Favourite Meal/Dish/Drink/Wine?

[cunardqueen]

I loved the chilled fruit soups, the Baked Alaska & parade, well you either love or hate that.. the steaks/burger snacks in the pavillion, l would kill for a BLT sandwich as for the Dinners, where on earth do you start. They seem to have the portion size down to a fine art,but l do recall a time when the portions were quite small, and perhaps if you have two puddings well you deserve to feel stuffed.
 Some folks l know used to cheat and perhaps glance the menu on display in the morning, for me nothing could beat the enjoyment of sitting at the table and wondering what on earth the menu would hold for me that night.

 Casting my mind back to my first trip in 1986 and sitting in the newcomers section, part of my first adventurous meal l ordered from the menu was "Chilled Gazpacho Andaluz soup". Now you would think it was clear what it was,My first shock was that it was cold (honest !!) But all 5 of us had that.Being brought up to clean my plate l really did struggle to finish the soup and darent so much as leave half a bowl. the rest of the table did voice comments that they didnt like it, even now l can still taste it, yuk yuk yuk.The waiters were both English and very "gay" and must have known l didnt care for it as they asked, with a broad smile, lf l wanted a second plateful....One of them did say afterwards that lf l didnt like anything just say and l could order something else, but that in my young head did seem extravagant
   
 Back then l couldnt get my head round the fact that all the food was free, having got over the soup escapade it did make me wonder what on earth l was letting myself in for for the next 10 nights 

 Never been a fish lover, l have a thing about bones,choked on one when l was small..(probably a touch of the Queen Mum in me there) cant enjoy a fish for sake of finding a bone and when l do find a bone thats me finished. The only time l risk it and throw caution to the wind is when they do fish n chips with mushy peas onboard, thankfully they have never needed to cart me away .
 Another time, looking back through photos we had  a Beef Wellington carved tableside and that was in Mauretania.   

[Rob Lightbody]

From my trip in 1987:-

Bread rolls!  Freshly baked.  To tear open with your hands (a new one on me).  I think at the time these were far better than any bread you could get in normal UK shops.

SORBET!  The first place I ever had it, and I thought it was wonderful!!

[cunardqueen]

Bread rolls!  Freshly baked.  To tear open with your hands (a new one on me). 

You mean you tore them open l used to sit there and ever so carefully try to slice them, isnt that why we have a side knife more often than not it would go all soft in my hands and squishy (please no comments) and l would think why not tear them open, but that never seemed the right thing to do..
Then of course the butter was another subject, always just soft enough to spread, but then the butter knife that was used just to transport the butter from dish to roll, it was never used to spread the butter was it , of course some folks would use the butter knife for spreading it all over the place, so hence here we are back at the side knife, just think if Cunard hadnt supplied them we would all be tearing our bread rolls and spreading the butter with the butter knife and what a simpler world it would be ...

 When the waiter offered me a roll for the past 22 years l have always said " anything but please no cheese" the salted ones were lovely, the seeded ones even better but the brown   wheat rolls l always felt were a tad to healthy, and on a soup night l always had two, now you mention it, l had two most nights.. and as for the iced water, has anybody ever had to top their glass up, the waiters always seemed to know exactly when to top you up. 
 Rob did you ever try the tropical sorbet, that was awesome
(all this over a bread roll  )

whatever next, confessions over a bread roll lol

[Kindlychap]

It was a late addition to the menu, and I had it as a special order more than once, but Alana had a superb dish of scallops wrapped with Palma ham with Pork Belly. Wonderful. On one of my special orders they thought that Kirsten wanted one, so I had to (well, it would be rude not to) eat two....

My final meal on QE2 was Caviar, Tomato Soup, the above dish, and Crepes Suzettes. The latter flamed tableside by the wonderful Denis Burchall. Can't recall what I was drinking... But my "regular" orders were Lynch Bages, l'Evangile, d'Yquem and Giscours. Although there was a wonderful Sancerre - the Pascal Joliver (spelling?) that we drank loads of too.....

Those days are gone.   Reality returns.....

Matthew

[Louis De Sousa]

Although there was a wonderful Sancerre

Yes,i remember the Sancerre-wonderfull wine.

[Twynkle]

Wolf Blass
the Yellow Label Cabernet Sauvignon- £4.99 in Majestic.

[Bob C.]

This is way back in the day but my favorite breakfast was QE2's buckwheat pancakes.  Was this item still on the menu in more recent times?

[Louis De Sousa]

This is way back in the day but my favorite breakfast was QE2's buckwheat pancakes.  Was this item still on the menu in more recent times?

