9 Must-Try Dishes on Celebrity Edge (7 Are Free)
Celebrity Cruises has always placed a strong emphasis on food, but on its latest ship, Celebrity Edge, the line takes it up a notch or two. The ship boasts an astonishing 29 places you can get food, from a traditional three-course meal to a grab-and-go outlet.
And to make things even more mouthwateringly delicious, each of the four main dining rooms has three starters and three entrees exclusive to that restaurant.
There are more dishes than a cruiser can try in a month, let alone a one-week cruise. So where do you start?
The good news is we've done the research for you (someone had to do it) and pared down everything to the nine must-try dishes on Celebrity Edge.
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1. Lamb Shank Tagine
Type: Main Restaurant: Cyprus Price: Free
This melt-in-your-mouth dish is slow-cooked, Moroccan-style and comes with root vegetables, potato puree and Middle Eastern spices. A nod to the restaurant's Eastern Mediterranean/North African theme, it's one of those dishes where there is an awful lot going on spice-wise -- cumin, ras el hanout, cinnamon, ginger and pepper -- but all complementing each other perfectly.
2. Kefalograveria
Type: Appetizer Restaurant: Cyprus Price: Free
Recommended by the line's executive chef, Cornelius Gallagher, who oversees all Celebrity's cuisine, we're pretty confident this dish is a winner. It also happens to be the no. 1 appetizer ordered by cruisers across all the main dining restaurants onboard Celebrity Edge.
Kefalograveria is a Greek cheese made from sheep's milk and the dish, as it's served in Cyprus, is simple but delicious: olive oil and freshly squeezed lemon to give it a bit of bite. That's it. Enjoy!
3. Strozzapreti Carbonara and Slow-Roasted Porchetta
Type: Main Restaurant: Tuscan Price: Free
Tuscan was inspired by the extra-fee restaurant Tuscan Grille, found on Celebrity's Solstice-class ships, but instead of serving steaks (you'll find those in Fine Cut, a dedicated steak restaurant onboard Celebrity Edge), it concentrates entirely on Southern Italian cuisine.
This dish -- "strozzapreti" means "strangled" -- is a carbonara pasta, twisted and laid in a creamy base of Parmesan cheese and a whole poached egg on top. The slow-roasted porchetta -- otherwise known as by its Southern Italian name, guanciale -- adds the tang.
4. BBQ Glazed Short Ribs
Type: Appetizer Restaurant: Cosmopolitan Price: Free
Cosmopolitan aims to offer "classic American" cuisine (this is the main dining room where you'll find NY strip steak), but as the name suggests, you'll also find a few international gems, such as this appetizer. We liked the barbecue short ribs so much we ordered it as a main.
Honey glazed so you get sweetness mixed with smokiness, these ribs are literally melt in your mouth -- the tender meat just falling off the bone in strips. It comes with crispy onion straws, sweet corn puree and pickled vegetable slaw.
5. Beef Tenderloin en Croute
Type: Main Restaurant: Normandie Price: Free
This French-themed restaurant features delicious French-style dishes, such as chicken pate, a potato and Gruyere tart, and baked Brie cheese (a contender for this spot), but we are opting for this beautifully presented and off-the-scale beef tenderloin.
It comes in a light-as-air puff pastry topping, a Roquefort fondue (to give you that sharp cheese kick) and a dark bordelaise mushroom sauce. Pair with a full-bodied Bordeaux for maximum pleasure.
6. Chicken Tagine
Type: Main Restaurant: Luminae, the suites-only dining room Price: Free for suite passengers
Celebrity's latest culinary partnership is with acclaimed New York-based chef Daniel Boulud, and this dish is his creation. This dish is made "sous vide," which translates as "under vacuum," a cooking method in which food is placed in a pouch or glass jar and cooked in water for longer than the usual cooking time.
The result: The flavors seep deep into the chicken, creating an astonishingly rich dish bursting with different spices -- curry, turmeric, ginger, cumin and paprika are all present, as are olives and golden raisins. It's presented on a bed of couscous.
7. Sherry-Glazed Pheasant Breast
Type: Main Restaurant: Blu, the AquaClass-only restaurant Price: Free for AquaClass and suite passengers
We had a hard time narrowing down our favorite meal hear -- and the herb-crusted rack of lamb was a tempting choice -- but the sherry-glazed pheasant was the clear stand-out for us. It was just the right side of gamey, with a delicacy offset by the sweet glaze. It's complemented with oven-roasted tomatoes and cured pickled vegetables.
8. Life After Death
Type: Main Restaurant: Eden Price: $65 per person
For a playful dining experience on Celebrity Edge, you'll have to splurge on Eden, where the emphasis is on the elements -- earth, air and water -- as interpreted by molecular gastronomy. The dish we've chosen as the standout item here is a classic striploin steak, slow-aged for deeper flavor, which comes with potato, béarnaise sauce and watercress.
9. Prime Rib
Type: Main Restaurant: Fine Cut Steakhouse Price: $55 per person
The latest addition to the Celebrity fleet, Fine Cut is a classic steakhouse, and it would be remiss of us not to mention the USDA Prime, bone-in, 14-ounce rib eye, but really it's the side we couldn't get enough of: Tater Tots made with Gruyere cheese, our contender for the best overall dish onboard.