Let's talk FOOD on the River Cruises - Arthur's VS Main Dining Room

This is a great topic, terrilynn.
I have only been on two river cruises and have primarily eaten in the main dining room. We are not heavy eaters and prefer the lighter fare that the main dining room offers. However, with the new Andorinha I suspect I will find myself quite frequently on the top deck. Given the abundance of fish in Portugal, I am hoping to have plenty of grilled octopus.
I am interested in hearing what other travelers think.

We mostly eat in the main dining room as its my husband's preference. I have gone to Arthur's a few morning when I got up before him and mainly wanted coffee. We've done lunch and dinner once each. Both were good. I like the lunch buffet in the main dining room mainly for the salad bar and option for a small serving of the other items. At dinner the main dining room does a great job of offering varied options so I can try some things I've never had before - duck, frogs legs, escargot, etc. And I like the way on our last cruise that they really featured local cuisine.

We may spend more time topside on the new ship with the Arthur's up there depending on weather and menu.

maximgr

Generally speaking, the main dining room is more formal and Arthur's is more casual. They will have different menus each evening, so your decision may be simply based on which menu is more appealing to you on any given day. The main dining room will closer resemble a fine dining experience. It is requested that guests wear proper attire in the dining room, and the menu will typically present several courses and thus will occupy more time from start to finish. Arthur's may be a good choice if you don't want to change clothes after a shore excursion and just want to get in and out quickly.

We had a very negative view of Arthur’s on our cruise. There were smokers on the ship, they went through the door in Arthur’s to the deck to smoke and left the door open, consequently Arthur’s stunk of cigarette smoke all the time. We did intend to try it, but were put off and we hardly saw anyone else in there either.
I thought Arthur’s was for casual dining, things like burgers.
If I take this tour, I’ll look forward to fresh sardines.

I didn't know Arthur's was open in the morning! Thanks, Claudia, for sharing that. We enjoy having a good cup of coffee while getting ready.

This may be slightly off topic, but on both the Rhine/Swiss Alps and Savoring France river tours, I ate a lot of butter. I never eat butter at home because I don't like it. But those cows in the Swiss Alps are clearly happy cows because their milk makes delicious butter. And the French gift wrap their butter! Many times at breakfast I would have bread and butter, nothing else.

The soups were also always great.

Europe butter is prepared very differently to American which is whipped and sweetened. I always buy Irish or French butter in the US because I don’t care for the Americans way, I guess it’s what you grow up with.

Arthur's at lunch is casual - burgers, sandwichs, flat bread. But at dinner my husband and others had steak with all the trimmings. I just had Caesar salad.

Yes, Arthur's has continental breakfast that starts earlier than the main dining room. Bread, pastries, yogurt, fruit, juice, etc. And the super-dooper do it yourself coffee machine that can make half a dozen different hot drinks. It's pretty much available 24/7. They also have cookies and other snacks every afternoon.

Sardines are quite a delicacy in Portugal, whether canned or fresh. Freshly grilled sardines are fabulous. I suspect they will be available on the Andorinha. And don't forget the pasteis de nata, custard tarts!

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The super-dooper coffee machine. This image is from the Savor but it's the same machine. I want one.

Wow! Not to be a naysayer (ha, ha), but did the "super dooper" make good drinks? I guess I missed out on what Authur's had to offer. Thanks, again, Claudia Sails.

Yes, it does a good job. The glass hoppers on top are actual coffee beans. You can see in the picture there are also tea bags, to go cups of you want to take it with you and the cookies made with some of the excellent European butter.

Nice to have coffee from beans instead of that instant powder. Thanks, again!

AlanS

British
August 10
Europe butter is prepared very differently to American which is whipped and sweetened. I always buy Irish or French butter in the US because I don’t care for the Americans way, I guess it’s what you grow up with.

All true, but I think it is the salt. European butter has salt (more salt).

