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Food I Had Onboard XIX (October 2024)

Florian Buechting Airports and Airlines, Just Blogging No Comments

While my 18th edition of the Food I Had Onboard just came with a limited number of trips rather widely spread over a longer period, all these trips in my 19th episode occurred within three weeks. There are a lot of interesting connections and airlines in it. Let’s have a look together into my recent culinary and service experience on board of planes and trains.

 

2nd October 2024, Lufthansa City Airlines VL 1977, Cologne (CGN) – Munich (MUC), Economy Class

This one has been booked as Lufthansa flight, finally operated by the Germans’ new daughter. Lufthansa City Airlines. There was not too much difference between the two carriers. The cabin looked like Lufthansa, the crew looked like Lufthansa, the service felt like Lufthansa. There was a small bottle of water, a small bar of chocolate and the crew was nice – nothing to complain about.

 

2nd October 2024, Lufthansa LH 1736 (operated by Lufthansa Cityline), Munich (MUC) – Belgrade (BEG), Business Class

The terrible limitation on using Lufthansa Upgrade Vouchers made me take the second leg of the day. The first steps into this flight were nice: Lufthansa (or Lufthansa Cityline) grants a free seat next to you in the 2-2 seating of the CRJ 900 – and I even managed to close the seat belt, which is rather rare at this aircraft type. The rest of the flight was horrible. For example, crew did not avoid luggage at the seat at take off and landing in front row (which is a risk at turbulence and evacuation). While the crew offered two meals to the other business class passengers, I just got one choice (even though they served me first). In contrast to the Cologne /CGN) to Munich (MUC) flight before, the Business Class passengers did not get a pre-flight bottle of water.

The idea of an Oktoberfest-branded meal is nice. However, this one was awful. The pretzel roll was absolutely dry and hard and even was partially sipping in the mustard. Finally, you got two rolls (the other warm was baked in the oven, at least), a tiny meatball and some (not too bad) horseradish salad as well as some cold cuts. That was very limited. The desert, some sort of cake in vanilla cream, was nice, though. The crew was not overwhelmingly friendly, the front door staff majorly cared about having some nice cell phone pictures after landing. No refill on drinks, so that I ended up with less drinks than in Economy before. Sorry, Lufthansa (and all your countless brands) – that’s just too poor! At least there was a small nougat chocolate before landing.

 

3rd October 2024, Qatar Airways QR 232, Belgrade (BEG) – Doha (DOH), Business Class

The next flight I took on my trip was my debut on the Qatar Airways Airbus A320 business class. What a contrast to the Germans – the service was very attentive and always friendly. The pre-flight featured a welcome drink (I went for an refreshing lime juice). For the starters, there was a choice of three courses. I favorite the lovely sesame seed tuna tataki with Waldorf salad over the Arabic mezze or the soup (asparagus).

For the main course, I had already pre-ordered the Black Angus beef tenderloin with mushroom juice and vegetables. Maybe a bit too done to still be medium, but the meat was really nice. Some more of the sides would have been lovely, though. You obviously had to choose between cheese and a sweet ending. I went for the latter and got a lovely dark chocolate pralina mousse with Creme Angelaise, which was really good. At Qatar on these flights, you can even choose when you like to have your meal – the crew did an amazing job here.

 

4th October 2024, Qatar Airways QR 1052, Doha (DOH) – Abu Dhabi (AUH), First Class

I was especially looking forward to this flight of my early October 2024 trip. The key reason is of course that the flight between Doha (DOH) and Abu Dhabi (AUH) is officially not having a Business Class, but First, which means you have access to the amazing Al Safwa Lounge in Doha. However, I was also curious how the crew would manage to squeeze the great Qatar Airways service into the short flight hopper – the estimated flight time on the Airbus A350 was 40 minutes only. Still on the ground, the crew served Arabian coffee and dates.

 

They did great! The pre-flight began with a welcome drink and a scented cold towel. You were also asked for the drink you want during the flight as well as your choice of main dish. There was the choice between a prawn curry pie and a mushroom filled brioche. I went for the first option. The right wing of the first class cabin was served a bit later, so that dining was a bit of a hurry, but they managed to do it in style. And it was even a small three-course meal, all served in one from a tabled, but from the galley. The other dishes were hummus with Arabic bread and a white chocolate and pistachio gateu. A really good one.

