RESTAURANT GUIDE:
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Once a cruise, Silhouette has a desserts extravganza in the Sky Lounge.
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 Above: The Oceanview Cfae, Silhouette's buffet restaurant.
Below: The ice cream station in the Oceanview Cafe. 
Above: The Mast Grill.
Above: The Aquaspa Cafe.
Below: On request, the Aquaspa Cafe will grill a slamon fillet, a tuna steak or chicken. 
Above: Bistro on Five.
Below: A crepes from Bistro on Five. 
Above: The Porch.
Below: A panini from the Porch 
Below: Cafe al Baccio in the evening.
 Above: A selection of desserts at Cafe al Baccio.
Below: The Geltoria.  |
Casual Dining Silhouette's large buffet restaurant is the Oceanview Café. "Design is the first thing that comes to your attention." Beyond the room's floor-to-ceiling windows and its colorful outdoor seating area, which includes sofas and cushioned chairs, the Oceanview was designed so as to function more efficiently than traditional shipboard buffets. "On other ships, no matter what, you are going to stand in the line cattle-style." In order to avoid having traditional cafeteria lines where every guest passes every item that is being offered regardless of whether he or she wants it, "we divided everything into islands." The islands allow the guest to go directly to the station where the item he or she wants is being served without having to file by stations that he or she is not interested in. "So even if you have 2,000 guests on an embarkation lunch - - the busiest one - - you still don't see lines." A by-product of this design is that there is no need for trays. In a traditional cafeteria, you need a tray to carry all the food that you think you might want because you do not want to come back and wait on line again. "Here, you do not have to wait in a line. You don't need to be carrying your tray throughout the buffet. You can just pick up one item, sit down and come back again." Another drawback of traditional cafeterias is that the food often waits in warming trays for long periods and becomes cold and tasteless. "We don't prepare huge trays of things. We try to have them small so that we can have [the food] fresh all the time." The menu changes on "a 14-day cycle, in the Oceanview Café for lunch and dinner. We also have some fixed items in the Oceanview. We have the pizza station, the pasta station, ice cream station, salad bar and dessert buffet. They go throughout the entire day starting at lunch until nine o'clock in the evening." In the Oceanview, "we serve all meals. We have breakfast in the morning. Then we have lunch. We do tea time at four o'clock every day. Then we are open at night for dinner including a sushi bar. Then we have snacks for the late night people who need an extra bite. We keep it open until 1 or 1:30 in the morning." Up one deck and across the pool area from the Oceanview is Silhouette's open air hamburger venue, the Mast Grill. Guests familiar with the Mast Grill on previous ships will find that the focus has changed on Silhouette. "Now the Mast Grill is focused only on ala minute burgers and hot dogs. Before we had a lot of items - - tacos, chicken wings and salads, all of which are available in the Oceanview. As a result, we could not offer a real burger house quality. So that is why we changed. We are going to focus only on burgers, quality French fries and hot dogs. We make them ala minute as the guest request with special sauce, mushrooms, cheese etc. It is more fresh and made there in front of your eyes." One deck below the Mast Grill in the Solarium area is a venue with a much different focus, the Aquaspa Café. "It is our healthy [casual venue and]. is open for breakfast and lunch every day." With the spa and the fitness center only a few steps away, the Aquaspa is a favorite place to stop in before or after a workout or treatment. However, "the Aquaspa Café is open to all our guests." The quality of the offerings also attracts the ship's officers as well. "I try to escape quite often there and have a nice piece of tuna or chicken." "For breakfast we have poached fruits, muesli, organic yogurt, smoothies, and fresh squeezed juices. Then at lunch, we have on request ala minute tuna, salmon and chicken made freshly in front of you. Of course, there is also a big salad bar, appetizers and desserts that are more on the healthy side." The same team that staffs the Murano specialty restaurant in the evening staffs the Aquaspa Café during the day. While the aforementioned venues are complimentary, Silhouette also has two casual venues where there is a nominal cover charge ($5 as of this writing). "It is all you can eat. You can have soups, salads, savories, crepes, desserts for the fee." "Bistro On Five is our crepes house. It is one of my favorite places. Fresh, ala minute and in-front-of-the-guests made crepes. It is open from six in the morning until midnight so we go from breakfast crepes - - you have your eggs and bacon on a crepe - - to lunch and dinner when you have those beautiful Mediterranean or Italian crepes." Bistro On Five also offers a selection of salads, soups and desserts. The other casual restaurant with a cover charge is a new venue, The Porch. It is located next to the Lawn Club Grill and has a glass-covered seating area that looks out over the starboard side of the ship. "The Porch is open for breakfast and lunch. It is very quiet and relaxed. If you just want to sit and enjoy the view, have a coffee in the morning with some pastries or have lunch, you can escape there and just relax." Its menu features "fresh paninis, Caesar salads, a selection of cold and hot soups" and desserts. Silhouette's specialty coffee bar is Café al Bacio: "A lovely place to chat; lovely place to be during the day to enjoy a cup of coffee and relax. We have a lot of live entertainment here on sea days - - the strings are playing, our guitarist. So guests just come and chill out and have a nice coffee or tea." Along with their beverage, guests can have something to eat. "We have available a rotation of small bites. In the morning, it is a selection of Danish, sweet breads, donuts, small croissants - - all in small portions. For lunch time, we change to gourmet sandwiches. Then, after three o'clock we have small desserts. And there is a selection of cookies, which is throughout the day." While there is a charge for the coffee, the food is complimentary and may be had even if the guest does not wish to purchase a coffee. Guests familiar with the Cova Café coffee bars on Celebrity's Millennium and Century class ships may wonder what makes Café al Bacio different. "First of all, there is the coffee itself. Here, we use Lavazza, an Italian brand. We have done a lot of training with them. They come every couple of months training all of our staff in how to keep the standards of Lavazza. We make beautiful cappuccinos. They are a work of art rather than a coffee." In addition, whereas the Cova Cafés on the earlier ships bore the name of a café in Milan, Italy, "Al Bacio is our own identity. It is not an outside brand. It is our coffee shop." A new feature on Silhouette is a satellite coffee shop "Al Bacio Secundo in the Oceanview. It is a smaller Al Bacio, just to provide the same quality of coffee and service to our guests in the Oceanview if they want a specialty coffee." Across from the main Café al Bacio on Deck 5 is the Gelatoria. "The Gelateria is the real Italian gelato. We have an ice cream station, of course, upstairs in the Oceanview, with regular ice creams. The difference here is the [gelato is made differently]. It is more creamy, more milk, less water. And the tastes are all fresh, natural. You will try it and you will never stop. We also make waffles ala minute." There is a charge for the gelato. Yet another new feature on Silhouette is food in the ship's wine bar Cellar Masters. "It is a small menu of tapas, cold and hot. So you can order your tapas with your wine and have an aperitif glass of wine with a nice Spanish tortilla." |
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Cruise ship specialty restaurant guide - - Celebrity Silhouette - Celebrity Cruises - - page three