2025 Aviation Showcase Gallery - Foodie Version
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Here in Asia, we're spoiled with hot meals even on short flights. As we bid farwell to peninsula Malaysia's east coast, lunch arrived. Today is a medium haul at 3.5 hours and the hot meal consisted of chicken with coconut rice, an appetizer, fruit bowl, and a cup of Haagen Daz berries and cream ice cream.
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While I wouldn't say Cathay offers the best Business Class food in the skies, it did provide a few surprises on this flight. The abalone appetizer is new although the main was not too inspiring. I always enjoy their cheese plate though.
The catering highlight is actually the mid-flight snack, with a delicious wonton noodle soup and egg tart, both traditional Hong Kong specialties. This would be my FAVOURITE airplane food item of the year. Wontons are not all made equal in Hong Kong's restaurants. There are several famous restaurants in the city, each serving up their own interpretation. Historically, wontons were made small, but today there are large variations full of shrimp which are also delicious.
The next meal was huge with lots of shrimp but tasted only so-so. The Jing tea was the highlight. I really like this brand and usually order at least 2 different teas on a flight.
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All BA flights I've flown on have offered a small snack and free drink - even short-haul flights. On today's 6-hour journey, we also get a full hot meal. Before the main arrived, we got a welcome drink and a snack. The baked pretzels were quite delicious and I also found them for sale at Costco, albeit in a much bigger bag.
The chicken rice tasted decent and it had plenty on the side as well, such as a bread roll, cheese, vegetable appetizer, and a super sweet dessert.
As we approached Doha, a second light meal was served - a hot sandwich. I didn't think this was necessary for a 6-hour flight but gladly accepted.
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I flew Qatar Airways on the return leg so can compare to BA's offering. The beef chili con carne rice was delicious and the overall meal was better than BA. They also served a hot sandwich before landing, which tasted better.
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This is my first time flying BA's Cityflyer service and my first visit to London City airport. I actually didn't expect anything substantial to eat on this under-1 hour flight, but you can stock up on some snacks before boarding. These cheese plates look pretty good!
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At Terminal 5 air-side, the shops offered the typical meal deal sandwiches and touristy souvenir brands. Of particular interest is Lindt's latest sensation - Dubai-style chocolate. I had only tried it for the first time a few days earlier but didn't find it particularly special.
Similar to my Doha flight the previous month, we get a full hot meal on today's transtlantic flight. The chicken tasted quite decent with mashed potatoes and some carrots. The side salad was a mix of pea and some cream underneath which was a little odd, but overall is better than Air Canada's catering.
A 2nd meal was also offered - a sandwich just like the Doha flight.
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I usually stock up on a few bags of Canadian potato chips to bring home, such as Miss Vickie's and anything ketchup. So I was quite delighted to find them in a Pearson vending machine. I didn't buy them here - I prefer the bigger bags at the supermarket.
Air Canada's high-density 777 is a monster, being able to seat almost 400 people. Transatlantic flights offer free meals and despite being at the back, I was still given the 2 dinner choices by the time the cart reached me. The chicken was very salty although I never set high expectations for Air Canada's catering.
The 2nd meal before arrival was a sweet cake and small yogurt, which I prefer more than BA's pastry on the inbound flight. At least this looks a bit healthier.
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Germany is famous for its candy gummies and Dubai-style chocolate? Seems everyone is copying Lindt's success or whoever started this whole craze in the first place.
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Tonight, there are 5 choices for dinner with a mix of Asian and Western choices. The Western ones are baked salmon and Scottish prime beef cheeks, while the Asian dishes are fish ball and cuttlefish ball noodle soup and chicken with mushrooms and bamboo shoots in oyster sauce.
The breakfast selection was also extensive with 5 choices - wellness, light, Chinese, Western, and express. I picked the Chinese menu, which includes a beef and mushroom congee and noodles. The beef slices were a bit dry but I was surprised London catering can make a good congee considering it is an outport.
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In southern China, we drink various types of herbal teas to deal with everyday ailments to refresh our bodies and to manage the effects of a hot and humid climate. This reputable local brand now has a vending machine at the airport!
Cathay Delight is by far my favourite drink in all my years of flying their Business Class. It is kiwi-based with a mint leaf on top.
The crew came by each passenger to take our lunch orders beforehand. There are 5 main selections today, with 2 coming from reputable local restaurants. I picked the braised beef ribs with port wine served with vegetable rice from Duddell's, as well as their drunken prawns as appetizer.
The main's presentation looked disappointing though. There were splashes of sauce on the inside of the bowl that didn't seem like an artistic touch, giving an impression of sloppiness. The soup accompanying it didn't arrive either.
Not too satisfied with the offering so far, I got some fresh fruit and a Persian orange polenta cake. These were served from a cart although I wish the crew would ask whether I wanted any drinks to go with it as a proactive extra touch.
It's a long flight to London so I wanted a mid-flight snack. The wonton noodle is no longer on the menu but they've substituted with a roast duck noodle soup.
The second meal was a light dinner served less than 2 hours before landing. There were 3 main selections and I picked the crumbed pork loin with tomato and jalapeno salsa. It was once again a disappointing dish as the pork was quite dry. Cathay's catering is really inconsistent.
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Flights between the Azores' islands are short so I don't expect any service on board. It's only 55 minutes from Ponta Delgada to Horta and I had lunch in the city before heading to the airport.Air-side, there isn't much to do other than browsing the few shops selling familiar local snacks, which I had tried for breakfast already.
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Land-side, there is a shop selling popular local souvenirs such as cheese, pineapples, and corn bread just before security in case you want to pack them in your checked bags.
