A Closer Look at the Dining Onboard Explora Journeys

There’s a lot that makes Explora Journeys different than other luxury cruise lines, but one aspect that truly stands out is the dining experience onboard.

To start with, there is no main dining room onboard. Instead, guests will find four included restaurants, each with a distinctive menu representing a specific style of food: Mediterranean, French, Pan-Asian, and Steakhouse.

Two – Med Yacht Club and Fil Rouge – don’t require reservations. Just show up any time you want during open hours (generally 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.).

You will need reservations for Sakura and Marble & Co. Grill, but they tend to be easy to get and you can usually book the same day and get a spot.

All menus at the four main restaurants indicate which dishes are plant based (PB), vegetarian (VG), gluten conscious (GC), and are omega 3 oily fish (O3).

A fifth included dining option is Emporium Marketplace, which the line likes to refer to as the ship’s upscale Food Hall. (In cruiser parlance, it’s the ship’s version of a buffet.)

There’s only one extra-fee option, Anthology, which offers a tasting menu of Italian dishes from around the country. The price is 140 euros per person, plus an additional 60 euros per person for an optional wine pairing.

One important note about dining hours: there are gaps in when food is available on board. Between 10:00 and 12:30 on port days (10:30-noon on sea days), the only food available is at Crema Café (pastries, yogurt, and the like) or via room service. Between 2:30 and 6:30 on port days (2-6:30 on sea days), guests can get food at the Burger Corner (until 3:30) or Crema Café (pastries, small sandwiches) and room service.

Here’s a closer look at all of the included dining options onboard EXPLORA I and EXPLORA II. (TMR did not experience Anthology.)

Med Yacht Club (dinner only)

Located on Deck 4 at the back of the ship in a light and airy space, the Med Yacht Club offers an array of dishes from around the Mediterranean, including Italy, Spain, Greece, France, and North Africa.

The menu features nine sections, including two specialty sections: tapas to share, with six options, and plant-based specialties, which only lists one item, though there are other PB items on the menu.

Tapas and appetizer choices include such options as: patatas bravas (tapas), ham croquetas (tapas), shrimps saganaki (tapas), fresh local mussels and chorizo, beef carpaccio, grilled octopus, veal-stuff eggplant, and falafel fritters, among others.

Two salads (French Riviera roasted vegetables, and grilled halloumi cheese) and two soups (minestrone, and fish soup) round out the starters.

Entrées include a pasta and risotto section, plant-based option, fish and seafood, and meat dishes.

A few options include: mushroom risotto, spinach and ricotta tortelloni, roasted pumpkin ballotin, grilled yellowfin tuna, sole “alla puttanesca,” Amarone beef fillet, osso bucco, chicken tajine Moroccan-style, and roasted Spanish suckling pig, among others.

There’s also a five-item menu of side dishes. One – Franck’s mashed potatoes are also available at Fil Rouge and Marble & Co, and are indulgently delicious.

Desserts include a torte of the day, Piedmont hazelnut semifreddo, chocolate sorbet, and the Med Yacht Club signature “Sweet Caprese,” a cherry tomato confit with strawberries, among others.

Fil Rouge (breakfast, dinner)

Also located at the back of the ship on Deck 4 (adjacent to Med Yacht Club), Fil Rouge is open every morning for breakfast, and at dinner, offering a French-inspired menu.

The breakfast menu is extensive will all the usual items, as well as more unique options such as the Fil Rouge signature toasted French brioche with creamy spinach, a poached egg, Hollandaise, and caviar. For those with a larger appetite, there’s grilled minute steak and grilled lamb chops.

The menu is divided into appetizers, salads, soups, main courses, rotisserie, from the grill, and Little Italy, with a selection of sauces and side dishes, as well.

Appetizer choices include foie gras, roasted beets in a salt crust, Burgundy escargots, jumbo scallop carpaccio with caviar, French-Caribbean, Cajun-spiced lump crab cake, and more.

Three salads and three soups round out the starters, though both items on the Little Italy menu – calaramarata pasta, shrimp risotto – can both be ordered as appetizers as well.

The main courses are really where Fil Rouge shines with options such as seared Mediterranean seabass, salmon tournedos, langouste thermidor, 72-hour slow-braised black angus beef short rib, and sweet potato tart with three types of mushrooms.

Rotisserie choices are veal Wellington and chicken, while the grill offers Dover sole, black angus prime sirloin steak, and New Zealand lamp chops.

Once again, the Franck’s mashed potatoes are a delicious side choice, but so too are the French beans.

As with any good French restaurant, the dessert menu begins with a cheese platter, but there’s also a souffle and tart of the day, chocolate mousse, an island rum cake, and the Fil Rouge signature caramelize mille-feuille with Madagascan vanilla, among other choices.

Sakura (lunch, dinner)

The prettiest restaurant onboard is the pan-Asian Sakura, with lovely pink cherry blossoms and lattice works adorning the ceiling, and bright red chairs and yellow faux paper lamps giving the space pops of color. (From everything we overheard, Sakura was also the most popular restaurant during our sailing.)

