The best airline meals at 40,000ft

[KK Lee 5]

The best airline meals at 40,000ft

Which airline serves the best food? We test the high-flying contenders

Chris Haslam

 

"By far the best part of the journey has been the food,” wrote Imperial Airways passenger George Cooper to his mother. “I have feasted from London to Mandalay on foie gras and ox tongue, roast beef and spiced lamb, lime jellies and the best pêche Melba I have ever eaten.”

 

That was in 1936, and officially the last time anyone had a good word to say about airline food.

 

It’s a fact that deeply irritates Thomas Harker, executive chef with LSG Skychefs, a catering giant that serves 56 airlines from its Heathrow kitchens. He describes the airline entrée as a miraculous consequence of culinary alchemy.

 

“We take a restaurant dish that’s been cooked to order in a properly equipped kitchen and served by professional waiting staff,” he says, “and then we ask ourselves how the same dish can be cooked 24 hours in advance, flash chilled, reheated and served by a trolley dolly at 38,000ft, but still taste as good.”

 

Fly with Singapore Airlines, Emirates or Cathay Pacific and the economy dining experience is specifically constructed to suggest dinner in a posh restaurant.

 

“Our ethos is that flying is still a special occasion,” says Phillip Parker, of Singapore. “We could save a shedload of cash by going down the frozen-food route, but we think one of the reasons people choose us is that they know they’re going to get a good meal.”

 

Take a long-haul flight with the charter airline Thomsonfly and there’s more of a “we’re all going on a summer holiday” vibe to the menu, which is overseen by the sort-of celebrity chef Aldo Zilli. Coming home is a different story.

 

“By then, our passengers have been away for two weeks, and they’re missing their British food,” the carrier says. “So on the flight home, we serve bangers and mash, and sticky toffee pudding.”

 

Surprisingly, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have an even homelier philosophy. “Our emphasis is on comfort food,” says BA’s Victoria Madden, “the sort of wholesome naughtiness you might eat curled up on the sofa with a good film.”

 

She means microwave ready meals. “Yes,” admits Victoria, “but really good ones: we look at Marks & Spencer’s bestsellers and serve the same.”

 

The average airline spend on an economy meal is well under a fiver per head, including drinks, main meals and snacks.

 

“It doesn’t sound like much,” says the airline-catering expert George Banks, who has been working in the business since 1971, “but when you consider the huge numbers involved, there are economies of scale.”

 

The extreme end of that scale is the £75m Emirates Catering Centre, in Dubai, the world’s most advanced airline-food facility, where 2,200 staff labour around the clock, producing as many as 80,000 meals a day under conditions of robotic eff­iciency.

 

Watching the gleaming catering machine at work, I ask the boss, John Earnshaw, if there is one innovation that would make his futur­istic job any easier. “A toaster,” he replies, with a certainty born of hours of reflection. “I’d love to be able to serve toast and butter at 38,000ft.”

 

Below, marks were awarded out of 10 as follows: presentation, 2 points: main course, 4 points; pudding, 4 points. Starters, bread, cheese and crackers ignored. Wine was gratefully accepted where offered.

 

1 The Winner: British Airways

 

That our national carrier serves an Italian dish made in Germany is disconcerting, as is the lasagne’s garish foil lid, which makes it look like something from Kerry Katona’s freezer. But what’s inside — layers of velvety pasta in a creamy, tangy sauce — is very good, in a ready-meal way. The sod-the-diet portion of chocolate mousse cake with mandarin sauce is even better. 8/10

 

2 Singapore Airlines

 

The answer to the Singapore chicken or beef dilemma is a no-brainer. The delicious slow-cooked beef blade in rosemary sauce — the work of LSG’s Thomas Harker — goes under the knife as willingly as a double-chinned Texan widow. It’s just a shame he didn’t do the veg, too, and the dessert — a rather boring little tub of ice cream — was disappointing after the excitements that came before. 5/10

 

3 Emirates

 

Served in strange, curvy dishes that could be used to build a replica of the Sydney Opera House, the Emirates economy meal — fillet steak with whipped parmesan and cream polenta, and roasted vegetables — comes on like a restaurant entrée, but lets itself down with a slab of Brazilian beef that tastes like a supermarket frozen steak. It’s a shame, because the polenta is every bit as good as it sounds, and the vegetables are spot-on. The pudding was a largely forgettable crème caramel. 5/10

 

4 Virgin Atlantic

 

“We don’t do fine dining, but we’re not Harvester, either,” says Virgin of its six chunks of chicken in a sweet, orangey barbecue sauce with paprika wedges. It’s suitably summery, and the Gü, an egg-cup-sized chocolate overdose, is awesomely moresome. 7/10

 

5 Cathay Pacific

 