 

5th October 2024, SriLankan UL 208, Abu Dhabi (AUH) – Colombo (CMB), Business Class

It has been quite a while since I flew Sri Lankan the last time. My previous experience has been on their posh Airbus A330. This time, all my flights were A320 ones, the first starting with a kind of odd, no-livery one where the first row was labelled as row 6. For the first flight, a some four hour nighttime trip, there was dinner service. The starter (a nice potato salad) and the desert (pineapple crumble with mixed berry compote) were fixed and you could choose between four mains. I opted for the Fish Pepper Stew, a traditional local dish, coming with “Keselmuwa” and steamed rice.

The service was really nice and attentive. There were multiple people who they already knew from the outbound flight, as they were on a mileage run as myself. The other dinner option were chicken biryani, mutton stew or a vegetarian sweet and sour jackfruit with beetroot curry. Apart from the garlic bread, they later also served some lovely roti bread. A lovely inflight experience!

 

6th October 2024, SriLankan UL 364, Colombo (CMB) – Jalarta (CGK), Business Class

After a short stay at the lovely Serendib Lounge in Jakarta, my trip continued to Indonesia. It was time for breakfast service. Again, some dishes (fruit, yogurt and pastries) were fixed and you could choose between four option. Finally, three options did not have a choice, even though they sounded really nice. There was cheese omelette with spinach, potato and a chicken sausage, a waffle served with vanilla sauce and berry compote and a vegetarian breakfast soba noodle peppers and vegetables. However, I went for the Sri Lankan-style Milk Rice Trio. I had that dish on my previous flight – a damn spicy choice, but I absolutely loved it.

Even though the crew was stressed due to a ground handling-caused flight delay in Colombo, they did a really nice service. The first leg was likely better in that regard, but they definitely did a very good job.

 

7th October 2024, KAI Indonesian Rail 7084 PC, Jakarta Gambir (GMR) – Bandung (BD), Executive / Panoramic Class

On 7th October, I had a trip to Bandung. For the outbound trip from Jakarta, I went for the Pangandaran Train from national rail company KAI. I traveled in Panoramic Class, an executive class product with a large glass train. The service was really kind and nice, I love the service by both agents responsible for the car. Quite soon after we left Jakarta, they served a lunch box consisting of a cinnamon roll, water and coconut. I did not go for a hot drink (tea, coffee or hot chocolate), which would have been complimentary as well.

 

 

7th October 2024, KCIC Whoosh G1250, Tegalluar Summarecon (CGK) – Halim (CMB), First Class

While the Panoramic Car was already exciting, I was even more excited for the new Indonesian high speed train, operated by the Indonesian-Chiinese KCIC. In Business and in Whoosh First Class (which I traveled in), you receive a lunch bag, which included some water, nuts, a sweet roll with chocolate and a chocolate bar. Regarding the short travel time (47 mnutes overall), a nice offer. Apart from boarding and leaving the train and the service, the train service agent was not that present, though.

 

 

9th October 2024, SriLankan UL 365, Jakarta (CGK) – Colombo (CMB), Business Class

I really like the food onboard of SriLankan Airlines. Thus, I was really looking forward to the return flight with them. The pre-flight drink did not have any bubbly option again, but their orange juice is really good. I went for gin and tonics to the cashews before the meal this The meal again consisted of three courses, two of them fixed (potato and bean salad as well as passion fruit mousse). This time, I went vegetarian and opted for the palak paneer with vegetable jalfrezi and onion rice. Other options would have been stir-fried beef with oyster sauce, a Prawn Baduma crispy fried prawn curry and a grilled chicken breast with different vegetables.

 

The potato salad was fine. I did, however, not spot the beans which were announced in the menu. The Palak Paneer was rather brave and mild. However, especially the jalfrezi gave a nice spice. The more, I loved the dessert. Apart from the roll provided directly, there was another round of breads with a wider selection. By the way, there was no amenity kit on this flight again. There were also no hot towels. The service during the flight was a bit of limited, due to many turbulences en route. I would absolutely understand and support that, if only the cabin wouldn’t have gathered in the galley, standing and chatting all the time.