The lunch menu is a mix of items from the dinner menu (black angus sirloin steak teriyaki or roasted Atlantic salmon, for instance) and smaller-portioned options such as the Bento Box of the day, which includes a salad, nigiri (two pieces), maki (two pieces) bao bun, fruit salad, and dessert. There’s also a Singapore chicken salad that’s only available at lunch, and a large selection of sashimi, sushi, hosomaki, and uramaki.

The dinner menu offers an extensive selection of sashimi and sushi, including even a few plant-based options.

The non-sushi menu is divided into six sections, not including side dishes. 

To start with, diners can choose from three Asian-style tapas to share (dim sum, gyosa, and edamame) or select from eight starters. Choices include crispy duck confit, jumbo lump crab salad, soft shell crab tempura, Wagyu beef tataki, bluefin tuna tartar, wakame salad, and others.

Two soup pots – roasted pumpkin ginger soup or mis soup – round out the starters.

Entrees run the gamut from miso roasted black cod fillet (our favorite meal of the entire cruise) to lobster pad Thai and roasted salmon, and 72-hour slow-cooked short rib beef Panang to Thai vegetable green curry and roasted Korean miso quail, among several other choices.

You won’t find mashed potatoes on the sides menu here, but you will find Asian favorites like stir-fried rice, sauteed broccolini in teriyaki sauce, soba noodles, eggplant in sweet and sour sauce, and both steamed brown and steamed jasmine rice.

Deserts include chocolate matcha fondant, lemongrass poached pear, makrut lime pavlova, tonka bean mousse cake, and an array of ice creams and sorbets such as black sesame, matcha, coconut, chocolate, and mango lime.

Marble & Co. (dinner only)

Explora Journeys’ steakhouse, Marble & Co. is located mid-ship on Deck 5. It has a traditional yet elegant steakhouse feel with dark woods and black-and-white photography on the walls that harken back to olden days.

The menu is divided into seven sections, and unlike the other restaurants, offers three Signature dishes: crushed fingerling potatoes with Normandy butter as an appetizer, Mediterranean tuna steak “Au Poivre” as an entrée, and a beef Signature burger with Tete de Moine cheese, grilled pancetta, olive jam, truffle dip, and Parmigiano Reggiano fries.

Five additional starters include gravlax salmon, roasted beets in salted crust, jumbo lump crab meat salad, slow-cooked pork belly, and roasted vegetable tian.

Salad choices are a Tuscan kale salad or a mesclun salad. The only soup on offer is a lobster bisque.

Seafood selections are a roasted Atlantic bone-in halibut and lobster brioche, while the non-beef meu comprises grilled veal medallions with a Maine lobster tail, a roasted pork rack, spice-grilled French lamb chops, and black truffle butter-roasted chicken.

Of course, the beef choices are the stars of the show and include: French grilled L-bone sirloin steak, aged 45 days; German grilled rib-eye steak, aged 30 days; American black angus prime-rib-eye steak, aged 45 days; and French beef filet, aged 20 days.

There are also three side casseroles available. All three are vegetarian. Choices are roasted buckwheat, butternut squash, goat cheese cream, and crispy sweet potatoes; fried Brussels sprouts, ricotta cream, and roasted shallots; and Swiss chard grain, Mornay sauce, aged Gruyere cheese, and crispy Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.

As with any good steakhouse, sides include options like truffle mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, French fries, and more (but no baked potato).

Diners at Marble & Co. have six dessert options, not including five ice cream and sorbet flavors. Highlights of the dessert menu are the Explora Journeys’ signature chocolate brownies with Madagascan vanilla sauce, Yuzu cheesecake, Sorrento Mio with lime curd and lemon sorbet, and the fried beignets in Amaretto-pistachio, rum-Swiss chocolate, or bourbon-caramel sauce.

Emporium Marketplace (breakfast, lunch, dinner)

Located “high” up on deck 11 from midship to aft, the Emporium Marketplace is the ship’s casual dining venue where guests will find an array of food that rivals any upscale food hall.

Breakfast features the usual array of items with made-to-order eggs, pancakes and waffles, cereals, and more.

Lunch and dinner are similar with a full sushi bar, a made-to-order burger counter (beef, salmon, veggie), a pizza spot, a salad bar with an additional salad-of-the-day option, and a carving station (roasted chicken is always one of the options).

A highlight of both lunch and dinner is the extensive pasta collection, with numerous types of pasta to choose from, along with several sauces. Plus, there’s always a pasta of the day and a risotto of the day.

But wait, there’s more. There’s also a skewer choice, meats and cheeses, grilled salmon or fish of the day, a lobster claw, several hot entrees, and desserts. (You’ll find gelato and sorbet outside near the pool.)

 At lunch, the options also include a make your own ceviche counter.  At dinner, the ceviche gives way to a raw bar with crab, oysters, and shrimp.