When i left in August 1998 it was still on the menu,i myself had it a few times.

Louis

[Malcolm]

QE2's buckwheat pancakes

I remember seeing buckwheat pancakes I tried them once I didn't like them So I don't know if they were still on at the end or not. I would guess so because my favourite breakfast was either banana or strawberry pancakes (with a minute steak and American bacon on the side  ) - if they had pancakes on the menu I would think they'd offer the full range.

[Twynkle]

Just checked the Menus on QM2 - not a sign of a pancake for breakfast


Here are some images from 'delrock's stay aboard QE2 during a leg of the 2006 World Cruise
http://www.webshots.com/search?query=QE2+Menus

[cunardqueen]

I always enjoyed the breakfasts and would usually have the cinnamon toast & Strawberry pancakes, with scrambled eggs American Bacon and Hash Browns and a few mushrooms and always with the toasted muffins, the waiters couldnt decide if the toast was by its self with a few bits of fruit or as part of the other selection so sometimes l had one big plate ot two smaller plates, either way i didnt mind, The orange juice was also delicious, didnt it come in tins !!

The afternon teas were for me always a must, either in the Queens Room or Lido, only ever had it once in a friends cabin and that was only because we were "busy" And what they brought could have fed the 5,000 l of course fellt complled to clean the plate, only becuase they had gone to so much trouble.
 
Lunches l confess to enjoying the Pavillion and if Bobby was there, it was hard to turn down what he offered,Soup followed by the minute steaks, fries onion rings some salad of course and l was very happy no pudding of course. other than that it was split between the Mauretania and the Lido. On the intransit days lunch was in the Britannia Grill and while it made for a nice change l always found the food there quite rich and the service just a tad on the stuffy side.
 As for the Dinners, where on earth do you begin, each and every one was perfect, never had a bad meal or needed to send anything back

[Malcolm]

Whichever restaurant I was in if I ordered pancakes with something else (like American bacon and black pudding) I was always given a very strange look and asked if I really wanted all three items on the one plate I have always thought it quite normal to have pancakes with something savoury but the restaurant staff didn't like it

[highlander0108]

These blueberry pancakes (with american bacon) were, without a question, the best pancakes I have ever had    I had to honor my family lineage by ordering up a second course of kippers as we were jsut of Isle of Skye at the time.  I can report were very "flavorful" and they stayed with me the rest of the day.   

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

My favourite meal (quite uncharacteristically... but also quite consistently) was breakfast. Natural yoghurt and fresh seasonal berries... real fresh Birchermüsli... porridge... Swedish pancakes with lingonberries... lots and lots of freshly squeezed orange juice... and those delicious pastries... Morello cherry jam... eggs Benedict...

Not all of that every day   !



https://www.flickr.com/photos/prondis_in_kenya/3118350561/

But something out of that list every day, perhaps even several things out of that list... And every day, it was simply delicious. The tea was excellent too!



https://www.flickr.com/photos/prondis_in_kenya/3734768749/

My next favourite meal was quite possibly the midnight buffet. I loved the atmosphere of the Lido at that time. A wander round the counters and a glass of something or other. A table at the back of the port side. And another wander, to get just something small. A piece of cheese. A plate of fresh fruit. A key lime pie... When our Assistant Maître d' was on duty, last time on board, he would make quite sure that I got something to eat, even if my main intention was to sit there and enjoy the atmosphere    .



https://www.flickr.com/photos/prondis_in_kenya/3762702176/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/prondis_in_kenya/3761900627/



Those were the days -- and the nights!

[highlander0108]

My next favourite meal was quite possibly the midnight buffet. I loved the atmosphere of the Lido at that time. A wander round the counters and a glass of something or other. A table at the back of the port side. And another wander, to get just something small. A piece of cheese. A plate of fresh fruit. A key lime pie... When our Assistant Maître d' was on duty, last time on board, he would make quite sure that I got something to eat, even if my main intention was to sit there and enjoy the atmosphere    .

Those were the days -- and the nights!

Our midnight buffet visits were magical as well, no doubt due to the presence of Myles and Ed.  Those were moments I will always cherish.  I think we stayed way into the wee hours of the morning every night.  I never really nioticed the theatrical colored cove lighting until afterwards.  Some nights it was blue, but after the food was picked up, it was returned to a whaite color. Our last night onboard, I wore the tux anyway, even though it was casual elegance, as my final tribute to QE2.    The warm peaches over vanilla ice cream was my final meal onboard actually, since we did the self-disembarcation in Southampton. 

October 4, 2008

October 10, 2008

Following morning, leaving the ship for the last time.