I’ve been tracking my flights since early 2012 and according to Jetlovers I’ve taken 370 flights, flown over 385,000 miles and spent around 40 days in the air. I love flying, but my favorite part is the meal service.
The anticipation of what may be served and how it will look and taste all adds to the inflight passenger experience. As I’ve said numerous times before, airline food is a form of inflight entertainment, whether good or bad. There are some airlines who really know how to do airline meals correctly whilst others who need a lesson or two. Here’s a look at some examples of memorable inflight meals over the years, each with its own reason why.
Norwegian Airlines
Back in 2012, I flew with the airline from New York to Oslo (remember all those issues they had with its Boeing 787s?) the food was bad, really bad. But they redeemed themselves recently, I flew from Oslo to Bangkok only 2 weeks ago with the airline and managed to book a number of meals. My inflight taste test cost me €35.00 and I received a main meal as well a second service breakfast pack. The crew saw me taking lots of photos and ended up giving me an extra hot meal to test out. I immediately noticed a massive improvement in quality and taste. The meals were fresh, served hot and most importantly tasty and yes the chicken was succulent too.
Xiamen Airlines
I wasn’t expecting much from this Chinese airline even though I would be flying business class, but was pleasantly surprised on a flight from Amsterdam to Xiamen on their Boeing 787. It was Christmas Day 2015 and I was served a delicious meal of chicken with roast potatoes, French onion soup and a crisp salad. Not only did the airline hand out dinner candles to all passengers, but the service and inflight product was just fantastic. Sure the lounges weren’t the best in China, but inflight this airline was perfect!
Malaysia Airlines
Well known for its fantastic satay sticks in business class, Malaysia Airlines didn’t disappoint on this flight from Kuala Lumpur to New Delhi. Passengers on Malaysia Airlines gobble up 20,000 satay sticks each day! They are cooked in a special way at around 60 degrees and blast chilled (cooled down very quickly) then kept cool until they are served inflight no later than 12 hours after being cooked. Passengers can choose between lamb or chicken, and have the satay sauce drizzled all over the meat, or on the side. Whilst the the rest of my meal was mediocre on this flight I thoroughly enjoyed those satay sticks!
SWISS really knows how to consistently serve some of the most amazing looking meals in business class on their European flights. The airline is well known to support local Swiss producers and offer these products to passengers inflight. Back in November 2014 the airline had a pop up restaurant event on flight LX16 from Zurich to New York. Swiss chef Chef Andreas Caminada and his ten-member team took 12 months to plan for the inflight event. Passengers in all cabin classes were served an array of meals that were freshly prepared inflight. Here’s a perfect example of how Swiss even treat economy class passengers to Swiss produce.
Turkish Airlines
Whether you’re in business, premium economy or economy, Turkish Airlines certainly knows how to deliver a fantastic meal no matter what cabin class you travel. Even on short flights within Europe the airline will offer something delicious. Like this inflight snack box on a flight from Athens to Istanbul featuring a typical Turkish breakfast, not bad for a flight of around 1:20!
Singapore Airlines
Probably my most memorable meal was flying SQ in their A380 suites, I pre ordered the Japanese Kyo-Kaiseki dish. My favorite part of the meal was the Nino-Zen, it was the third course in this four course tasting menu. It included:
An amazing suites experience on Singapore Airlines from Hong Kong to Singapore.
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