Like many people, food is always one of the things we look forward to on our cruise and on our voyage with AmaWaterways sailing the Mekong, it was no different. We both really loved that there was always a mixture of local dishes along with western dishes. For us it was a wonderful introduction to Cambodian and Vietnamese food.
The lovely dining room had a variety of tables to seat two, four and six guests. The restaurant team were simply amazing, always happy and welcoming. We were never without a full water glass or (most importantly) wine which was always generously poured.
Breakfast
The most important meal of the day? When you are getting up early and have a jam-packed day of touring in the heat and humidity, I would say yes it was the most important meal of the day on our river cruise.
We were always welcomed into the restaurant and as soon as we were seated our choice of tea or coffee was taken, always a Vietnamese iced coffee for me. I miss not having condensed milk in my coffee every day!
There was always a generous choice at the buffet from cereals, yoghurts, fresh fruits, meats and cheeses. Hot options ranged from sausage, bacon, breakfast potatoes and local options which changed daily.
The live cooking station offered eggs anyway you would like, but for both Mr B and I our favourite station was the noodle soup station. It was always so fresh and fragrant, full of herbs and noodles with the protein changing daily. My favourite was the beef, it was very tender.
We also both enjoyed a freshly-made omelette and Mr B had some perfectly-cooked fried eggs.
Additionally, there was a menu which you could order from. Quite often Mr B and I would have something from the buffet, then order off-menu. I really enjoyed the eggs benedict, great poached eggs with lovely sharp hollandaise.
One morning I had a sweet tooth and enjoyed the pancakes. There was always a special of the day which was always something sweet. Waffles, plain pancakes, banana pancakes and French toast were some of the specials on our sailing.
My absolute favourite dish was the avocado on toast, so much so I had it four mornings! The avocado was fresh, tasty and seasoned just right. It was a delicious breakfast and on a few occasions I opted to swap my poached eggs for scrambled as they both went very well with the avocado toast.
Lunch
For lunchtimes onboard, starters and desserts were served buffet-style, whilst main courses were all ordered from the menu and served to your table.
Every lunchtime there was always homemade soup available. They ranged from Chilled peach soup, Chilled pineapple soup to Cream of vegetable soup. My two favourites were the roasted pumpkin soup and the white onion soup. But whichever we opted for they were always very tasty and went very well with some of the onboard homemade bread.
The buffet had a selection of salads every day and in addition to the usual salad accompaniments there was always a daily salad.
There was also a starter on the buffet which changed daily. This ranged from fried shrimp rolls with lemongrass to pork spring rolls, deep fried seafood sticks, dim sum and sushi.
The menu offered four daily choices for lunch in addition to the AmaDara smash hamburger/cheeseburger/veggie burger, all served with French fries and coleslaw. The burgers were available to order every lunchtime. I did opt for the cheeseburger one lunch and it was very enjoyable.
Some of mine and Mr B’s favourite lunch dishes were the stir-fried pork with vegetable and egg noodles, sauteed Mahi-Mahi fillet served with spinach, garlic cream and brown rice, and roasted whole chicken with lemongrass and fried rice.
To the beef lasagne, Cambodian stew with caramelised pork, eggs and long beans served with pandan rice, and the spicy noodle soup.
As well as the daily dessert, which changed every day for lunch, there was always a selection of ice creams and fresh fruit available. Most days I opted for the ice cream, but a few times I did choose the other dessert option.
I enjoyed the caramelised lemon tart and the dark chocolate brownie with white chocolate frosting, but my favourite was the local dessert of black rice pudding with coconut cream and roasted sesame. It had a lovely nutty flavour, sticky in texture and only slightly sweet from the coconut. It was different to anything I had tried before.
I also occasionally ended my lunch with a cheese selection. This was available on the buffet at lunch time and I was impressed with the continental cheese offerings.
Dinner
Always the perfect end to a perfect day. We thoroughly enjoyed our dinners onboard. Like all meals on AmaDara, the food and service is the perfect combination for an extremely enjoyable meal.
The menu always offered a daily choice of two starters, two soups, two main courses, a dessert, ice cream, fresh fruit and a selection of cheese and crackers, as well as an always available selection of Ceasar salad, vegetable broth, Grilled minute steak with herb butter, Chicken breast and crispy salmon.
Some of our favourite starters which we enjoyed were the breaded crab cake with avocado puree, chicken pieces and Teriyaki sauce.
