#FoodieseekerFriday - Ji Ji Asian Kitchen

While we were on holiday on Carnival Vista in the summer we had the opportunity to try the speciality restaurants. Before we set sail I wrote a post about the restaurants and even selected what meals I planned to have at each location.

When it came to selecting what we would have when visiting Ji Ji Asian Kitchen I will admit to not really knowing what the dishes were on the menu. There were aspects of dishes that I recognised but all in all I knew that it would be quite a new eating experience for all of us. I also did not know what the children would want to try.

Ji Ji Asian Kitchen was the second speciality restaurant that we visited and we were well and truly in holiday mode. We decided to have our tables booked for 5.30pm when dining with the children. For families with young children this is an ideal time to dine as it is often the first sitting and the quietest time. We found that we were often one of the first families in and the service was impeccable as the restaurant was so quiet.

The staff at Ji Ji Asian Kitchen were so welcoming and interacted fantastically with the children. We were shown to our table and left to look at the menu.

While we were waiting for some drinks to arrive our waitress arrived to explain to us how the dining experience works in Ji Ji's and little bit about the foods. We were told that we would be having a true Asian style family meal. We would be selecting a variety of appetisers, entrees, sides then desserts. The dishes would be served in the middle of the table allowing everyone to dig in and try a bit of all sorts. As soon as we heard this we had a feeling that we would enjoy dining here. Before we could order we needed to decide who would be the lucky host. Ji Ji means lucky lucky and the dice would show us who the lucky host would be. The waitress rolled the dice and it came up with the number one, that was to be our lucky number. We were then told to take it in turns to roll the dice and whoever rolled a one first would be the lucky host. The dice was passed to J and he immediately rolled a one, making him the lucky host.

It was his job to mark down on the chalk board menu what we would like to eat. We were told that we could order 3 appetisers, 3 entrees, 3 side dishes and 5 desserts. I already knew which meals that I had selected so we just needed to look at the menu to select the other dishes. The menu at Ji Ji's Asian Kitchen tells you which part of Asian each of the dishes is from and even has a map so that you can actually pin point the areas. To make it an authentic dining experience the staff that work in Ji Ji's Asian Kitchen are from various parts of Asia and a few of them proudly told us that we were eating dishes from where they are from! We finally decided on what dishes we were going to try. We settled on...

Appetisers

• Nanjing Style Duck - Nanjing duck dates back over 1400 years. Ji Ji's version is slow cooked then flash wok fried. It is served with tomato, mung bean, mango fritters, shallots, hoisin with lily dust and green chilli sauce. This dish is from the Nanjing region. Duck can often be quite a fatty meat but this joint of meat was so tender, it almost melted in the mouth.
• Jiaozi (Pot Stickers) - The Chinese believe that serving Jiaozi brings luck and prosperity. Shrimp dumplings served with pea shoots, radish and green apple salad. Jiaozi are also from the Nanjing region. The steamed dumplings were both light and full of tantalising flavours.
• Chicken Spring Rolls - The chicken spring rolls are served with lemon marinade, curry leaves, pink grapefruit and cilantro pearls. The spring rolls are served all over Asia. These are a classic favourite and we were not disappointed.

Entrees

• Bo Kho - Slow braised Wagyu beef short rib served with watermelon radish, burdock root, wasabi pearls and crisp potatoes. This dish originates from Vietnam. Wow! The meat was so succulent, there was absolutely no fat, it was pure, high quality beef that left us wanting more!
• Sweet and Sour Fragrant Shrimp - This was the entree that I selected before we left home. The crispy shrimp served with tomatoes, pineapple, peppers and scallions in a plum sweet and sour sauce. This dish is served all over Asia. Sweet and Sour is always my preferred Asian dish and Ji Ji's was probably the best sweet and sour meal that I have had.
• Chairman Mao's Master Stock Pig - The clay pot stewed pork is wok fried with scallions, sesame, fresh spinach, pea shoots and snap peas. This dish is from Peking. The portion size for the pork was huge. Below the fresh spinach lay juicy slices of pork that had been stewed to perfection.

Sides

• Chinese broccoli cooked with a ginger and garlic glaze.
• Hot and spicy crisp potato fries. We did ask for the fries to be not hot and spicy so that the they would be ok for the children. As all of the food is cooked to order you can simply ask them to adapt the dish to your taste.
• Steamed jasmine rice.

Desserts

• Caramelised Crepes served with a Calamansi citrus ice cream. This dessert is native of the Philippines. This is what the children chose for their desserts, but after such a large meal they were too full to finish them off.
• Rose Creme Brulee served with a ginger cream. I had selected the creme brulee before our holiday but when the desserts arrived I really was torn between the creme brulee and the fried wonton. Thankfully the hubby agreed to share! The creme brulee has a subtle hint of rose which finished it off to perfection.
• Fried Wonton is wrapped lychee fruit with tapioca pearls and coconut milk. This dessert was my favourite. I love coconut and this dessert was balanced with the creamy coconut and the fruitiness from the lychee. I will definitely be having a go at making this so keep an eye out for that!

We all loved each and every dish that was served to us and the portion sizes were huge! We simply could not eat it all. The children were so eager and keen to try all of the meals. But I think that this is mainly due to all of the dishes being in the centre of the table so you could get what you wanted. We received some chopsticks to use for the meal. I do enjoy the challenge of using chopsticks and the children were curious to try. One of the waiters saw the twins struggling so connected the two chopsticks together using a straw, this made it possible for them to eat using the chopsticks and made the meal even more fun for them.

Once we had managed to finish the exquisite meal we were presented with the traditional Asian treat to finish a meal, fortune cookies and fruit leather rolls. This was the first time that the twins had received a fortune cookie and they were fascinated by the hidden messages that were inside.

Our whole dining experience from stepping into Ji Ji Asian Kitchen, to discovering the menu, learning cultural facts about the dishes we were eating, interacting with the attentive staff and without a doubt the culinary delights from all over Asia was a truly unique dining experience. We savoured each and every mouth full of this delectable meal.

Ji Ji Asian Kitchen was, without a doubt, our favourite place to eat onboard Carnival Vista.

For next weeks #FoodieseekerFriday I am planning to tell you about two other pool side diners, Blue Iguana Cantina and the Seafood Shack. Keep an eye out for a recipe to go with it!

Enjoy x

Disclosure: I travelled onboard Carnival Vista as Carnival Cruise Lines Foodieseeker Family blogger. For more information on Carnival Cruise holidays visit www.carnival.co.uk. Catch up on my posts both pre and post cruise here. All views and opinions are my own and 100% honest.