MSC Cruises’ Redesigned Buffet Offers a More Satisfying Casual Dining Experience

One of the most often heard comments during our cruises aboard MSC ships has been that the buffet restaurant hours were too short. MSC Cruises has now extended them, as well as transforming the buffet restaurants on board MSC Splendida, MSC Fantasia, and MSC Poesia with the help of famous Italian food designer Paolo Barichella. The buffet area has been restyled around new concepts of presentation and service, offering a casual dining experience morning, noon, and night. The buffet is the most visited dining area on board, particularly during breakfast and lunch, and continually enhancing this area is a priority for a company which prides itself on making each cruise a culinary voyage of discovery.

“The idea behind the new buffet was not only to increase the quality of service and variety of fresh choices but also to create a real culinary experience and reshape the way we present food on board,” said Enrico Borniotto, general manager of MSC Italcatering. “Guests can now enjoy watching our skilled chefs prepare a range of fresh dishes, from MSC’s signature authentic Italian pizzas and breads to perfect sautéed pasta and tasty cuts of meat. Aside from redesigning the area in terms of decor, we tried to bring on board the concept of the visible kitchen. Some guests cannot imagine that most of the food is fresh on such big ships and that pasta, pizza, bread and desserts are handmade. This is an extraordinary added value to be proudly presented to guests.”

The redesigned buffet now includes different speciality corners, arranged with a more intuitive feel for guests trying to decide what delicious dishes to select. Fruit and vegetables are now sliced and diced in front of guests at the salad and fruit corner, where fresh products are arranged by color to help guests get the necessary five a day, the “color way”. The carving show corner provides delicious cuts of meat from turkey to beef, while burgers, hot dogs, chips and a selection of sandwiches, piadina wraps, and traditional focaccias can be found at the grill take away corner.

Various types of homemade bread, from breadsticks to bread rolls, pretzel buns, rye bread, French baguettes, seeded bread rings, grissini, and artistic MSC logo breads, can be found at the bakery corner, and guests can even watch MSC bakers producing the daily selection of bread at the special bakery show corner.

MSC’s authentic Margherita pizza, as well as a pizza of the day, puff pastry jalousie and stuffed calzone, can be found at the pizza corner, while the pasta station offers different pastas, including pasta au gratin, homemade stuffed pasta, ravioli and tortellini, all cooked in front of the guests. The Mediterranean corner provides a large selection of traditional cheeses, including provolone, gorgonzola, gouda, Grana Padano, ricotta, mozzarella, brie, and camembert, as well as cuts of high quality origin-certified cured hams, Mortadella and salami, ready to be carved in front of guests.

Children will find a special selection of healthy and tasty items adapted for kids’ tastes in the children’s corner, where MSC’s youngest guests will also enjoy the dessert corner, where different sweet treats, including cakes, crème bavaroises, cupcakes, puddings, tarts and mousses, are available every day.

Five different dishes can be found at the daily specials corner, offering a full menu including soup, pasta gratin and sautéed pasta, rice and hot dishes with meat, fish and vegetables. Speciality recipes from a wide range of countries including Morocco, Spain, Greece, Indonesia, China, Mexico and India can be found at the ethnic corner, which offers four different choices from the country of choice each day. Finally, guests can find the perfect wine or soft drink for their meal on the tailor-made buffet bar list and at the beverage station, which offers a wide variety of hot and cold drinks.

The redesigned buffet project will be rolled out across the whole fleet by summer 2013. MSC Cruises has also recently introduced more flexible opening times for the buffet service, with buffet restaurants across the fleet now open non-stop for 20 hours a day, from 6 a.m. until 2 a.m., so guests can now satisfy their hunger at any time of the day and into the small hours of the morning, with no extra charge. As room service is available 24 hours a day, MSC Cruises has made sure that every hour of the day is covered. For more information about MSC Cruises, visit MSC Cruises USA

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