I think you mean Queen Mary as the poor Queen Elizabeth sadly met her end in HKG harbor.

We order off the menu regularly, especially at Amanresorts. The coolest was at Amanruya (Turkey) where we talked to one of the managers who was from Bhutan. We chatted about what kind of food they ate there, and he ended up preparing a Bhutanese meal for us!! Other examples has been full Mexican meals at Amanoi and at Amankila, sushi several places, pizza at Amanjena, Indian and Thai meals at Amanpulo, Belgian Croques at Amanoi etc. etc. Often we chat with the chef and ask where he or she is from and ask them to make something from their home country. Sometimes we have had to ask for such things a day in advance but mostly it is possible even at shorter notice.

I generally don't eat in hotel restaurants that much but if I do I haven't ever felt the need to order off menu even at the Pen in Shanghai where our set lunch had some very odd items not to our taste (even through we eat a lot of Chinese food in places like HK) - we had excellent food in several other l good Chinese restaurants on that trip.

I only ever order say western food in Asia if I've been travelling for a few weeks and I just fancy something other than the local cuisine. I wouldn't expect even a hotel in HK to provide say a good Pizza if they don't have a wood burning oven. Obviously if you know where the chef originates from then you could ask for one of their home country's dishes but unless you're somewhere that there's super fresh fish I think I'd pass on the sushi! Although I go to lots of Thai restaurants in London when at home I wouldn't think of ordering Thai at a hotel in Venice as I've seen mention of on here!

Incidentally at the IC in Marseille last week a young trendy looking Chinese(?) trio arrived at the next table to try order off menu - fried rice! I didn't hear the waiter's response as he was facing away from me but I imagine that that although a very simple dish would be extremely difficult to make in a western style kitchen that probably wouldn't have all the ingredients or a wok to cook them in. They didn't have fried rice!

When we order off the menu, it is normally if we stay more than a week at an Amanresort or if our son has a special wish. Otherwise I stick to local food or what is on the menu.

I just had to post: this summer at Four Seasons Whistler, the chef made many custom meals for us off- menu, all fabulous! The enthusiasm from the kitchen to meet our requests was really sincere and much appreciated. I was craving Chinese, then a Greek salad... Not fancy requests but just what I was in the mood for-

Exactly, and the Queen Mary certainly isn't a luxury hotel.

I stayed somewhere fancy, like the Metropole in Hanoi, but I can't remember where exactly. I had an illnesses and couldn't eat except for bread. As they had a huge beautiful bread selection at breakfast I asked fora bread basket to be delivered to my room. This wasn't on the menu and seemed to pose a huge problem. They discussed it with numerous bosses and finally gave me a half hearted yes they could do it but it would cost me. I said I knew that and didnt care id it was $50. It finally arrived with great fan fare and a $25 bill!

my pet hate is late night room service that doesn't have a thick gooey chocolate cake.

We take our dining very seriously and would never mess with the carefully crafted menus designed in michelin stared restaurants, however, we have a little boy who is a very fussy eater. At the Metropole Monte Carlo in Joel Roubuchons restaurant we ordered the taster menu and he had chips and icecream. No problems. I also tend to avoid beef and sea urchins that i cant bear but minor amends like these have never even resulted in a raised eyebrow. Finally at breakfast, i like a plate of kiwi. When we stay at lhw hotels they always seem to be able to dig some out, not so at the fairmont who have substituted bananas! I never hesitate to ask but it is only the very top who seem to have the ingredients and skill to impress every time.

A couple years back I was staying at Claridges in London. I had a heavy lunch that day so I wanted something light for dinner. When I called room service and asked whether they could make up a tuna salad, I was requested to hold and a few minutes later when room service came back on the line I was informed that one of the sous chefs was from Canada and he knew how to make a tuna salad!!!

Yes children can sometimes be difficult to accommodate in restaurants - our oldest was particularly fussy as a baby and toddler - we took him on his first trip when we he was 15 months old - first stop of a 3 month long RTW was in HK - trouble was he wouldn't eat anything like rice or noodles which made eating in restaurants rather difficult! I'm now embarrassed to admit that we resorted to getting him a takeway Mc Donald's child's meal to eat in the hotel before we went out - I'd probably be looking at people who do that now and think what bad parents they are! Don't worry by the time he was 5 his favourite food was Chinese and by the time he was 8 or 9 he ate off the full adult menu his favourites being quail or rare duck breast.

I know Musken's son is a very accomplished diner and I'm sure your's will also grow out of the fussiness in time.

Regarding not being very flexible in terms of kids food, I remember a two star Michelin restaurant close to the back then four seasons Provence. Our son was I guess two years old. He had been very good at eating from the normal menu and we had promised him chocolate ice cream for dessert. We asked for the ice Cream for him after the meal. They served him a very very bitter dark chocolate ice cream decorated with all kinds of sauces and flowers and fruit that sort of ruined the whole experience for him. They also did not allow him to play a bit in the garden outside of the restaurant why we we are having the coffee. We were the only guests by then but they told us that it "would be disturbing".

I sure as heck avoid sea urchins too. Eew.

I'd expect Claridges to make you whatever you wanted too.

Even Hiltons, and Ws and Marriotts do special meal requests for room service, it's really such a fundamental thing, not limited to luxury hotels. I'm talking different vegetable for the entree, special type of pasta on request or their fish or meats prepared a different way. Not talking a fish they don't have in the kitchen etc. That's where luxury hotels would shine regarding your question. Then it's always about how much you're willing to pay. Although the $25 for a bread basket another poster mentioned seems a bit disgusting (taking advantage disgusting).

Our soon to be 3 year old is going with us to Amanruya and FS Sultanahmet next month and Amangiri the month after that. I have no doubt the hotels will help us come up with toddler friendly food items that are not on the menu.