Location: La Central, 250 Convention Blvd, San Juan, PR, 00907 https://distritot-mobile.com/la-central-by-mario-pagan Date Tasted: 3/22/2024 (Saturday) (dinner) Price: $18 Beverage: Chopin Martini, dry, blue cheese olives […]
I set my expectations low for this dish because the restaurant is essentially at the end of the cruise ship dock. Living in St. Thomas, in my experience you’re not going to achieve many mind-blowing culinary experiences in such locations. You’re there for the view; the water and salt breeze and people watching.
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.
On a cruise ship, there is no consequence to ordering a lot of food and then ultimately not eating it. For that reason many of the dishes, even in the specialty dining areas are understandably small. In this case, it’s really too bad because it was a very well-executed dish all around.
This selection from the Sint Maartin (Dutch side) is going to be given a tremendous amount of grace in this review for a number of reasons.
It’s just another one of those cases of oh so close and yet so far. Whyyyy, is this carpaccio every so slightly cooked? Almost literally everything else was perfect.
It’s a little unclear to the non-local why this restaurant has two names. Is it Old Dutch or is it La Trattoria? Apparently it’s La Trattoria inside Old Dutch. Maybe they were inspired by Intel Inside.
Sorry for the terrible photo, the lighting was very ‘cozy’ at Bonaparte, with only a small tea candle on the table and pretty dark throughout. Very nice decor and perfect for a cold winter night.
Another cold (but sunny!) day in the Netherlands where walking was more a means to an end than a delightful discovery experience. Ultrecht has an absolutely lovely city center with bars/restaurants lining a canal with top-notch shopping either indoor in the shopping center or on the streets.
On my first day in Amsterdam I wandered through the windy, crowded, overcast streets looking for a place to duck into for an affordable sit-down lunch while waiting for my hotel room to be available for check-in. Without any guidance from friends or the concierge, picking a restaurant in this city, like many, is roulette.