 

9th October 2024, SriLankan UL 207, Colombo (CMB) – Abu Dhabi (AUH), Business Class

SriLankan, act 4 of this trip. This time, it was a great service. Only myself and Ryan, who did the Abu Dhabi-Jakarta return quite extensively during that time, were in the business class cabin. The service was very attentive, with lovely Sri Lankan cashews and a nice meal. I missed taking a snap of the menu, but the three other main option was the jackfruit curry (vegetarian), the shrimp curry and a lamb biryani. I went for the Chicken Massaman curry with rice and vegetables, which was lovely. There were different kinds of bread, including roti, as well. The salad was fine as well as the cake, so that I really appreciated this flight with a lovely crew from Sri Lanka again. Thanks guys!

 

11th October 2024, Qatar Airways QR 1053, Abu Dhabi (AUH) – Doha (DOH), First Class

The way back from Abu Dhabi (AUH) to Doha (DOH) was slightly longer, some 45 minutes. The kind of meal served was equivalent to the outbound. However, this time, the crew felt being much quicker, which may also simply be due to the more compact Airbus A320 cabin layout. The fixed dishes were avocado hummus with pita bread as a starter and a cheesecake brownie as the sweet finish. I went for the beef katsu sandwich, which was nice with the sauce served with it (a bit of dry without it). The alternative was a vegetarian katsu sandwich. Again, a really good performance by the Qatar Airways crew on the comparably short flight.

 

12th October 2024, Qatar Airways QR 231, Doha (DOH) – Belgrade (BEG), Business Class

After spending a night at the Al Safwa First Class Lounge, it was time in the morning to head back to Belgrade (BEG). A bit of strange that there was no water at the seat – and you did not get one during the flight as well. In contrast to the outbound, the crew also did not ask whether you want to eat later in the flight (I would have loved it, as I was quite fed from all the nice food in the lounge. As a starter, I went for the dill-marinated tiger prawn and paprika scallop, which was really nice. The alternative would have been the soup of the day (which, I feel, nobody opted for…) and the Arabic mezze, which are always a good choice.

As the main, I had already pre-selected the local option, the Qatari hamour mashkool with spiced yoghurt, basmati rice and black lemon. The fish was a real treat. Alternatives would have been the grilled Black Angus beef with jus, potato and vegetables or a vegetarian risotto. I finished with the desert, a very rich chocolate brownie with nuts and hot fudge sauce as well as an chocolate mochi, which felt a bit of too icy. I really liked how the crew managed the different speeds of people eating – while I got my desert, another passenger just received the fish. Thus, the service was very efficient and nice. There were some snacks during the flight, I had a cereal bar before landing.

 

12th October 2024, Lufthansa LH1407, Belgrade (BEG) – Frankfurt (FRA), Business Class (op-up)

Lufthansa had shifted my flight to Frankfurt (FRA) by almost three hours, so that I even had a spare flex flight with KLM in stock, in case I won’t reach that connection with a landside transfer. However, services in Belgrade (BEG) were excellent and I made the connection rather easy, being delighted with a business class op-up. Especially after the recent experiences in Middle East and Asia, the meal was rather poor. A cold chicken, which had a nice spice, but was terribly dry, coming with some veggies. The dessert was some sort of chocolate cake with a vanilla pudding / cream on top – definitely better than the main course.

 

17th October 2024, Eurowings EW 788, Cologne (CGN) – Budapest (BUD), Economy / Smart

I finally did not go for food and just had a relaxed time onboard the Airbus A320 flight to Budapest. The crew was nice and professional and I had a good time. My “highlight” of the flight was a lady sitting in the first row, entering the cabin with four(!) pieces of hand luggage. Why do they allow that. After she finally got that she has to store all her hand luggage in that row to the overhead bins, she sat down, changing her seat to one next to her husband – in the second row. People can make simple things sooo complicated.

 

Food I Had Onboard (with Rail Experiences)

Here are all my Food I Had Onboard postings related to my Rides on Rail flagging:

 

U.A.E. Top Pick!s

Here are all my Top Pick! reviews related to the United Arab Emirates:

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