SQ Biz Class meal

I'm sure most of us have had the privilege of experiencing air travel first hand. With the advent of globalization and with the on going price wars between the budget carriers like Air Asia and full service carriers like Singapore Airlines and Emirates driving air fares down, air travel is becoming more and more common place.

 

One of travellers main grouches with air travel though, is the food. When it comes to airline food, most people have a really low expectation of what they expect to receive. Food served by most, if not all of the airlines are just not up to scratch. Or at least that's what most commuters are saying. A typical Singapore Airlines Economy(which is what I always have when I travel!) class meal looks like...

 

Decent enough food, but not exactly top of the line fare. So I've always wondered what people have been having behind that curtain which segregates economy class from business class. And during my trip to Europe this time, I had the privilege to finally discover what lay on the other side.

First here's a look at the menu..

There's a wide selection of Teas and Coffees as well as alcoholic drinks. But I was really looking forward to the Foie Gras starter. Scientists have claimed that in the air, our taste receptors don't work the same as at sea level due to differences in air pressure. I wanted to see if that's true. Before the meal proper, we had the customary basket or bread and rolls, but I wanted to save my stomach for the real deal.

Duck Foie Gras smoked with beechwood, mesclun and fennel

 

This starter was a cold dish. For business class, I was expecting something hot, so that was disappointing. The salad greens were good, so were the baby tomatoes, but the foie gras was a little bit on the hard side. It tasted more like the pate you can get at the supermarkets than the foie gras I've had before in restaurants. It just tasted too...pre prepared.

 

It is worth noting, though, that making quality food at a restaurant on the ground is difficult enough as it is. Creating a meal, that will not be eaten for hours and still needs to taste world class when it is finally consumed, is a whole other level. One problem facing airline caterers is how much should the food be cooked on the ground before it gets on the plane. For example, chicken will be cooked maybe 60% on the ground and the rest in the air. So I guess, this was the problem the caterers faced with this dish.

 

Seeing that we were 10,000m up in the air. I guess this was the best they could do. It definitely wasn't the best foie gras I've had, and I was struggling to finish it in the end.

 

Christmas Glazed Pork Kassler

 

 

For my main, I had the Christmas glazed pork kassler. Kassler is the name given to a salted and smoked piece of pork(usually the neck or loin). The greens were ok, the potatoes were fine, but the pork itself was terrible. It was hard, dry and the sauce(cherry jus) wasn't quite to my liking. It was slightly sweet and sour. Maybe when the testers sampled this dish at sea level it was passable, but when I had it, well it just tasted like...airline food. Bad airline food. Again, I struggled to finish.

 

For dessert I had the Christmas log cake which was soft and creamy and chocolatey, so at least dessert was good.

 

So basically, for business class, you get a fine dining experience which is totally different from what you get in economy. They set the tables for you, take your orders personally and ensure that your every whim and fancy is catered to. The food is undoubtedly, more luxurious too, but really despite all its grandeur, nothing beats food prepared fresh.

 

Eggs Benedict

 

 

Finally, with this being a long flight, I had breakfast on the plane too. I had the eggs benedict with spinach and sausages. This was much, much better than what I previously had. The eggs were soft and runny(just the way I like them) and the pork sausages were really good too. Firm with a nice crunchy skin. Considering this was prepared 30,000ft up in the air, I'd say job well done Singapore Airlines.

But honestly, to pay 3 times the fare? I don't think I would do it again. Business class certainly is opulent, but there are better ways to spend you money. At least to me.



Le Cinq, Paris

 

Whilst in Paris, this was hands down, the best meal I had. The restaurant is called Le Cinq, as you can see from the menu cover. A 2-star Michelin restaurant, Le Cinq is located conveniently inside the Four Season Hotel George V, 31 Ave. George V, 75008 Paris, France (Champs-Élysées).

The restaurant is elegant, spacious and grand with high ceilings and chandeliers. Giving it the "michelin-star" feel. Anyway here's a picture of the restaurant...

I went there for lunch because we couldn't get dinner reservations despite the best efforts of the concierge. But in any case, we just wanted to try the restaurant so it didn't matter what time of the day we visited. Here's a look at the menu...

 

You'll notice that the menu doesn't contain too many items, but I guess what they do, they do it well. Sorry there are no prices reflected on the menu! But I gather we spent about SGD$300 per person.

