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Restaurant Review: Silk on Quantum of the Seas

In:
15 Apr 2015

Dining aboard Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas, you will likely have an evening at the ship's Pan-Asian complimentary restaurant Silk.

dined at Silk last year during the ship's inaugural events and was disappointed in the food overall but in the months since then, Royal Caribbean has updated the menu (and the service) and we decided to give it another try.

Atmosphere

You will find Silk on deck 4 of Quantum of the Seas in the aft section.  Entering the restaurant, it has perhaps the most interesting decor of the complimentary restaurants available on Quantum of the Seas.

Instantly, you will get the sense this restaurant has Asian inspirations and it certainly feels the part.

Inside Silk, you will find elaborate arches, patterns and colors that all look like they could be out of Bangkok, Delhi or Shanghai.  In terms of the theming you will find in any of the complimentary restaurants, I really enjoy Silk's decor the most.

The layout of the restaurant is similar to the other complimentary restaurants, with a large room in the center with various alcoves of tables surrounding the main room.  There's also windows that look out to the ocean on one side of the restaurant.

Eats

Silk's new menu offers a lot more choices than the original menu and it's once again a mixture of dishes from Vietnam Thailand, India and China primarily. 

The menu also offers a few generic dishes that you will find at all the complimentary restaurants, such as grilled chicken breast, pasta primavera and salmon.  None of these are Asian, they are just the "fallback" menu choices that are always available every night, similar to the main dining room menu on other Royal Caribbean ships.

There's no breads to start off with so you can jump right into appetizers.  Most tables in Silk offer a lazy susan serving table that encourage guests to share dishes between your table mates.  Our table near the window did not have one of these but odds are your appetizers will be served on the lazy susan.

To start off, I went with the spring rolls.  Simple, yet the kind of food that is perfect for an Asian meal.  They were a lot like any other spring roll I've ever had, so neither bad nor great.

There are a lot of appetizers to choose from but I was looking for a light meal today so I saved my stretchy pants functionality for the entrees.

For dinner I doubled down on Indian food, which is my favorite cuisine.  I ordered the chicken tikka masala and the vegetable curry.  

The chicken tikka masala was the same dish I ordered last year and it's still the same dish now.  A few chunks of white chicken meat in an orange sauce, served with jasmine rice.  


The chicken was good but nothing special.  Moreover, it lacked any spice that is typical of Indian dishes.

The vegetable curry came next and once again, it lacked any spice or distinguishing flavor.  I'm guessing Royal Caribbean wants to avoid spicy dishes for fear no one will order them (most Americans seem not to enjoy spicy ethnic foods).  


My table mates opted to go with Chinese and Thai dishes and they reported their food had better reviews than what I ordered. 

For dessert, I went with plain old strawberry ice cream. No disappointment here!

Overall

Unfortunately, I had another disappointing meal at Silk but I would say it was only disappointing because I ordered poorly.  

The people I dined with and others on the ship that ordered other dishes seemed to enjoy their Silk experience more than I did, which is encouraging.  If I were to go back to Silk again, I would skip the Indian dishes and go with the Chinese or Thai choices.

I get the sense the menu update has made Silk a better restaurant but its menu still has some pitfalls.  Since you can order as much as you like at Silk, I would recommend ordered one of everything for the table and sampling to see what you like best. 

Next time, I will stick with the Indian food in the Windjammer (which is quite delicious) and go a little further east for my dining choices.

Restaurant Review: Silk on Quantum of the Seas

In:
24 Dec 2014

On Royal Caribbean's brand new Quantum of the Seas, you will find the complimentary restaurant Silk that offers a variety of Asian dishes.

Silk offers Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese and Indian dishes in one restaurant.  Being a lover of Asian food, I had to try this on my recent Quantum of the Seas cruise.

Atmosphere

Located on deck 4 on Quantum of the Seas, Silk is located in the aft of the ship across from American Icon Grill.  Walking into Silk is a lot like walking into the other three complimentary restaurants where there is a large foyer that leads into a larger dining room.  

Silk's look encompasses a lot of yellows, oranges and browns in color in a restaurant that has touches of India and the Far East.  When you walk in, you'll definitely know it's an Asian restaurant but without being able to pin point which kind, and that's definitely what Royal Caribbean was going for.

The main dining area is a large room with smaller alcoves on the sides that offer mostly tables and a few booths as well.  Once you dine in any of the complimentary dining rooms, you will start noticing the similar layouts but the decorations and color scheme help keep each from feeling like a copy of the other.

Eats

Once you're seated in Silk, you will get the menu to choose from. There's food from India, China, Thailand and Vietnam but it felt like it greatly skewed towards Thai and Chinese moreso than others.

I was seated at a table with other passengers and we all decided to order one of each of the appetizers to try, which is a great option for the group.  In the middle of the table is a lazy susan that you can put dishes on and share them easily with others.

Each of the appetizers were just large enough to probably be able to share with another person.  For our group, it was great to be able to share these dishes and many of them lent themselves for sharing.  

The big winners were the Vietnamese Tacos, Hot Ramen Noodle soup and chicken wings.  I especially liked the green papaya salad, which was a surprise hit.  I just found myself getting more and more of it.  

When it comes to Asian food, some people are concerned about the food being too spicey.  Most of the food was pretty tame in terms of spice and the dishes are more Americanized versions of these dishes rather than authentic recreations.  You can also tell the wait staff to keep it mild when you order.

For dinner, I had to go with the only Indian dish on the menu, the chicken tikka masala.  I'm a self-described Indian food nut and I always sample a lot of Indian food in the Windjammer when I get the chance.

Sadly, the chicken tikka masala was the only Indian dish on the meny on the evening I was there so it was an easy choice for me.

I really liked my choice because it was a good curried chicken dish that had soft pieces of chicken in a great curry.  The coconut jasmine rice was wonderful with the curry (you have to mix the rice with the curry to really appreciate it) and I ate every single morsel of food off that plate.

The other passengers I was dining with had mixed reactions to their main dishes.  I don't think anyone hated their food, but they weren't favorites.  

Overall

I was a little disappointed in my meal at Silk, perhaps because I had such high expectations for it.  If it were up to me, I'd eat nothing but Asian food at home so hearing about a dedicated Asian restaurant on Quantum of the Seas got me excited.

There were definitely a few dishes that were quite good but I left Silk with the knowledge this wouldn't be my favorite restaurant onboard.

My issues aside, I still think I'd be fine eating here on another night, it just wasn't the home run I was hoping for.  Silk offers a mix of good and average dishes.  Since it's complimentary, I'd suggest over ordering so you can sample a little of everything and figure out what you really enjoy.

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