Flying short-haul in Europe isn't so exciting. It's only 2 hours to cross this section of the Atlantic.
I didn't buy anything but was aiming to grab lunch at the ANA lounge upon arriving in Lisbon. The buffet was mediocre consisting of mostly sandwiches and pastries. There wasn't even a salad available but there was a soup on offer, although no bowls were available.
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After that mediocre light lunch in the lounge, I browsed around the shops to see what they've got. The air-side area is a good shopping mall and I could've gotten better food here than at the lounge. I love Portuguese egg tarts!
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On these short-haul flights, BA serves a complimentary bottle of water and small snack. These biscuits are actually quite good and come from a big brand.
Prices for their for-purchase menu were not too bad and the coffee seemed reasonable (for London prices).
Oslo's airport is quite spacious and nice. Immigration didn't take long to process and there was a huge duty-free shop just before the baggage carousels.
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Kristiansand has a small airport about half an hour outside the city. After clearing security, the holding pen had a lot of seating, including proper tables and chairs despite just 2 places to get food, 1 of which was a convenience store selling simple stuff such as hot dogs.
The international area had a huge shopping duty-free shopping zone.
Today's short flight is on a turboprop run by Braathens Regional Airways. Of course, food is not free other than coffee or tea and I wasn't interested in buying anything else given the 1-hour flight time.
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Denmark has a fairly high cost of living so it is browsing-only at the airport duty-free. They have the "royal" Danish cookies that I grew up eating in Hong Kong, sausages, and cans of all sorts. The reindeer and elk jerky seems to be a fairly common item in the Northern European countries.
Their beer section was pretty good with both craft and mainstream options available.
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Cathay's Premium Economy offering is presented as a noticeable upgrade from Economy but with better presentation, utensils, and meal choices. The 2 meals tasted quite good and I could recognize the catering was from London as the cheese was the same as my prior BA flights and the yogurt.
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As I plane spotted at the airport, I noticed this Moroccan cafe has opened up shop. Ages ago, I ventured into their store at IFC Mall to try their famous pistachio croissant. I also found them in Kuala Lumpur earlier in the year with the same croissant costing significantly less.
There is also a fancy coffee shop here now.
Despite being a short-haul flight to mainland China, there were 2 choices for lunch - chicken rice or seafood pasta. I picked the pasta and it tasted decent with a nice lobster-like sauce base and bits of squid and small shrimp. The Haagen Daz ice-cream is fairly standard for Hong Kong departures.
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Xian has a huge new terminal and the international section was mostly empty. There are very few food options although I found a few vending machines here and there.
Instead, I relied on the meal on the plane for dinner. It was pork with rice accompanied by metal cutlery wrapped in a paper bag and a mango sorbet ice-cream. However, it consisted of extremely fatty pork so I had to tread around the unhealthy pieces and ended up still hungry. Yes, in this part of the world, we're spoiled with a full hot meal for just a 2.5 hour flight.
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The best welcome drink is always a Cathay Delight.
For the main meal, I picked the halibut option, with fish being a fairly safe choice and my preferred main whenever I fly. The caramelised onion tartelette starter looked like a pie, and wasn't anything memorable.
The hawthorn jelly with Chinese yam dessert was a highlight though - not too sweet and very delicious.
Despite the disappointing lunch, Business Class is a great place to spend for an almost 14 hour flight to London. Half way through, I ordered a noodle soup for a snack. This isn't exactly the wonton soup from prior flights though.
There are 3 choices for the 2nd meal, and I picked the Hong Kong BBQ pork egg noodles. It was a good choice - tasty with the pork having a good amount of fat without feeling I'm putting my health at risk. This meal was spot on.
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This is my second transatlantic trip to Canada, so I'm familiar with the offering already. Today, I picked the meat option for lunch, which was a curry. On the side are cheese and crackers, which I particularly like.
For the snack before arrival, I picked vegetarian but it ended up to be another curry filling.
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Emerging airside, it was a big duty-free shop with the typical Dubai style chocolate and local favourites such as ice wine and maple anything. The chocolate was slightly cheaper than the Lindt store in London but this price is before sales tax, so it's still better to get it at Piccadilly Circus.
There were 2 choices for dinner. I picked the chicken with mashed potatoes option instead of the vegetarian. The chicken was wet and mushy and overall, it was a disappointing meal. Catering out of Toronto is generally a miss and Air Canada doesn't fare any better on this route either.
The 2nd meal was a wrap like on my previous transatlantic flights, but the packaging was far more simple this time. There is no paper box but a plastic wrapping instead.
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Cathay launched a new route to Munich earlier in the year, so I have higher expectations for food on board compared to the likes of BA and Air Canada on their long-haul flights. Shortly after take-off, we got a palmier from a Hong Kong social enteprise.
Next up is lunch, which was a delicious pork in black vinegar sauce with rice.
Cup noodles were also served afterwards on request.
Breakfast was a mix of Chinese congee with a Western yogurt. I was impressed Munich catering can produce a traditional congee, considering Cathay doesn't even fly daily.
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Dubai-style chocolate has also arrived in Hong Kong. At HKD $269 for 3 thanks to a buy 2 get 1 free and 20% off offer, the price is even cheaper than the Lindt store in London.
This short hour-long flight is one of the best examples of how spoiled we are in Asia. We got a hot chicken rice this morning, although there was no 2nd choice.
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Japanese airports are shopping malls and there are plenty of food souvenirs available. Naha's airport had local specialities such as seaweed and donuts on offer.
On board, service is fairly simple for a domestic flight. We were only offered a drink and no other food. The crew had a laminated sheet showing the options. Besides the typical water and juice, the was a beef soup available, which I picked out of curiosity. It was fairly salty!
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