Trip Report: Air China PVG Business Class Lounge
Exit immigration check at Shanghai Pudong was none too quick, but I was (a bit surprisingly) allowed to use the Business/First Class security line. The line checker asked if I had my frequent flyer card, and accepted the digital MileagePlus card I had saved to my Apple Wallet. Whew! This year, United stopped sending physical cards to Premier Golds and Premier Silvers, not even upon request, which is kind of a bummer. But I’m glad the Pudong security line checker was up with the times and accepted the digital card!
After security, I made my way one level up to the Air China lounge, accessible across this bridge.
I was directed to the Business Class lounge, which is split between two floors. Downstairs was a quieter area.
Whereas upstairs there was a service desk (with huge Chinese knots, I suppose for Chinese New Year)…
…and the food.
The buffet consisted of a nice variety of hot, mainly Chinese dishes, as well as cold items and desserts.
The Chinese dishes were quite unique to me, like this salt-baked salmon jaw!
Of course, I had to try one of these salmon jaws (at the left of my plate), along with shredded tofu, duck breast, broccoli, stir-fried pork, tofu (家常豆腐), and fried rice with ji cai (薺菜), or shepherd’s purse. All were quite tasty, but could have been more hot.
In this same buffet line, was this mashed taro with coconut milk. With that description, I thought this would have been sweet, like a dessert. But it wasn’t sweet at all. On the other hand, it wasn’t savory either. It fell squarely in that camp of rather ambiguous foods. I did find a sugar packet to try to transform it into a dessert!
“Real” desserts included a peach mousse (peach flavor hardly discernible), and banana bread (acceptable).
Once again, I marvel at the literally boundless variety of dishes in Chinese cuisine. I was glad to challenge my taste buds once last time on this trip, with that salmon jaw and neither-sweet-nor-savory taro.
