Saturday, November 22, 2014

Qsine on Celebrity Summit

Qsine
Awaken your inner foodie on a culinary journey

Celebrity Cruise Qsine Specialty Dining
I always look forward to specialty restaurants on cruises.  Sure, you can save money and just eat at the buffet or the Main Dining room but I was intrigued by what I've read about Qsine on the Celebrity Cruises.

The prix fixe dinner was set at $45.00 per person.  Since we made reservations for the first night of sailing, we were entitled to a 20% credit.  Sure, I took advantage of that deal.  (Later I found out that they frequently give 20% off throughout the cruise)

Our group of 6 was seated at the Chef's Table. I don't think we were special or anything, I just think that there weren't any other tables big enough to accommodate our size at that time slot.

Chef's Table at Celebrity Summit Qsine Specialty Dining

The server came over and brought us all Apple iPads for the menu.  The dishes were meant for sharing and they recommended 1-2 plates per person, tapas style.  I was designated team captain and used the iPad to order for the table.  We got a little carried away and ordered a bunch of dishes.  The server looked weary and advised us that he would bring out a little at a time and if we were still hungry, he'd continue to bring out the rest.  Fair enough.

Celebrity Qsine iPad Menu


The bartender came around for our drink order.  She was very friendly and efficient.  Good think everyone in our party had the beverage package because the drinks poured freely.

Celebrity Summit Dirty Martini
The first course was sushi lollipops served with salmon.  They were too darn cute.  They were more pretty than tasty.  I didn't want to fill up on the sushi rice so I limited myself to only one.

Qsine Sushi lollipops


Next up was the Disco Shrimp.  It reminded me of minced shrimp cocktail.  It was very good.  The description read, "Bouillon Poached Tiger Shrimp, avocado, tomato, celery with cocktail aioli and crunchy toppings."

Qsine Disco Shrimp
The Lava Crab was lacking crab, there was more Kataifi pastry than crab.  There was supposed to be Alaskan King Crab, sweet yellow corn with Old Bay Lobster Sauce.

Qsine Lava Crab
The Lobster escargot fritters with parsley garlic butter sauce was very good.  The escargot was minced not whole.

Qsine Lobster Escargots
As if we didn't have enough ceviche already from our lunch at Ceviche House earlier that day, we ordered Treseviche. There were three types (hence "tres"); Tiger shrimp & scallop, salmon and Sea Bass.

Qsine Treseviche
(Shrimp & Scallop, Salmon, Sea Bass)

My mother and I were all set with the spring rolls.  Yes, I guess you can say that we are eggroll snobs.  I do loved BBQ pulled pork but maybe not combined with coleslaw deep fried in eggroll pastry.  The description read, "Baby Back Spring rolls with Chipotle coleslaw * White Truffle BBQ Sauce / Vegetable Melange with Cilantro Chipolte Coleslaw, sweet & sour sauce"

Qsine Spring Rolls.

The "Painter's Mignon" was very good. The picture does not do it justice. Each person got a piece of tender filet and the sides were shared.  Each concave on the palette held a different side dish like mashed potatoes, sauteed mushrooms or creamed spinach.  All were tasty!

Qsine Painter's Mignon



OK, we were starting to get full but we had other dishes coming out.  We could have done without the "Crunchy Munches" tower filled with french fries and vegetable chips.

Qsine Crunch Munchies

The Persian chicken Kebab was served table side from a skewer.  The chicken was marinated with garlic and spices and served with yellow rice pilaf.

Qsine Persian Chicken Kebab

We ordered the Taj Mahal Indian Sampler as well as the Chinese sampler called Chinese X Martini = Chintini's.  The Taj Mahal was cancelled after a unanimous vote at the table.  We kept the Chiniti's which included orange chicken, Kung Pao shrimp, beef and pepper in black bean sauce, veggies, sweet and sour pork and rice.


Qsine Chintini "Chinese" sampler

The dessert menu was displayed on a Rubik's Cube.  There were cupcakes and a few other staples.
We split some desserts that consisted of a cheesecake, chocolate cake (Chocolate Tombstone), mango sorbet and Berliner doughnuts. To wash down the dessert, we got cappuccino with Tia Maria.


Qsine - After Dinner Drinks
 (Not included in prix fixe dinner cost)
Qsine Cheesecake Dessert

Qsine Chocolate Tombstone

After dessert was served, the server came around with chocolate covered strawberries served on sticks called "Strawberry Fields" for one last treat.  We were among the last seating, so the offerings looked a little sad.


Qsine Strawberry Fields

Overall, I think it was a great dinner.  It truly did bring out the foodie in me and I loved seeing all the beautiful presentations.  Some of the dishes were better than others but I loved experiencing each one.  They offered us a 20% discount to return and sample the other dishes that we didn't get to.  I admit, I was intrigued but we opted not to.