get freshly cooked eggs, but not necessarily what you wanted, more what the cook was prepared to do, and whether you were prepared to wait. If you have not done this kind of eating before, there are huge numbers of people, some of whom are old or disabled, milling about trying to fill their plates as high as they can. I was amazed at the quantity of food that some people seem to be prepared to eat. I guess others were somewhat amazed at the permutations of food that I was prepared to eat

This was lunch on the first day. A combination of hot-dog paella southern fried chicken and lamb stew. What you can't see is that this is served on a plastic plate and the drinks to which you help yourself come in plastic glasses.

This was breakfast served on a day with a particularly early start somewhere about 7 o'clock. They did not seem to be any time too early for the restaurant to not be full. One could only assume that there were significant number of insomniacs on the ship or people we never went to bed at night. Another issue is that one had to learn one's way around the various containers of food and the layout of the restaurants and it was only towards the end of the first week that one was able to assemble a logical mix of food for any particular meal. You will notice on the place of birth the somewhat small portion of scrambled egg. Scrambled egg is notoriously difficult to find any decent state on any buffet. I guessed right at this particular type of scrambled egg was both overcooked and cold. No meal in the Windjammer restaurant scored a CHOF of greater than seven. We got to the point was waiting for the servers to put fresh tureens of food in place. Even that didn't help and food was not hot even at the point of service. The unlikely solution was to come at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon when tea was starting and find that there was a full meal in place which had been so long in the serving bays that it had heated up. The Windjammer restaurant was clearly the refuge of those who felt uncomfortable in the mainstream restaurants. From all appearances it was difficult to work out how some of these people had gathered together the money to pay for the cruise (based on their appearance). Fine dining it wasn't.

Another weird mix once we had worked out that the Jade side of the restaurant served Asian specialities. The curries were actually very hot but not in temperature.

So the question was whether the quality, variety and quantity of meals outweighed the downside of food that was not hot enough. Despite trying to raise the issue with staff, we failed to make any noticeable impression. However overall the eating was a good experience given the shortcomings.

B-B-Q Grill, Whetstone: Just friendly fresh food at realistic prices

13th May 2014
Over the years, the local restaurants come and go. We still mourn the passing of the Oregano in Oakleigh Road North, and have been looking for a local eatery that you can go into and not be concerned about having to pay out an arm and a leg, and get some decent food. It used to also be the Lantern in the High Road in Whetstone, but that became a Greek that only lasted a few weeks, and now is a somewhat upmarket Indian.
For some time we had ignored the BBQ grill, but ended up there one evening some time ago when we could not get into the bar at the Haven, and this was the only place that did not suck teeth when we just wanted to drink and not have a meal. As the food looked good, and it turned out that the restaurant part was being run by a favoured old hand from the old Lantern, we were up for giving it a go. This occasion is now the second time, and the place has now become a friends meeting place for an inexpensive meal
There is a web page on http://www.bbqgrillwhetstone.co.uk/and also information on  http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/restaurants/restaurant-12913.php and most of the comments there are pretty enthusiastic. It is a small place that has also had a few incarnations, and the top level functions as a takeaway kebab shop and restaurant and there are facilities downstairs that we have not explored yet. Unlike some similar layout kebab shops, the restaurant actually can get pretty full, and there seems to be a loyal local clientele of families and workers. It looks like a family run affair, and the lady of the house is often seen stressing about trying to make customers happy. It is very friendly and you cannot help but think that they appreciate the custom. Despite what the banners say the venue is traditionally Cypriot and the menu is short and also traditional. The restaurant is utilitarian rather than decorous and it could probably benefit from a few pictures or other relevant decorations.
For starter, I had the fried Calamari:

The serving was actually bigger than this but I only thought about taking a picture part of the way through eating it. It was hot, fresh and to me tasted like fried calamari should. It was also quite hot scoring a nine on the CHOF scale.

For main course I ordered shish kofte with chips. It could have come with either salad or rice as alternative.

This photograph taken with my Samsung mobile phone does not do the dish true justice. I know that a lot of people would not agree with me but the cameras on mobile phones are simply not as good as purpose-built cameras. Yes they may have lots of pixels, the same as a proper camera, but they don't have optics that are good. You cannot beat a protected purpose built multielement zoom lens from a decent maker. Mobile phone cameras make a lot of guesses, and in my experience suffer with quite a bit of flare around the edges especially in bright scenarios such as taking a picture of white plate. They can also not be so great in dim light, and the inbuilt flash devices are a bit of a joke for emergency assistance only. Nevertheless, that is what I have with me on the occasion and I upload my pictures via dropbox service and I can edit them on my computer.

