Qsine, Specialty Restaurant
Dining at the specialty restaurant, Qsine®, on the Celebrity Millennium was one of the culinary highlights of my recent cruise. I will go into more details but the presentation of the food alone is worth the visit, let alone how delicious it tasted. I have to admit that when I was looking up the specialty restaurants on Celebrity Cruises’ website for the Celebrity Millennium, I thought that Qsine sounded gimmicky with a confused identity. I convinced my husband to go as I like to try new things and it sure did not disappoint!
About Qsine
Celebrity Cruises describes Qsine:
"Qsine® offers a culinary journey that delivers elements of surprise and delight. Our James Beard featured Master Chef created Qsine to give you something you've never experienced before—on land or at sea. Leave any preconceived notions behind. Dig in and try new things. It's time your palate got a wakeup call. Our iPad® menus make your dining experience even more fun and interactive."
In all of Celebrity Cruises’ marketing material, it pushes the fact that your menu is an iPad, which you order directly from. I’m typically on some type of electronic device throughout most of my day so this part didn’t sound “fun and interactive”; but rather, annoying. Why couldn’t I just give my order to the waiter? To my surprise however, I quickly found out it was only one small aspect of the restaurant and was fun just clicking a button to send the order to the kitchen. The friendly Brazilian waiter stopped back often as we went through the menu to answer our questions along with giving us recommendations.
Every dish that came out had its own unique presentation and flavors. You can travel around the world while dining here. We had the opportunity to meet the chef, Jean-Pierre, who really enjoyed cooking all types of dishes from around the world and sharing them with guests.
Dishes Worth Trying
Fresh Market Salad
There were definitely some dishes that were stand-outs for me. The Qsine Greens is described as a “Fresh Market Salad with Arugula, Radicchio, Frisée, Watercress, Spinach, Pomegranate Emulsion, Crispy Goat Cheese Crumble”. I didn’t think much of it when I saw it on the menu, but was really happy that I ordered it. The warm goat cheese pattie combined with the pomegranate emulsion provided a crispy yet sweet and creamy taste. The dressing provided on the side allows you to customize the taste to your preference.
Treseviche
The Treseviche dish included three types of cerviche served with a side of French fries to cleanse your palate and provide a little saltiness to help cut the citrus-ness of the dish. With each taste, I tried to figure out which one I liked the best and I couldn’t decide as they were all exceptional. The flavor combinations were matched perfectly to each type of seafood.
Treseviche included:
- Tiger Shrimp & Bay Scallops with Lemon Juice, Tequila, Cilantro, Tomato & Jalapeño Oil
- Salmon with Yuzu Citrus, Cucumber, Vodka & Basil
- Sea Bass with Lime, Red Onion, Choclo, Avocado & EXVOO
Slider Party
In addition, I would recommend ordering the Slider Party. The dish comes with one slider per person, which comes out of the kitchen on a grill pan with cheddar cheese on top surrounded by a medley of burger fixings.
The burger was just the right size, juicy, and still piping hot and served with a side of French fries….what could beat that?!
Painter's Mignon
Stand-outs for presentation included the Painter's Mignon which was a Filet Mignon with a variety of sides, served in little jars. The sides included mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, sautéed mushrooms, and a demi glace sauce. The presentation was unexpectedly refreshing for what’s normally considered a “fancy dish”.
Sushi Lollipops
In addition, the Sushi Lollipops including, “Nigiri Sushi, Soy Center, Wasabi Mayo & Pickled Ginger-Radish Salad” was sushi presented in a fun way and was even more fun to eat!
Tips for Ordering
Disco Shrimp
The portions are meant to share and some are larger than others. If there is just two of you, read the different dishes carefully and what comes in each one as if it lists 10 items, you may want to pass to try more items as that alone could fill you up. I definitely decided to try as much as I could.
After a good number of dishes came out, the waiter came to inform us that we were only half-way through what we had ordered on the iPad to see if we wanted the food to keep coming. His timing was perfect as we were getting full. We decided on one more dish to try and that would be it as we still wanted to leave room for dessert.
Dessert Menu
The way that the dessert menu is presented is distinctive and memorable in a puzzle cube.
We enjoyed the tombstone cake, which was rich and fabulous, and the silver bullet, which was filled with two types of sorbet.
Additional Highlights
The service was outstanding, even a step above the typical dining room experience.
Another aspect I liked about this restaurant is that I enjoy going for tapas and getting to try new things when I’m on land. However, my husband and I are always looking at the price and trying to add things up in our heads. Part of the fun of this restaurant was ordering what you felt like versus trying to find the cheaper or more filling items on the menu. My only regret was that we didn’t go back again to try the items we didn’t order and to have some of our favorite dishes again.
Where to find Qsine
Qsine is available on the following ships in the Celebrity Cruises’ fleet: Celebrity Eclipse®, Celebrity Infinity®, Celebrity Silhouette, Celebrity Summit®, Celebrity Millennium®, Celebrity Reflection.
FreshCruiser Tip: Qsine is definitely a splurge if you’re trying to eat healthy while cruising. To help with this, start your day off with a visit to the fitness room and eat a healthy breakfast and lunch which will let you splurge a little more at dinner.