Brilliance of the Seas: Eating in the Baltic with Royal Caribbean

Now first of all I need to make my excuses for my online absence for the past few weeks; the recent warm

Sightseeing in Russia - Petershof Palace - Photo by Vicki

weather has made the prospect of sitting in front of a laptop incredibly undesirable so I have (sadly) been neglecting my blog.

Moving on from my heat induced laziness; I would like to write about my recent family holiday (with a focus on the food and drink). I am lucky enough to have parents who are still willing to take their (almost) grown up daughter (and her brother) on holiday with them, and so at the beginning of July I spent 12 all-inclusive days on one of Royal Caribbean’s cruise ships Brilliance of the Seas, cruising the Baltic. 

I saw some amazing places, one of the most interesting being St Petersburg and the most beautiful being Stockholm, but never having spent much time in Northern Europe visiting Copenhagen, Helsinki, Gothenburg and Tallinn made this a unique and intriguing holiday. 

Medieval walls of Tallinn - photo by Vicki

In order to take full advantage of the all inclusive nature of the ship we ate all of our meals on the ship, although this meant that we didn’t always take advantage of the beautiful cafes in these European towns, it was quite a lot easier and of course cheaper! 

That being said we did visit cafes for coffee (and sometimes a

snack). My favourite cafe for view and venue was in Tallinn, built into the medieval walls of the city this cafe offered great coffee with a brilliant view. In terms of food, my favourite would have to be a cafe in the old town section of Gothenburg known as Haga. Attracted by pastries the size of dinner plates, we couldn’t resist going into a cafe and buying what turned out to be a Hagabulle, which is a huge sugary cinnamon bun really, it’s definitely something I want to try making myself, it really was so tasty!

A Hagabulle! - photo by Vicki

Food on the ship was also tasty and interesting. As Royal Caribbean is an American company, a lot of the food is very different to what British people are used to, you are experiencing American cuisine really. There was the option of “gravy and biscuits” for breakfast, which is rarely seen on the breakfast tables of Britain. There were two main options for food on the ship, the casual Windjammer Cafe and the more formal Main Dining Room, but there were also a selection of specialist dining restaurants you could visit at an extra charge. 

The Windjammer is a buffet style restaurant which serves food for most of the day. It was a favourite of my parents for breakfast and lunch, ideal for variety and differing appetites the Windjammer is incredibly popular. You can basically have whatever you want, I saw people with sausages on the same plate as their desserts!  

Delicately presented pork escalope (melt in the mouth!)

The Main Dining Room however is  more fun for your evening meal, a three course meal with attentive waiters? Could it get any more luxurious? There was a wide variety of dishes you could have, catering even for specialist diets. The pomp and circumstance of the Main Dining Room isn’t for everyone, but personally, dressing up for a special and tasty meal is a lot of fun. See the pictures for examples of my favourite dishes from the dining room! 

One night we decided to give the dining rooms a miss and try one of

the specialty options. We decided to go for Giovanni’s Table, an Italian “family style” restaurant, promising a warm welcome and plenty of food. As many of you will know I have a particular soft spot for Italian food and Giovanni’s definitely didn’t disappoint. We spoilt for choice! We enjoyed a sharing starter between the four of us, similar to an antipasti (but with pasta and scallops), alongside particularly tasty polenta bread. For my main I had a steak, which really was melt in the mouth, despite being quite full I couldn’t resist finishing it! The dessert was probably the cutest part of the meal, we were given the choice from a variety of cakes

Banana Creme Brulee (crunchy, caramelly and tasty)

and pastries presented in what could only be described as a dessert cart. I had a chocolate marzipan cake, which was rich and delicious. Overall it was a very good experience, yet it is hard to justify paying more when the dining room is so desirable is rather difficult!

Salmon fishcake starter (always a favourite for me!)

In all I would have to say that the food on Brilliance of the Seas was tasty and offered a wide variety. The staff are incredibly friendly and helpful (as you would expect with an American firm) and we felt incredibly welcome while we were there, particularly in the Schooner Bar in which we picked up our Cocktail of the Day every evening. The only downsides would have to be that American cake icing is different to ours (soft and creamy rather than more solid) and how tight my jeans felt when I got back to the UK!

Jamie's Italian - Liverpool: Review

This is probably the last of my reviews of places in Liverpool (*sniffle*) and you can find some of my older reviews of with places such as Moose and The Living Room in my repertoire from my time at LSMedia here. 

Yesterday was my graduation ceremony for my BA and it was a beautiful day full of beautiful people! The night

Graduating with my friends.

before I went out with my family for a celebration meal to Jamie’s Italian in the Liverpool One and it really was a great way to celebrate with my family.