The Kom Pomg Soum (seafood salad), the grilled chicken skewer and spring roll with satay sauce.
And one of my absolute favourites was tempura fried tiger prawns served with avocado and hot pepper dip.
As well as enjoying the homemade soups at lunch we also had some really tasty ones at dinner. Some of the options were Bath Dom Bong (hot and sour soup), Oriental beef consommé, cream of tomato soup, cream of broccoli, green curry beef soup, spicy prawn Tom Yam soup and the creamy mushroom soup with truffle oil.
We found all the cooking of meat and fish onboard to be consistently good. I ate so many great seafood dishes on our sailing. Some of the highlights for me were the Miso-glazed salmon with wok fried bok choy, Shitake rice and miso reduction, which I enjoyed on our first night.
The Swordfish fillet with curry leaves, shrimp cream, choy sum, butterfly pea flower and sticky rice. Amok, which is a fish fillet in a coconut milk served with a light curry sauce with steamed rice, and the fillet of Tuna with spinach, coconut rice and tamarind sauce.
Mr B really enjoyed the aged, marbled Sirloin steak with grilled tomato, spinach and stuffed potato with green peppercorn sauce on our first night and also really enjoyed the braised lamb shank with Balsamic jus, tomato-pepper ragout and garlic creamed potato.
Two meat dishes we both ordered and absolutely loved were the Hoisin-Marinated duck leg with egg noodles and stir-fried vegetables. The duck was so tender it fell off the bone.
And on our very last night we both tucked into the roasted Sirloin of beef with crayfish, thyme shallot red wine jus and bacon potatoes. It was absolutely delicious!
There was always a sweet treat to end dessert whether that be with the dessert of the day, fresh fruit or with the varying flavours of ice cream, which I just could not resist!
Two of the desserts I enjoyed the most were the chocolate tart with snake fruit and the vanilla panna cotta with passion fruit soup.
Mr B loved the coconut mousse with grilled pineapple, Khmer pepper and rum sauce and the mango sticky rice with coconut milk. He also enjoyed the Tart Tatin with vanilla ice cream which he had on the last night of our sailing.
Some of my favourite ice creams I enjoyed after dinner were the mint chocolate, mocha and rum-raisin. And a few nights I also couldn’t resist opting for the cheese and crackers!
Chefs table
All guests can enjoy dinner one evening at the Chefs table. It is advised to book this when you first get onboard.
In a dedicated restaurant this six-course menu was a lovely dining experience.
The menu consisted of an amuse bouche of ‘essence of tomato and basil’. A hot starter of caramelised Barramundi, soup nicoise was served as the second course.
Next was a cold dish of ‘Vitello Tonnato’ which is thinly sliced veal with tuna sauce. This one we both found particularly delicious, with the meat being melt-in-the-mouth with such delicate flavours.
We then enjoyed a palate cleanser of green mango shaved ice.
Our final savoury dish was aged marbled sirloin steak served with garlic roasted creamed potatoes, crispy onion rings and Asian leaves with a mushroom and truffle dressing. This is a dish which Mr B and I would both order if we were out. It ticked all the boxes for us, the meat was cooked rare as I ordered and all the accompaniments added to the dish. The variety of flavours and textures worked wonderfully.
The showstopper of the meal was most definitely the dessert. Not only did it look amazing, it tasted fantastic! It consisted of a chocolate lava cake, which oozed molten chocolate when cut into. It was rich and utterly delicious. The dessert also consisted of a macaron, perfectly crisp on the outside with a slight chew on the inside. Lastly there was a tutti frutti ice cream with a spun sugar top. A fun, creative and very yummy dessert.
Saigon Lounge
If you ever fancied a snack in between meal times you could head to the Saigon Lounge, where there was a range of crackers, fruit and delicious cookies to help yourself to.
Ama gave us a great variety of cuisine, catering for all tastes. We got to try some local Cambodian and Vietnamese dishes we had never had before which we very much enjoyed. The wonderful food and lovely restaurant team were another highlight of our time spent on AmaDara.
Read my other blog post to see onboard AmaDara, our wonderful river cruise ship sailing the Mekong . . .
Read my next blog post to see our 7 night itinerary, the places we got to visit and the special and unique experiences we had . . .
https://www.amawaterways.co.uk/mekong
Laura this sounds so amazing and makes me want to take a trip. We missed this part on our Vietnam tour