Now to the meal. As the restaurant functions as a kebab house you can see the food is freshly cooked. Quantities are very generous and it scores and nine plus on the CHOF scale. My only reservation about these kofte is that I am more accustomed to the version that one might get in a Turkish kebab house, and this Cypriot version is not quite as spicy, which is my natural preference. I am not criticising what was served here, as it was excellent. I have had their mixed grill before, and the plate was so huge that I had to have a doggy bag to go home with.

In the six months we have been going there, they have not had their coffee machine repaired, if it ever worked in the first place, and the best they could come up with was a cup of instant. However, regular diners are often rewarded with a drink on the house. Basically these people come over as not trying to make the last buck from every diner. The bill was extremely reasonable, and one can expect to have a two course meal with a drink for about £15.

We will definitely be going back there again.

New Diwan i Am, Chiltern Street, W1. Well received local Indian Restaurant.

29th April 2014
When the students we used to go to the old Diwan i Am which was on the corner of Warren Street Whitfield Street near Tottenham Court Road. You can tell how long ago that was because when I started going there initially I was paying £1 for a chicken biryani. The business was definitely there until about the early 1980's when it fragmented and turned up at various other locations in London under different names such as the Red Fort and Diwan i Khas and I even found somewhere in Southport that had one of the cooks.
I had a satisfactory outing to this new edition of the Diwan with my wife in the past and I knew my friend I was hanging out with would welcome a surprise trip to this location as he had also favoured the old Diwan. There is no web-based information from this restaurant, but there are plenty of reviews. There are many reviews of this restaurant on trip advisor which are mainly positive but the owner seems to add his comments even after unfavourable reviews. I guess the problem with all (food) review sites is that people who have an unsatisfactory experience use them to vent their frustration, and interrupt the flow of business. I think that is the way of the free market and people can vote with their feet either way. There is some suspicion over glowing reviews on Tripadvisor, because it is easy enough for the business to plant its own reviews, or alternately plant damning reviews of the competition. I have even heard that there is a war of words between various Indian restaurants in North London conducted through the pages of TripAdvisor.
Nothing can quite replace the memories of taste and smell from ones youth, and I realise it is now so long since the original unique tastes of the old Diwan, that one just judges a place on its own merits rather than comparing it to memories.
Remembering a decent experience last time at the New Diwan, and needing somewhere within walking distance of Marylebone station, which would not break the bank, this fitted the bill. The menu is fairly conventional. The surroundings are new fashioned Indian restaurant with white walls and modern furniture. This small restaurant seems cosy, and the staff seem keen to please.
For starter I had my usual benchmarking Sheek Kebab.

This was pretty standard stuff. It was well cooked, very tasty and hot enough probably scoring about 7.8 on the CHOF scale.

For a main course I chose the special chefs Biryani. What made this particularly special was at the sauce came with it was based on dhal rather than a vegetable curry. This meant it was by definition not particularly spicy but the ingredients for the Biriani were very tasty and it was an unusual mix of meats.

In retrospect I think I should have plated it out so you could see what was actually in the dish. Suffice it to say, I would recommend a special biryani but the dhal sauce was probably a bit too mild for my taste and I think I should have ordered the dish a bit more spicy. I also think it should have been a bit hotter as it only rated 7.8 on the CHOF scale. I really ought to know better and I should order my dishes hot at the time of discussing with the waiters.We had eaten fairly early in the evening and it's not possible to say what the restaurant is like later on. Judging by the fairly positive reviews this restaurant attracts, I would be loath to go there at a normal dining time without reservation. Staff are friendly and efficient and this is my second experience of this restaurant which has proved to be positive. I will definitely go there again.

Comptoir Libanais, South Kensington: something slightly unusual for lunch

29th April 2014.
One of my buddies wanted to do a trip to the Science Museum and as we were planning a early supper we needed a snack, but we are both snack enjoyers, so would have no problem with a big one. I have used this cafe as a take away previously. Its premium position at the tube station end of Exhibition Road more or less guarantees it a lot of passing trade. There also seems to be a significant amount of trade from local business people looking for somewhere to have lunch. It is an attractive eclectic mix of cafe, takeaway, shop and middle eastern decoration.There is a web site on http://www.lecomptoir.co.uk/ with the menu. There are several locations, and the chain seems to be growing around London with the web site advertising 6 places. It seems to have caught the eye of the fashionable and this may be a place to be seen as well as eat. The influx of Middle Eastern guests and residents in London assure the future of this style of restaurant, and for those that want something a little more sophisticated than kebabs, this may fit the bill.
I had the kofte wrap

This is attractively presented and very tasty. It was never going to be hot, as most of the trade is takeaway with no expectation, and I would give it a 7.5 on the scale. However, as a substantial snack I could not fault it, and my companion, who had the same, was entirely satisfied. A decent cup of coffee accompanied. It turned out to be a bit of a hit for a quick lunch, and the wrap and a coffee and service came to £10. I like this place, but will reserve it for special days. Everyone is looking for lunch around the museums, so it is a sellers' market. At least the prices are the same everywhere in this chain.