Cathay’s sticky Chinese rice — made by the German technicians who build BA’s lasagne — is superb, but what looked like Pal’s meaty chunks and a medley of vegetables weren’t. Better is the not-very-Oriental cranachan, a Highland concoction of fruit, cream and oats. 6/10

 

6 Thomsonfly

 

Aldo Zilli tastes it all, but he clearly has no say in the presentation. The chicken pomodoro is a slapdash tricolore, but it’s much better than it looks, and the white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake is excellent. Up there with the scheduled carriers. 6/10

 

7 Ramsay’s wild card

 

At Heathrow Terminal 5, you can nip into Gordon Ramsay’s Plane Food and pick up an in-flight picnic: antipasti, salad, smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwich, and a huge chocolate and pecan brownie. It’s £11.95, but for as long as it lasts, it’s like being in business class. 7/10

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/holiday_type/food_and_travel/article6632918.ece

[Ryan Soh 3]

EMIRATES? E M I R A T E S?????? Christ after my recent flights I dont even know how the hell they got into this list.

[Seth K 3]

BA???? Why is this carrier even up there.....what a total bias.

[Azman MN 1]

Not surprised BA won as the article mentioned, it focuses on homely or comfort food, and if the reporter is English,of course he would like it.

 

It is not that Emirates is high on the list, it is just a sample of 5 different food sources and Emirates happens to be one of the meals which is sampled. So it is not a ranking of all airline foods, merely a ranking of 5 (supposedly) random ones.

[Kenneth Chong WT 0]

BA's catering sometimes look like something you get at the Freezer Section of the Supermaket that you just pop into the microwave for a quick dinner. Hahaha!

[Waiping 12]

BA's catering sometimes look like something you get at the Freezer Section of the Supermaket that you just pop into the microwave for a quick dinner. Hahaha!

 

For certain group, that's lunch!

[Azman MN 1]

BA's catering sometimes look like something you get at the Freezer Section of the Supermaket that you just pop into the microwave for a quick dinner. Hahaha!

 

Exactly what the article said - they try to emulate Marks&Spencer's ready meals.

[H C Chai 4]

I guess the best airline meal depends on who you are and what your expectations are. I saw this articile in the Travel section of last week's Sunday Times - it is written by an English person for English readers. The comparison may look a bit random at first, (5 scheduled airlines + 1 charter airline + 1 airport restaurant), but if you live in the UK it does make some sense - BA, Virgin and Thomsonfly are UK based carriers and Cathay, Emirates and Singapore are the main foreign carriers that serve the UK - Australia routes. No idea why Qantas is not in the list. MH as usual is forgotten - but judging from the food they serve these days maybe thats a blessing in disguise...

[KC Sim 2]

Not surprising considering that the Brits are not too adventurous when it comes to their taste-buds. A mild curry is probably as risk-taking as one could get, especially on a longhaul flight to a distant land.

 

During the past year and a half, I have been to Terengganu five times and spent at least two months in total. And one dish that the people of Terengganu speak fondly of - Nasi Dagang - is probably as good as it gets. And I have eaten it in some of their homes and at roadside stalls. And I love it. It is Terengganu's answer to Singapore's nasi lemak.

 

And it was therefore surprising when I flew SIA from Amsterdam to Singapore in January 2009. A cabin attendant recommended - without instigation from me - Nasi Dagang. For her to recommend without be asked to, she is staking her credibility on a dish and I was certain that it had to be quite good. Unless of course she has run out of all other meal options and was hoping I would choose this dish - but I did not think so.

 

And when I was done with the meal, I was in heaven. It was as good as Nasi Dagang could get. So for Terengganuans like TK and Azahan, I strongly recommend that when you fly SIA from Amsterdam-Singapore in Business Class, go for that option. SIA inflight services VP told me that in each location where meals are uplifted, SIA chooses the meals based on the specialities of the caterer's chefs. So it made me wonder if the chef in AMS hails from Terengganu.

 

I have also enjoyed wonderful curry dishes on Air India, Thai Airways International, SriLankan Airlines and SIA. And also Korean and Japanese meal options on SIA. The airline that gave me the most gigantic portion in a meal must surely be MIAT Mongolian Airlines when I flew its B727 from Seoul to Ulan Bator and back about 6 years ago. Not surprising when you see the physique of the average Mongolian.

 

KC Sim

[KK Lee 5]

Not surprising considering that the Brits are not too adventurous when it comes to their taste-buds. A mild curry is probably as risk-taking as one could get, especially on a longhaul flight to a distant land.

 

This may be the case 20+ years ago but no longer. Curry is probably the current national food of Britain.

 

[mokhzani 0]

Nasi Dagang on SQ? Do we have Nasi Dagang on MH?

[H C Chai 4]

This may be the case 20+ years ago but no longer. Curry is probably the current national food of Britain.

