French Fry Diary 71: Topsider Buffet, Disney Magic

The Topsider Buffet is the place for breakfast on board the Disney Magic, a buffet arrangement that has everything you could possibly want – fruits, bagels, toasts, breads, pastries, juices, pancakes and waffles, a cereal bar, an omelet station, and yes, even a potato product. Sadly it was not a good potato product.

Much like the disappointment at Parrot Cay, the hash browns were of the same variety. Of course there’s not as much disappointment this time as Topsider’s is a buffet and Parrot Cay a fancy restaurant, but still… what do I have to do to get good breakfast potatoes on board this ship?

Apparently the answer to that question is to simply wait a day. Day four brought with it roasted potatoes for breakfast at Topsider’s. More dinner style than breakfast style, these stir-fry red potato wedges with onion, parsley and other extras mixed in with a subtle but yummy sauce made breakfast so much more worthwhile than previously. Day five gave us very thick slices of red potatoes in the same configuration. Tasty, but I would have to say the wedge shape worked much better. So they did redeem themselves in the breakfast potato arena, eventually.

French Fry Diary 69: Parrot Cay, Disney Magic

Parrot Cay is the Disney Cruise’s Caribbean themed restaurant, very festive island flavor, decorated with parrots everywhere and even the sounds of parrots and other tropical birds. Island décor, music and even menu items, this is one of my favorite restaurants on board.

For breakfast, however, this was a disappointment. The same rectangles of processed hash brown that you can buy at your local Shop-Rite at ten for three bucks is what you get, and it’s not even good. These were crispy to a crunchy texture with barely any potato flavor left. It was a good thing the syrup overflow from my pancakes was there or they’d have no taste. Heck, nothing against this type of hash brown, but I could make it better in my microwave, oven or toaster myself. Epic fail. Except for the bacon of course, which was fabulous. But this is French Fry Diary, not Bacon Diary...

When I came for dinner later that day I had some great jerked chicken as an appetizer and grilled beef tenderloins for dinner. Rather than French fries (which is where you thought I was going, didn’t you?) as a side I got the twice-baked potato, which in hindsight was a great idea. Not the usual, which impressed the wait staff who had already tagged me as a catastrophically picky eater, but it was still quite good. The only other night we ate there I also had mashed potatoes, so oh well, we’ll have to try the fries at Parrot Cay another time.