Fabulous Buffet Choices on The Oceania Riviera - Hong Kong to Kobe

I just finished a two week cruise on the Oceania Riviera, boarding in Hong Kong and exiting in Kobe, Japan.  The terminus of the cruise was actually in Tokyo, but having been there less than a year ago to see the cherry blossoms bloom, and also since for me any vacation in excess of two weeks quickly becomes drudgery, I got off the boat four days early.  Having heard about luxury cruises, we had decided over a year ago to give one a try.  However, as I found, while the food on the cruise excelled, the remaining overall experience trailed otherwise trailed every other cruise I had ever taken.  But this posting only looks at the wonderful buffet items on the trip, although it nowhere near covered the price differential over other cruises.  Here are the more interesting things that showed up in the buffet over a two week period.

Salmon loaf

 

 

 Five hour slow cooked lamb shoulder

 Gnoochi in pesto sauce

 

Veal cold cuts

Swedish meatballs

Chocolate mole short ribs

Roast beef cold cuts.

Sea bass

 

 

 

Taiwanese beef noodle soup

 

 

Wrapped gras

 

 

Sushi grade tuna tartare

 

Spanish seafood stew with giant shrimp

 

Spanish tortilla
 

 

 

Rare roast beef salad

 

 

Taiwanese shrimp

 

 

Runny fried cheese
 

 

 

Oxtail salad

 

 

Oysters Rockefeller

 

 

New York strip loin

 

Thai chicken

 

 

Veal scallopini

 

  Pork and duck loaf

 

Baby squid toast

 

Black cod

 

Veal stuffed with chard and pistachios

 

 

Curry giant shrimp

 

 

Noodles in duck broth

 

 

Lobster pad thai

 

 

Rack of veal

 

 

Mixed mushroom h'ors d'oeuvres

 

 

What a humongous pot of cumin fried rice!

 

Butternut, spinach and feta cheese pie

 

 

 

Single spoons of fried tofu

 

 

Tamarind salmon

 

 

Russian salad

 

 

Fancy egg rolls

 

Chinese pork belly in the carvery

 

 

Chinese desserts including tapioca and sticky rice

 

 

Giant Asian skewer bbq

 

 

Chicken dumplings

 

Mushroom tarts.

 

 

Zucchini cheese crisps

 

 

 

Always hamburgers and pizza at lunch, which were very good.  Plus rib eye, sirloin and other grilled meats available in the nightly buffet dinner.

 

 

Sardinian seafood stew with pasta balls

 

 

Probably my favorite buffet dish of all, pineapple chili red snapper

 Venison medallions

 

Chicken Chop Suey At Seree Coffee Shop Is More Than A Blast From The Past.

 

My visit to Seree Coffee Shop was more than a blast from the past, but also an adventure and a visit into my own childhood, though not in the way you would imagine.  Seree Coffee Shop on Grand Ave. in the shadow of downtown Los Angeles has been on my radar for over a decade, but not high enough for me to visit until now.  Seree serves American breakfasts plus old style Chinese  food like chop suey, fried rice, and other rice dishes.  It’s been open over 50 years with the same owner-chef, Kenny.  You could probably drive by it every day and not realize there’s a restaurant inside.  

 

And the inside is as spartan as they come.  Just a small window into the kitchen where you could place your order with the owner/chef.  

 

Talk about walking into a time warp!  It took forever to get my food because there were two large orders ahead of me, but I really didn’t mind.

 

The closest thing I could find to a menu had pictures but no prices.   This chicken chop suey on a bed of fried rice weighed over 2 pounds and cost $11.50.  And everyone gets a brownie in the end.  

 

Now while I said that this trip brought back childhood memories, I don't mean memories of chop suey.  I really don't remember eating chop suey as a kid and I’m not sure if I’ve had it more than a handful of times in my life. I don’t remember the last time I had chop suey.  Maybe Fargo, North Dakota in the late 1970s, not counting the Princess Cruise chop suey that wasn’t.  

Where the childhood memories come in is as I was plotting Seree’s location I noted that the junior high school my mom attended in the 1930s was just two blocks away.  When I saw that I had thought I had never been by John Adams Junior High before, but I did recognize it as I drove by.  

 

I also noted that the house I lived at as a 3 year old was just 3 blocks away from there. As I slowly drove down the street checking addresses, I thought I recognized where I lived. But the address was off by 2, 213 instead of 215.  Then I saw the building next door, a newly built multi unit monstrosity with unit addresses like 215½ and 215¾.  What had they done to my house?  

And as I looked past where my house used to stand, there was another old house, in pristine condition.  Why did they have to tear down mine?  Oh, and it's for sale for $900,000.

Oh well.