RTW Roundup: Best of business class EATS
The Best: Turkish Airlines
Turkish Airlines delivered what was, in my imagination, food service from the golden age of travel. It was all so thoughtful, personalized, and involved not a single piece of plastic or foil wrapper.
Meal service on my IST-BKK flight started with a selection of juice or cocktail with a fresh fruit garnish. Instead of nuts (whether in a ramekin like United, or in a foil bag like Singapore), you had a selection from several different canapes set on a silver tray. You can see the drink and canape next to the breakfast menu, which you mark with your choices for the next morning a la room service, and pass to the flight attendant.
1st course, Turkish Mezze: on the big plate is from bottom left, stuffed eggplant, air dried beef, grilled pepper stuffed with goat cheese, grilled chicken breast, and "Cerkez" chicken which is like chicken salad with nuts in it. On the side are a salad, purslane in yogurt, and marinated artichoke.
2nd course: Artichoke soup with olive crouton
Main course: Adana kebap (minced beef) and spring lamb, green pepper, tomato, and bulgur. This is not an uncommon dish in Turkish restaurants, but very nicely prepared: moist, and well spiced.
4th course, dessert: they roll the trolley out and have a selection of cheese, fruit, Turkish desserts, panna cotta, mousse, cherry cake, and ice cream. You can have any or all of them! I had some fruit, and I liked how as I pointed to each fruit from the platter, the flight attendant plated it nicely in a symmetrical pattern on my plate! The Turkish desserts consisted of Kalbura Bastı (the round one - a walnut cake/cookie), and Fıstıklı Kadayıf, made with shredded phyllo and pistachio.
5th course: you think it's over but it's not! They roll the cart around again, and have tiny bite-sized desserts in a tiered holder (like for high tea), tea, and coffee.
In the morning, they bring out a 2-course breakfast. On this flight, it was a pretty standard Turkish breakfast of cheeses, tomato, cucumber, breads, and olives. But you also got your selection of different jams and/or honey, and different kinds of tea and coffee. On the side I got fruit, yogurt with apple mousse on the bottom, and turkey.
The second course was poached eggs on ham and pita bread.
The one drawback of such an awesome service is that it takes longer for dinner to be served, and you have to wake up earlier for breakfast. But I have no problem trading off sleep for food!
The Rest
- United Airlines: Pretty good food, efficient service so you can have more time to sleep
- South African Airways: the food is a lot like United's, only smaller portion sizes
- Singapore Airlines: I was pretty disappointed that on a 7.5 hour flight, we could choose to be served only once, either just after takeoff or just before landing. And the meal was only a 1-course light meal-type affair. I guess I wouldn't have minded as much if someone in the lounge would have told me to be sure to eat before boarding. So I was pretty hungry throughout the flight, having only 2 foil packets of nuts for dinner.
