{"id":3015,"date":"2013-01-31T14:30:55","date_gmt":"2013-01-31T14:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/foodietales.com\/?p=3015"},"modified":"2013-01-31T14:30:56","modified_gmt":"2013-01-31T14:30:56","slug":"royal-caribbean-cruise-line-allure-of-the-seas-150-central-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/foodietales.com\/?p=3015","title":{"rendered":"Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Allure of the Seas \u2013 150 Central Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>We were recently aboard the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL) cruise ship\u00a0The\u00a0Allure of the Seas and if you\u2019re frequent reader of the posts on this site, you have read of some of our dining experiences.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to tell you about another one.<\/p>\n

150 Central Park is aptly named as it sits in the Central Parkarea of the ship. This is a unique \u201copen air\u201d part of the ship. There are trees, plants, flowers and other things you\u2019d find in a park and it\u2019s bordered on two sides by residential towers. It\u2019s possible to book a stateroom overlooking Central Parkon the Allure and Oasis of the Seas.<\/p>\n

150 Central Park is the \u201cgourmet \/ fine dining\u201d option onboard both ships. There is a $40 per person surcharge for dining in this location. I\u2019ve been lucky enough to dine there twice. The second and most recent visit was much more successful than the first.<\/p>\n

After our first visit to 150 Central Park, I would have described it as stuffy, pretentious and \u201ctrying too hard\u201d. (Not every dish requires foam. Foam is overused and over played. If you are a chef\u2026.I believe most people don\u2019t like foam.\u00a0 Stop with the foam.<\/p>\n

My opinion changed with our most recent visit. What seemed forced and pretentious previously, seemed much more natural and fun.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s talk about dinner\u2026.<\/p>\n

150 Central Parkis a beautiful, elegant space. Of all of the dining venues on the Allure and Oasis, this is the one where looking sharp is rightfully expected.<\/p>\n

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Once seated, our server greeted us with a basket of warm rolls. He also uncovered a selection of salts from around the world.\u00a0 He explained that the butter served with the bread is unsalted and that the salt would add to the flavor. There were six varieties of salt and they range from mild to more flavorful. There is a smoked salt and even one with a slight sulfur taste.<\/p>\n

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Sprinkling your bread with salt is A) delicious and B) fun. While I\u2019m sure that the health risks would suggest that this not be an everyday activity, it\u2019s okay on vacation. I\u2019m sure of it.<\/p>\n

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After experimenting with the United Nations of salt, it\u2019s time for dinner. The menu is fixed except for your entr\u00e9e.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the menu from our visit\u2026.<\/p>\n

150 Central Park Autumn Salad<\/strong> \u2013 fall berry granola, crusted duck confit, red-eye aioli, bitter green salad, duck prosciutto, mocha swirl brioche, huckleberry aigre-doux<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what aigre-doux is, but the salad was terrific. We could have eaten more.<\/p>\n

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Roasted Chestnut Veloute<\/strong> \u2013 gingerbread croutons. quince chutney, whipped cider mascarpone, shaved celery.<\/p>\n

This tasted like the holidays in a bowl but was presented as a small bowl of debris to which our waiter added the soup part of the course. I think this is silly and unnecessary, but it seems to be the \u201cin thing to do\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Clams Oreganata<\/strong> \u2013 house made wakame fusili, steamed little neck clams, oregano breadcrumb \u201csand\u201d, salsify variations (???), sea beans, American paddlefish caviar.<\/p>\n

Even with the pretentious description, this has a sushi quality and tasted like the sea. It was light and fresh and briny. It must have been the salsify variations.<\/p>\n

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Seared Scallop with Miso Braised Berkshire Pork Belly<\/strong> \u2013 kabocha squash puree, spicy soy caramel, pickled plum pudding, Swank Farms pac choi, bacon sabayon.<\/p>\n

I bet Swank Farms pac choi is superior to other farms pac choi. I cant prove it, but I\u2019ll believe that it is. This was incredible. It was a fancier version of scallops and bacon. Bacon should be part of everything.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0Then there were two entrees from which to choose.<\/p>\n

Modern Shepherd\u2019s Pie<\/strong> \u2013 Guinness braised lamb shank pave, glazed Thumbelina carrots, pickled mustard seeds, caramelized cippolini onions, rosemary \u2013 hot potato espume (a very fancy word for foam).<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not a fan of lamb, but John loved this. I don\u2019t know what else to say, but when he was done the plate was empty to the point of being swiped clean by an exotically salted piece of dinner roll.<\/p>\n

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Harris Ranch Beef Tenderloin \u201cReuben\u201d<\/strong> \u2013 spice rubbed pan seared filet, rye bread puree, mashed Brussels sprouts, pickled tomato puree, gruyere potato dauphinoise, thousand island hollandaise.<\/p>\n

This tasted like a deconstructed Reuben and it was FANTASTIC.\u00a0 This is what I meant by this being a more \u201cfun\u201d experience. This was a skillfully made entr\u00e9e that offered some familiar flavors. If this were offered at a restaurant locally, it could become one of my favorites.<\/p>\n

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And now for dessert\u2026<\/p>\n

Toasted Pistachio Genoise<\/strong> \u2013 orange blossom cr\u00e8me fraich ice cream, honey poached cranberries, sweet pistachio cream, crispy orange meringue (tasted like Bayer chewable children\u2019s aspirin), whipped cranberry syrup.<\/p>\n

This was okay. There was a bit too much going on and the afore-mentioned baby aspirin flavor was a turn off. That being said, it was the only low point in the entire experience.<\/p>\n

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The cocktail\u2026.<\/p>\n

150 Central Park has a signature cocktail. It is the Cucumber Martini. It\u2019s light and refreshing and served in a very special glass. The top piece of the glass (yes\u2026..the top piece) is shaped like a typical martini glass except for the fact that there is no stem.. The bottom piece is a ball shaped glass that is filled with ice. The top piece sits in the bottom piece in order to keep your drink chilled without being diluted. It\u2019s light and refreshing and decidedly different.<\/p>\n

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After this last experience, I can say that I will definitely be back at 150 Central Park on our next Allure \/ Oasis cruise.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t let the wordy descriptions fool you. This is great food and a great experience.<\/p>\n

You should give it a try when you have the chance!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We were recently aboard the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL) cruise ship\u00a0The\u00a0Allure of the Seas and if you\u2019re frequent reader of the posts on this site, you have read of some of our dining experiences. I\u2019m going to tell you Continue reading Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Allure of the Seas \u2013 150 Central Park<\/span>→<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":3032,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[206,891],"tags":[973,893,975,980,978,977,974,1702,920,976,979],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/foodietales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3015"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/foodietales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/foodietales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodietales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodietales.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3015"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"http:\/\/foodietales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3061,"href":"http:\/\/foodietales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3015\/revisions\/3061"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodietales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/foodietales.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodietales.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodietales.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}