Gastro Clapham: More or less French Food.

28th April 2014
A meeting of people involved in some other writing I do led me to a middle of the road bistro in Clapham. It is bang opposite the picture house at Clapham Common, and is therefore easy to reach from the Tube station. This was the night of the start of the first 48hrs strike, but the Northern Line was running so I did not need a plan B to get home.
Claaham and St Ockwell have become the haunts of the young professionals and monied who work in the city and other well paid jobs. Their survival needs have followed them, and the area is full of places to not eat at home, wine bars, clubs and bicycle shops. If you want to pay £20 for fish and chips, this is the area to be.
There is no web presence for this bistro, but there are plenty of mixed reviews to be seen elsewhere. (One discusses the presence of a rat, and this fits with the advice of a colleague of mine who said it is always a risky business eating in restaurants a stone's throw from underground stations, but I saw no evidence.)Inconsistency is the consistent finding, and it may depend on when you use the Gastro. It serves breakfast as well as meals during the rest of the day, and the early diners seem to be the most satisfied. Many say it is like a splash of Paris in London. This is sort of true in appearance and ambience, but the menu is French for average British tastes in my opinion. A place for everyday eating rather than special eating. I got there early (partially as a result of misunderstanding) and at 1900, the place was empty. At 2000 on a Monday it was pretty busy, and as our reservation had been 'lost' it was just as well there was some space.
The menu is French as Brits would expect. The staff seem to be a mixture of geographical origin, and our waitress seemed to have neither French or English as a first language. Lighting was very low, a pictures are bit dim and noisy.
For starter, I had the suitably French option of Onion Soup:

The somewhat exotic Clapham Common tube station

For those that know, the camera automatically set itself to ISO 12800 which accounts for this somewhat noisy picture of a bowl of soup. This was a bit of a d.i.y. event, and the soup could have been a bit hotter to disseminate the cheese. Scored a 7.8 on the CHOF scale. Warm enough, but should have been hotter.

For main course I had chicken stuffed with garlic mousse with French beans and a side order of frites. This tasted better than it looks, with a smooth mildly garlic filling, but could have done with being a bit hotter. Scored 7.8 on the CHOF scale.

Fortunately, as my publisher was footing the bill, I did not pay too much attention to the costs, but the prices were consistent with the location and food. Whilst this was an entirely satisfactory experience, it was not so good as to make me say I would definitely go there again. I might put it as second choice, or use it when someone did not want to go to one of my favourites. Service was patchy, but as this was an evening for chat rather than the dining experience, it did not matter. A bottle of pinot noir was indifferent.

My conclusion: if you want comfortably priced French style Bistro food, and don't want to go to Cafe Rouge, this fits the bill. It feels more of a bistro experience than Rouge. Food could have been a bit hotter, as it consistently missed the 8 mark.

The Haven Bar and Bistro: Jewel in the Crown for Whetstone's Restaurant Row

21st April 2014
The Haven has long been a local high spot of better dining. When we first started using it a decade ago you had to book a Saturday night table at least a month in advance. I don't know how it is currently, but for a Monday night after a bank holiday, there was no trouble getting in. One of our reservations about the Haven is that when we have been before, and it has been busy, it has been very noisy and difficult to converse. On this occasion, as there were very few customers, it was not a problem. Monday night may be a good night to go if you do not need the busy restaurant atmosphere. We have also used the bar area in the past as they serve good reasonably-priced cocktails and bar food. This can be busy on Thursday through the weekend. They have a fairly comprehensive web presence at http://www.haven-bistro.co.uk/Welcome.html

The atmosphere of the Haven restaurant is modern and hard. The walls are plain, with illustrations, and the floor and wall hardness mean that when it gets busy, it is noisy. The staff all wear a corporate black T shirt and trousers, which whilst making a clear distinction between staff and customers, seems a little out of place for this atmosphere. Whilst sufficiently upmarket to expect clients to be a bit dressed up, this was not the case on the night we went, and the 'anything reasonable goes' rule for dress code seemed to be operational that night. The menu is fairly short, and changes frequently but there are some old favourites which are frequently seen. In recent times, there has been a move to fixed menu pricing, which is a good thing, as you know where you are as you know the cost of a two or three course meal, but there are several supplements and it seems a shame that the 'know where you are status' is disrupted by having to pay for their bread basket. Nevertheless if you take the big view, the overall costs are normal for North London.
I had a somewhat unbalanced but highly satisfactory meal that night:
I started with chicken livers in a sauce with spinach:

