The Dining Galley

The Galley is top notch. The food is very good 95% of the time and very diverse. The fresh fruits and veggies are called “freshies” and are delicious. They come from New Zealand and are mostly organic.

The kitchen is huge and often had several stations open for different things. Some days there is an omelet bar, or a pasta bar or a sub sandwich station or stir fry/ fajita station. It’s all good food.

The bakers out do themselves each and every day.  Their desserts are amazing.  Wednesday’s are Cookie Wednesday. All day long there are huge trays piled with homemade cookies- at least 10 different kinds, continuously replenished throughout lunch and dinner. Ridiculously yummy.

The bakers make enough loaves of fresh baked hot homemade bread to feed 1000 people 2 meals a day. And not just boring white or wheat bread. Wonderful concoctions like ‘red pepper bread’ or ‘gypsy bread’ with walnuts or ‘rosemary bread’…… their combinations are seemingly endless and so tasty.

The dining room is huge, open and spacious, no one is crowded. It has a quieter back room that people who want to eat alone or night operations people off for the night and don’t want to disturb their roommates by hanging out in the room, go to read or write or blog. (Me)

Even the coffee is good. It’s not weak restaurant type coffee, but bold strong coffee. And there is never an empty pot or machine of it in the galley.  It’s either a magic pot or there’s a coffee fairy employed here.

They serve 4 hot squares a day. The usual breakfast, lunch and dinner, but a midnight meal for the 6p-6a workers called “midrats” (midnight rations) or “2^nd meal” as night workers refer to it as. Our breakfast is called ‘1^st meal’ because it’s really at day worker’s dinner time. Lunch at midrats is ‘2nd meal’ and our dinner is ‘3rd meal’ or breakfast for day workers.  In order to keep the bar goers from eating all of midrats before night workers, night workers are given a card to show they are workers- not partiers.  At 1230a if there is any food left, the bar goers are allowed to partake.

There are 2 bars. Gallaghers and Southern Exposure. The Coffee House serves wine and coffee mixers but also has a huge variety of card and board games to play. The Galley is a great hangout for night off workers too, as they have a few games to choose from.

The Galley does not serve carbonated soda in cans, bottles or machine. The staff knows and understands the importance of staying hydrated in this very cold, dry climate, so water, juice, coffee and tea are the beverages served. Saturday night dinner, alcohol (beer or wine) bought from the store and bars are allowed in the Galley to have with your meal. This is the only time this is allowed with the exception of holidays.



The wall are nicely decorated with paintings and photos of Antarctican locales 



A huge photograph of Scott's expedition with the "Discovery" the "Morning" and the "Terra Nova" in McMurdo Bay. The Discovery was actually trapped in ice when this photo was taken.