 

 

Yes, ethnic food is becoming very popular in the UK. I remember reading an articile few years ago saying that curry has overtaken fish & chips as the most popular dish at schools. There was also an article on Telegraph earlier this year showing that Chinese Chow Mien is now the most popular dish in the UK. I am not sure how reliable the survey is but one just need to look at the number of Chinese and Indian Restaurants / Takeaways in the country to get an idea that how popular they are.

 

 

http://www.telegraph...urite-food.html

 

The person who wrote the article in the Times obviously prefers traditional british food to the ethnic food.

[Pieter C. 5]

Guess, it all depends on the Class of travel too !!!

 

Meals are so much more better and tastier in Business Class (and even more so in First) than when flying Cattle-Class...(this accounts for any airline)

 

Based on the Trip Reports on A.net, it seems SQ and CX are setting the pace when it comes to C- and F Class food/service

[Azman MN 1]

During the past year and a half, I have been to Terengganu five times and spent at least two months in total. And one dish that the people of Terengganu speak fondly of - Nasi Dagang - is probably as good as it gets. And I have eaten it in some of their homes and at roadside stalls. And I love it. It is Terengganu's answer to Singapore's nasi lemak.

 

And it was therefore surprising when I flew SIA from Amsterdam to Singapore in January 2009. A cabin attendant recommended - without instigation from me - Nasi Dagang. For her to recommend without be asked to, she is staking her credibility on a dish and I was certain that it had to be quite good. Unless of course she has run out of all other meal options and was hoping I would choose this dish - but I did not think so.

 

And when I was done with the meal, I was in heaven. It was as good as Nasi Dagang could get. So for Terengganuans like TK and Azahan, I strongly recommend that when you fly SIA from Amsterdam-Singapore in Business Class, go for that option. SIA inflight services VP told me that in each location where meals are uplifted, SIA chooses the meals based on the specialities of the caterer's chefs. So it made me wonder if the chef in AMS hails from Terengganu.

 

KC Sim

 

I love nasi dagang. For a long time I could not find it in KL, but in the last few years there have been numerous new places where you can get nasi dagang but still, not as good as the real thing. When I finally meet up with TK in KL, I am sure he will take me to the right place.

 

Amsterdam thing must be new - I did not get this choice last year on the same flight. I do hope that it is better than their book-the-cook nasi lemak which sorry to say is disappointing. The Air Asia one is miles better. Even MH's Y class nasi lemak is better.

[jysim 0]

I love nasi dagang. For a long time I could not find it in KL, but in the last few years there have been numerous new places where you can get nasi dagang but still, not as good as the real thing. When I finally meet up with TK in KL, I am sure he will take me to the right place.

 

Amsterdam thing must be new - I did not get this choice last year on the same flight. I do hope that it is better than their book-the-cook nasi lemak which sorry to say is disappointing. The Air Asia one is miles better. Even MH's Y class nasi lemak is better.

 

MH's Y Nasi Lemak is very authentic with sambal and sotong. They even packed the fried peanuts and ikan bilis in small plastic containers to maintain its crispiness. For a Malaysian it may taste like heaven on the way to FCO or FRA, but I saw the French lady beside me take two bites and left the rest of it being stowed away later.

 

Anyway, CX on the list is a wonder - the last time I know their Y class meals are next to AirAsia's pre-booked meals.

[Keith T 2]

I have actually found the quality of food declined on SQ of late - the last 2 flights (MEL-SIN in F and SIN-LHR in J) I flew on SQ had v nice food, but before that I had a series of SQ flights that featured rather mediocre food.

 

I quite like Qantas (in J and F) and Lufthansa food (in F) but it's not for everyone. They're often criticised for trying to over-complicate things, but personally I quite like the creativity and flair displayed. Qantas usually serves up some v nice Asian fusion which is rather typical of modern Australian cooking, and LH has v nice contemporary European cuisine. Wine lists on both are also spot on everytime - but again that's subjective.

 

BA's food is a hit or miss - I guess this writer tried BA on a day when it's a 'hit.' I like British comfort food, but the quality on BA varies wildly. But the "afternoon tea" they serve in Club World as a refreshment on flights as long as LHR-LAX is absolutely pathetic and embarassing - think M&S sandwiches still wrapped in their plastic wrappers, some scones and dessert.

 

CX is also another one that's hit/miss. Once upon a time I quite enjoyed their food and thought it was one of the best in the skies, despite rather poor presentation in JCL. But lately, sadly there have been more misses than hits. They also have possibly one of the worst champagnes in JCL - Deutz Cuvee which can also double up as a paint stripper. They do have a nice champagne on Regional flights though, Billecart-Salmon which is one of my faves so hopefully they will offer this on long haul flights too.

Edited July 11, 2009 by Keith T