On board any cruise there will be multiple restaurants from which one can choose. This is certainly true with the Riviera cruise I am on currently. There are 4 specality restaurants on board the Riviera, Jacques, Red Ginger, Polo Grill and Toscana. For these restaurants you need to make reservations ahead of time. The regular restaurants are very good and one can see that changing the menu everyday at these is a monumental accomplishment. They consist of the Grand Dinning room and the Terrace Cafe. There are also small areas to obtain food a little quicker, such as the Wave Cafe.
The Grand Dining Room 
The Terrace Cafe 
The Terrace Cafe
Unfortunately, trying to photograph the wrapped dishes at either of these regular restaurants was difficult. But at the specialty restaurants was much easier.
Jacques 
Boston Lettuce wrapped Crab Filling 
Molten goat cheese Souffle 
Dover Sole 
Poached pastry in French Island Rum
The menu at Jacques was extensive. I realized that I would be stuffed before the main course came if I ordered all the things that looked good on that menu. At Jacques there was a very interesting wrapped dish; Boston lettuce was blanched briefly to give the leaf pliability. Then it was wrapped around a crab filling. The presentation was very pleasant and interesting, see the picture above. The Souffle was delicious. I am always interested in souffles since I have learned how to make these at home. They are impressive, delicious dishes, and this one was no exception. The soup was a creamed pumpkin soup. I have to admit that I love creamed soups, but frequently find that the underlying base is overshadowded by the cream and spices. I could taste the pumpkin, but it was distant. Regardless it was a good savory soup. The Dover Sole was filleted at the table and was a fairly large serving. The sole fish flavor was fresh, but the dish was a bit salty. I would probably have been very careful about added salt with the capers that were part of the dish. Regarldess, Dover Sole is one of my favorite fish … and I did enjoy the dish immensely. Next came the dessert, a rum soaked pastry, a fitting end to this delicious meal.
During my dinner at Jacques, I met an English couple, very nice folks. They carried with them a special pepper and pepper grinder, as well as a special salt, nutmeg and even Sichuan peppercorns also in a special grinders. I found this fascinating and vowed to research this more once back at home. They were gracious enough to allow me a bit of the freshly ground black pepper, which was delicious. There was no question that these folks were “foodies” in the best sense of the term.
The Red Ginger restaurant on board the Riviera has an asian focused menu. A number of things were wrapped on this menu. Firstly the Vietnamese Banh Trang summer rolls, which were wrapped in rice paper. Interestingly, at the Culinary center cooking course this was one of the dishes we made, see the blog.
Imperial Crispy Potato Rolls 
Vietnamese Banh Trang Rolls
The potato rolls were fascinating. There are recipes on the web for similar rolls, which require making a dough out of potatoes, or other vegetbles, and spices. They were very filling but delicious. The glass noodles, shrimp and vegetables inside the rolls worked well with the dipping sauce. The Vietnamese rolls were typical rolled rice paper spring type rolls. Howerer, they were filled with beet, pineapple, mango and fried tofu. On the menu was red snaper in banana leaf. A table next to me ordered this, but this seemed to be just plated on a banana leaf and not cooked in the banana leaf. Regardles the menu is full of delicious options and well worth a visit. The Lobster Pud Thai was delicious, although for a noodle-holic like myself,could have used a bit more noodles. When I ordered it again, they fulfilled my request and doubled the noodles, yumm!
Red Ginger Restaurant 
Red Ginger Restaurant 
Pud Thai Red Ginger Restaurant
Red Ginger had interesting artwork throughout the restaurant. One picture is got to be one of the oddest I have ever seen. Lets see what you make of it?
