Location: Somewhere between Saint Martin and Curaçao, on Voyager of the Seas
Date Tasted: 2/14/2023 (Tuesday) (dinner)
Price: N/A – Included in Specialty Restaurant Package
Beverage: Tito’s Martini, dry
After a wonderful day at sea we sat down to the ship’s Italian restaurant for Valentine’s Day dinner. This was the first carpaccio appetizer I saw when I checked the restaurant menus after boarding, but it was the third I tasted on the trip.
As you can see, it’s well-constructed from a visual appeal though it’s quite bare-bones. No balsamic drizzle or drips, no capers. No lemon. No onion. No salt or pepper, which as per usual, a small amount was needed.
Nearly perfect temp, just on the edge of being a little too cold. This might even be intentional given the warm ambient temperatures and sometimes large crowds needing to be served.
Very little shaved parmesan was plated, I would call this out as austere and a detractor. But, what little parmesan was present was of excellent quality.
The EVOO/pesto drizzle was slightly overdone, and very strong on the pesto side. I didn’t mind it but it stands out among other interpretations.
The meat itself was on the slightly stringy side but not terrible. Perfect thickness of cut, paper thin.
I assume the red pepper and parsley topper were merely for garnish and not intended to contribute to the flavor, so I set them aside.
The dish was much bigger than the offering at the steak house on the same cruise ship, though not as good overall. I do appreciate that it was not cookie-cutter from restaurant to restaurant, that would have been easy to do without most people even noticing.
Overall Score: 6.5/10 – Let’s be clear, I will almost always order carpaccio if it’s on the menu. This dish was just OK, there are a lot of missing components but again I give credit to the fact that this is a cruise ship meal – how far do you blow it out versus staying safe? Someone less critical may find it to be perfectly acceptable and rate it higher.