No Alan, there are always salt free alternatives which I choose.
Here’s just one example. https://www.lurpak.com/en/our-products/
Available in stores here. There is also an Irish Kerrygold in salted or unsalted and a French Normandy butter, I can’t recall the name.

European butter has a much higher fat content and can be sold salted or unsalted. The unsalted makes for flakier pastries and richer baked goods.

AlanS

British
6:16AM edited 6:21AM
No Alan, there are always salt free alternatives which I choose.

Hardened arteries or not, we like and always choose the butter with salt.

In any case, though you can sometimes find it locally, the so called "European" butter in US stores is not like the good stuff in Europe!

I used to buy only unsalted butter primarily for baking as one chef on PBS said that it's better because they use better quality milk since there is no salt to mask the taste of lower quality milk. Problem was I had trouble figuring out recipe adjustments if the original recipe used salted butter. Since salt is needed for more than taste, sometimes getting it wrong can cause disappointment in the finished dish. I sort of go back and forth depending on what I'm using it for.

BSP51

🏴‍☠️🏳️‍🌈🏁 I am not the moron flagger but thought I’d see what it is like.

On our last cruise I took cell phone pictures of Arthurs menu - which basically was the same the whole cruise - and the daily dinner menu in the Compass dining room. Here's the Arthurs menu - forgive the photo quality and the rotation by the forum software.

Here's a sample daily menu from when we were still in Budapest.

I sure have missed out on Authur's. I like the salad selections. Thank you, Claudia Sails, for sharing.

Talking of food, we watched the adorable Eric Ripert on TV yesterday cooking halibut fish in a tomato consommé which I will be replicating tonight. My daughter just dropped off freshly picked tomatoes. Of course I’ll be reducing the salt, we’ve had a low salt diet for so long we find most restaurant food too salty, the palate soon adjusts. African food is an exception, little salt, the soups are exceptionally delicious.
And Kfn, yes you are correct about pastry cooking.

I saw him, too. What a light and healthy dish he prepared. So simple but so elegant. I loved the sliced heirloom tomatoes floating in the dish. Enjoy your dinner tonight. I think the dish will work well with any white fish. Add a side of grilled asparagus and it will make a complete meal!

Sea bass and yes, I was doing to serve it with asparagus!

MarketArt

Sounds delicious, but where are you finding asparagus in August? Not in my hemisphere.

I was just thinking of asking British how her supper turned out when I saw your post, MarketArt.

The trick for having asparagus year round is to buy them at their peak (usually April) and to freeze them. To do so, blanch the spears very quickly, drain and place on paper towels. After they are completely dry, place them on a cookie sheet and then into the freezer to flash freeze them. Then place them into ziplock bags and pull them out as needed. By flash freezing them first will enable you to pull out spear by spear. It is somewhat labor intensive, but I like to eat asparagus several times a week and all year long. I hope this helps.

Okay, British. How did your gourmet meal turn out?

Delicious. We decided to just super purée the freshly picked tomatoes and make a broth instead of a consommé and used Sea bass instead of halibut. The asparagus, Costco of course, lovely slim spears. 😀
We have been to Eric Ripert’s Le Bernadin in New York about three times. Some years ago, we stayed at the Ritz Carlton in Cayman where he had a restaurant and couldn’t wait to try it. I can’t remembered why but it was temporarily closed 😕

MarketArt

kfnk...very impressive. btw my favorite TV chef is the Irishman Rory O'Connell (How to Cook Well), co-founder with his sister of the Ballymaloe Cookery School, which is open to the public. The gardens look amazing; I love his emphasis on herbs and he is so creative with local produce: fig leaves steeped in cream for panna cotta, nasturtium butter. I would never have thought to combine eggplant and dates; it's amazing. His recipes are light and healthy, but of course that Irish butter does sneak in...

Yes! Mr. O'Connell is a delight to watch and to listen to. His dishes are always so simple...just a few ingredients and he creates a masterpiece!

I wish Tauck had a tour just for "foodies." I am not a gourmet cook; I just like gourmet food!