I’ve always wanted to go to Jamie’s Italian but never really had the chance! It’s always packed when I’ve wanted to go (and I guess that’s a good sign!) but this time my mum made a reservation...

The chilled atmosphere was complimented by the relaxed decor, the warm weather meant that the doors were wide open and for a split second we really could have been in Italy... of course until you hear your Scouse waiter introducing you to the menu! As I had often found in Liverpool (having lived there for 3 years) all the staff were friendly and accommodating, definitely up for a laugh, providing an enjoyable dining experience. 

Anyone who has ever watched Jamie Oliver on TV will know of his passion for Italian food, influenced by his Italian mentor Gennaro Contaldo, thus the food both on the menu and on the plate are Italian with a British twist

.

Sharing Meat Antipasti from Jamie's Italian

We ordered the meat antipasti with the Italian bread selection as a starter to share, which came on a platter which our waiter talked us through. The meats were all delicious and the mozzarella cheese (always a favourite of mine) was tasty and creamy. The bright green olives (I don’t know if you can see them in the picture) were sweet and morish, they are apparently the best olives in the world! 

For my main I ordered the Jamie’s Italian burger and it was absolutely massive, I could hardly fit it in my mouth! But it really was very tasty, the meat was cooked to a juicy medium and particularly teamed with the tangy pickles it was almost perfect. Alongside polenta chips (which are indeed polenta and not potato) I was happily full by the end, happy to have tried something different from potato chips.

My rather large burger!

Yet my sweet tooth got the better of me and I really couldn’t resist the dessert menu. I ordered the “Ultimate Brownie” (I love the cheeky Essex twang Jamie adds to the menu) which comes with amaretto ice cream and caramel popcorn. It was devilishly rich and wonderfully chocolatey, the perfect way to finish off a meal! Although I was slightly sceptical about the popcorn, it was a welcome crunchy addition to the dish and despite not being a big fan of ice cream personally, I thought the amaretto ice cream really worked well. I understand why people recommend this dessert so much! 

Ultimate Brownie!

Overall I had a wonderful evening at Jamie’s Italian and I would love to go back (even if all I wanted was dessert!), I hear there are a few in London... 

I found it hilarious that the waiters are less than keen on the own brand wines and beers but the wine we did have (which the waiter recommended to us) was very drinkable.

 I love Italian food and I was not disappointed by this Italian (despite its very British roots!). I would definitely recommend Jamie’s in Liverpool (specifically) to anyone looking for a tasty treat for their evening meal!

Why I love Pizza Express!

Image copyright: Pizza Express

Now as a food blogger I assume I’m supposed to hate chains? I should be scoffing at the idea of eating at a chain and snubbing anything that isn’t independent? Yet as much as I support independent restaurants and cafes, the domination of large chains on our high streets actually doesn’t upset me as much as it should (although their tax evading [mentioning no names...] is another issue...) because I know that chains like Wagamama, Pizza Express and Zizzi’s bring really good food to the high street at reasonable prices (this also means I can focus my hate on things such as tinned sweetcorn, gravy and peanut butter – yes, I know...).

Italian food is one of my favourite things; I love strong, fresh and simple flavours – authentic Italian pizza is one of the best things (I love making it myself). In my opinion Pizza Express does pizza the way I think pizza should be done. As far as I’m concerned pizza should have a thin crust, with fresh ingredients and amazing flavours. I also love Zizzi’s and their “proper” Italian flavours. Italy is one of my favourite countries to visit, especially for the food! Pizza Express has the edge on other chains such as Pizza Hut which serve much more American style pizzas with thick bases (although Pizza Hut has made attempts to add Italian style pizzas - maybe it's not right for their target market...).

Pizza from Pizza Express! Image From: Ewan Munro

Yet Pizza Express isn’t just about pizza (despite the name) and their pastas and salads are really good too. Last week I went to the Pizza Express in Bluewater, it was a lovely sunny day and it actually felt like we were on holiday! I had the Leggara Superfood Salad with added chicken, it was absolutely huge and at 300 calories without the chicken I felt a little less guilt munching it all! Definitely a new favourite for me! 

I also love the Leggara pizzas, a pizza with a hole in the middle filled with salad?! At only 500 calories?! How could it get any better? Their other choices are also really tasty and it’s great that they’re now serving gluten-free pizza! 

Pizza Express will always be a good choice and they always have vouchers and offers on such as 2 courses for £10 to tempt me in even more! The only problem I ever have is struggling to pronounce some of the options! 

Let me know if you share my love for Pizza Express and their efforts to bring Italian style food to the masses! 

Vicki xxx