Samba Grill is one of Royal Caribbean’s speciality dining options hidden away on Radiance of the Seas. It is not on every ship, in fact, it’s not on any others at all, so it’s unique in that regard, and in the cuisine. Samba Grill is a Brazilian inspired restaurant that serves salads, grilled veggies and seven different cuts of meat straight off the rotary grill skewer. First, though, you have to find the restaurant.
On our way from Christchurch to Queenstown for our holiday we went through Lake Tekapo. Our plan had been to arrive here around sunset time so we could get a few nice photos at the Church of the Good Shepherd with the sun setting in the background over the lake. Then we would go get dinner at Mackenzie’s Bar and Grill looking over the water as the sun finishes setting. Unfortunately with our flight into Christchurch delayed we weren’t in time for sunset. We definitely didn’t miss out on Mackenzies Bar and Grill for dinner though! We tried this place out on our honeymoon because they accepted Bartercard which helped keep our costs down and we absolutely loved it, so since we were going through at a meal time we didn’t want to miss out.
I didn’t get any photos of outside unfortunately since it was dark, but it is just here:
Ignore where Google Maps actually places it further up the highway, it’s incorrect. If you use the above location and jump on Google Streetview, you will see the “Observatory Cafe”. That is where Mackenzie’s now is located.
While we were at Rydges in Canberra, we also decided to splurge a little bit and try room service for once. We weren’t super hungry as we had a big lunch, so we decided to get an entree and dessert that had caught our attention.
We got the Lamb Noisette entree and Lemongrass and Guava Parfait dessert to share.
I have to say, I was both very impressed and a bit disappointed. There are a few reasons for both of these things!
I was very impressed because the food was amazingly delicious. I wasn’t as keen on the Lamb Noisette as Tammy, but she really loved it. The Lemongrass and Guava Parfait though was awesome! This was right up my alley. Check out the photos (I thought I’d try a slideshow for something different):