Bread is present throughout the meal as a matter of course. The French view it as a symbol of hospitality, and would never serve a meal without it. Water is optional though. Wine is the classic beverage of choice for meals, and is readily available regardless of restaurant class or type. Then came 2 courses of appetizers...

 

 

 

Honestly speaking though, out of the 6 little "Hors D’oeuvres" I could only recognize maybe 3 or 4 of them. On the top picture, on the left we had some sort of fried shrimp. It was really good, the sort of thing you can spends hours eating whilst watching TV. In the middle it was a lobster-essence soup which was cold. I'm not really a soup person, so for me that was...interesting. And then on the right we had some lobster-gelatine dish which was really good as well. The bottom picture comprises of, from left to right, salmon sashimi with Salmon roe and celery, a cheese pastry of some sort and lastly, cauliflower fried in truffle oil. They were all really tasty, but I think if you have too much of them, you definitely will get sian. So I guess that's why they come in bite sizes. Its not the kind of thing you will splash out on, but I guess it all adds to the experience.

 

For my starter I had the assorted shellfish. I think we all know, shellfish can only taste good if its fresh. The waiter assured me that the shellfish was excellent and in season and I had to have that, so I went with his suggestion.

 

The first picture of the half dozen fresh oysters we ordered to share. The second picture was my starter course. I had Oysters in Hollandaise sauce, scallops with caviar, a lobster bisque with salmon roe and langoustine prepared with various herbs. I'm not a chef by trade, so in no way am I able to dissect the various ingredients thrown into the preparation of the dishes, but you can bet your last dollar it was all really good.

 

I especially enjoyed the scallops with caviar because it had a good mix of flavour within such a simple, albeit top grade dish. The scallops(raw) were sweet and light and that coupled with the taste of the sea emitted by the caviar...brilliant. I would definitely recommend this combination if any of you have the good fortune of visiting this establishment any time soon.

 

My main was a dish actually meant for 2. I had the slow cooked lamb shoulder, again at the behest of the waiter. He was really insistent, in a good way I must add, we make the right choices. And yet again, he was proven right. It was the best, THE BEST, lamb I have ever had thus far in my 25 years existence. Cooked to slow perfection.

 

 

The top picture shows the waiter carving my lamb shoulder for us. One portion for me and one to share. The bottom picture was my serving. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and that adage is certainly true. Just look at the glorious pinkish, moisture-ish, handsome piece of meat on that serving plate. Just thinking about it ALMOST makes me want to throw 2.5k down the can and book an air ticket back to Paris again.

Tender, juicy, slightly fatty. Pure Nirvana. Worth every single Euro I paid for it. Food always taste better when you're in the holiday spirit, but this was just outrageously good. Please, please order this if you ever get to visit. You wont regret it.

 

 

After the milk-fed lamb shoulder, dessert just wasn't going to cut it no matter what they did. Everything else was just an after show, but having said that, dessert itself was ingenious. They served vanilla ice cream and a peach sorbet garnished with gold leaf, and served in a giant ice cube. What better way to keep your iced dessert frozen than serving them in a block of ice itself.  Creative brilliance by the French. The dessert itself might not have been fantastic(it was great by the way), but at the very least, they go all out aesthetics wise.

 

                                         

I had an apple tart as well. It was warm and freshly baked. The sweetness of the pastry went well with the slight tinge of sourness from the fresh apples, and if this was sold in Singapore, it would surely be very well received. But honestly, after the lamb, everything else was little more than an after thought.

 

Le Cinq, one of the best.

Paul at Avenue des Champs-Élysées

Okay, so when in Paris, having a Macaroons is basically, a rite of passage. I've never really been a big fan of the stuff. Even though I have a sweet tooth, I find these meringue-like cookies to be a little bit too sweet for my liking. But anyway, whilst out at the Champs-Élysées, I spotted a bistro that may or may not be familiar to Singaporeans. Paul.

 

 

Yup...Paul has a franchise in Singapore over at Takashimaya. Honestly speaking though, I didn't even realise Paul was that "atas" or famous. So seeing it at Champs-Élysées and seeing the crowd in the store certainly piqued my interest. So I discovered that Paul is a chain of cafes established in 1889. So they serve pastries, cakes, breads, croissants(have I mentioned that the croissants in France are just the best!), basically whatever confectionary you can name, they have it. But having wafted into the shop, I was basically only interested in one and only one thing...macaroons!