As it is an important couples venue, the lighting was low, and got even lower during the evening. I was using my 'phone camera, and found that the flash had to be used to get an adequate image. I did not notice the chip in the rustic bowl at the time, which was hopefully what it had been cooked in. This was a significant portion (have to judge by the knife at the side) for a starter. It was well cooked, and scored an 8.4 on the CHOF scale. This was a good choice which I would have again, if it is available, but I have not seen it on the menu before.

For main course I had the calves liver. I know it was liver and liver, but that is what I wanted.

I had a discussion with the waiter when ordering, and explained that whilst I did not want it well cooked, I did not want blood pouring out when I cut it. The message was clearly received, and this was tender and sufficiently well cooked. Not a huge portion size, but sufficient given the size of the starter. This was an 8.2 on the CHOF scale and was well presented and tasty. I would definitely order this again.

Here are two deserts, mine being the one on the right and was a chocolate pudding with ice cream. I am not the greatest of desert fans, but this was pretty good.

A three course meal from the set menu is £23. Bread basket was about £3. Wines are not cheap, and one can expect to pay £18-20 for an low end product, but their wines are good, and you are unlikely to be disappointed  with the cheap end of the bin. So a meal for two including bread, wine and service came to a little over £80. Whilst a bit above the local average, the meal was also well above average, so you get what you pay for. The staff on this night were helpful (need to see what a busy night is like to get the real idea) and service was prompt which would expect. As the place was empty, and one could see in their eyes a need to shut shop for the night, there was no lingering.

I like the haven and was not disappointed. With the set price menu you more or less know where you are.

Viking Hemming: Good Portuguese food on a floating hotel

23-29 March 2014
This entry concerns a cruise on the river Douro in Portugal. The cruise has been reviewed elsewhere on TripAdvisor and a link to my report about the cruise can be found here.
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g189180-d1549777-r199569793-Douro_River_Cruises-Porto_Porto_District_Northern_Portugal.html#REVIEWS
Whilst there were issues with the actual cruise bit of the holiday, I have to say that the food on Viking cruises is excellent in my opinion and what we received on this trip was up to the standard of previous trips. The big difference was that previous trips with Viking had been supplied with Austrian Chefs, and the one on this trip was Portuguese, and we were seeing Portuguese cuisine. Portuguese cuisine is not world famous for several reasons (the ingredients and style are a bit limited and rustic), but what was offered to us left a positive impression. Accompanied by decent local wines, I found little to complain about.

This was the menu from the first night on board. It was probably not as good as some of the subsequent menus. There was some evidence that they were still getting their act together on the first night but things settle down fairly rapidly. Typically there was an amuse-bouche to start then followed by a starter, main and desert or cheese and if you wanted both desert and cheese that was no problem. On this occasion not being certain what roasted meagre was (turns out to be a local white fish) and not particularly wanting duck or the vegetarian dish I opted for the 'always available' option and I knew from past experience that there pan-seared New York steaks were good.

I think the one below is the Portuguese Sausage.

The steak.

None of the individual portion sizes are big, but invariably, by the end of the meal, one was replete. Hotness was not an issue, and was better than Restaurants, probably because they knew they were dealing with a largely UK and American client base who wanted their food hot. I was happy to give 8's to the food on the trip, but never more. The food appeared already plated up, with covers after a bit of a wait. It looked like it was being brought up from down below. Not an easy job. The staff were new to the roles, as this was the maiden voyage, and as we did not have assigned dining tables, we found one with a particularly helpful waitress who looked after us during the holiday. I hesitate to use the work voyage, as we did not actually go very far, but that is another matter dealt with on TripAdvisor.

Portuguese cheeses,whilst interesting are not what you might go looking for. There was nothing of particularly interesting taste or texture, and I guess the French probably have the cheese thing sewn-up.

As always on this sort of trip, there will be people who do not find the choice of food or its taste to their satisfaction. I have to say that I have never had a problem with food on Viking River Cruises and have always looked forward to that aspect of the holiday.

More pictures of different meals:

There was no evidence of resupplying the ship; we never saw the supply wagons arriving. We can therefore only assume that the whole of the catering supplies for the voyage was there when we left Porto and stored in it either chilled or frozen. As there were only about 80 passengers, and the trip only lasted 6 days, this sounds entirely feasible.