 

 

 

 

Ok for the benefit of those of you who have been living under a shell, a macaroon, is a type of light, baked confection, it can be described as either a meringue-like cookie or a small cake depending on the consistency of the pastry. It has its roots in Italy, but somehow the French(correct me if I'm wrong) are considered to have the best macaroons.

 

The macaroons that I got from Paul weren't the smallish ones that most people have. I ordered the bigger sized ones so that I could share with my companions and I ordered one of each flavour. So they had vanilla, I think the pink one was raspberry/strawberry, green tea, double chocolate, cappuccino.

 

Looking at the bright colours, you'd expect a single bite to be an explosion of sugar within your mouth but they were alright. Some macaroons are just so sweet that they leave that sugary(in not a good way) aftertaste lingering in the back of your mouth and throat, well, this one was not one of them. I wouldn't say they were fantastic, but they were just...alright.

 

I paid I think around 20 Euros for these babies. So they were a little bit expensive, but then again, Europe is expensive. They weren't too bad, so maybe I'll be heading down to Paul's later...

Vive La France!

So after Copenhagen, Paris! For all the hustle and bustle of Asia, there's just something about Europe that just seems to spring intrigue and wonder. I think the city of love needs no introduction, so I'll just leave you with a few pictures of Paris in all her lustre and glory...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But anyway, off to the food! So the first restaurant I visited in Paris, was this little( from the outside at least) place near the hotel called Le Taillevent. Apparently, its a 2 michelin star joint, so gents, please put on your sunday best. A little background info about this restaurant, it's located at 15,rue Lamennais, 75008 Paris, France, just a stones throw away from the main shopping belt in Paris, Champs-Élysées. It's been around for ages, I think, according to Wikipedia since 1946 and it used to hold 3 Michelin stars. Apparently, the restaurant's attention to detail is such that even the pastries and chocolates they serve up are prepared fresh daily at their very own pastry workshop.

 

This is the official website of the restaurant : http://taillevent.com/le-restaurant

 

You can check out the décor of the place via the website, but basically I think its in French so non-speakers will probably have a hard time figuring out what they're on about. In any case, here's a portion of the menu

 

 

Sorry if the pictures aren't that clear! It was a combination of the lighting and the fact that I'm using my iphone as a camera(ok more of the second reason). So anyway, from the menu you get an idea of the prices. Honestly, I don't remember what half of them mean. I do know I had a lamb dish for 2(the other portion to share with my companions) and it was excellent. For those of you(myself included) who do not understand French, the waiters and sommeliers who wait on you are more than happy to explain the menu for your convenience.

 

So basically, you order a starter and a main, and if you feel like it you can order dessert as well. I confess. I have a sweet tooth. That coupled with the fact that France is famous for her pastry meant I was definitely going for dessert.

 

First up came the rolls and breads westerners are so famous for. Accompanied with butter and olive oil, perfect. Then for my starter, I had an escargot risotto recommended by the friendly waiter at the restaurant. Yes I know...snails. But I've had escargot countless times and honestly, I have yet to taste a bad escargot dish. Plus, being in France, I just had to have escargot. As they say, when in Rome, do as the Romans do!

 

 

Don't be put off by the greenish hue of the dish. It was delectable! The flesh of the escargot had a little bite to it. If you've had escargot before you'll know what I mean. And the risotto was creamy with a little nutty flavour. They added shaved white truffle onto the dish, so that deep musky mushroomy flavour gave the dish an extra kick. It was a little bit on the salty side, but having said that, it really was delicious. At first glance the portion seemed a little bit small, but after a while you get why it comes in this size. Had they served a bigger portion of it, after a while, you get sian.

 

Then came my main, and the star of the show...

 

 

I think, I THINK...it was veal kidneys with lamb. The pinkish portions were definitely the lamb. I should have documented it better, but when I was in  Europe I hadn't decided to come up with this blog! The dish was served with a side of wild musthrooms and small potatoes. But anyway, if you're really interested in figuring this out, you can translate the menu. I definitely had the Selle D'Agneau de Lozere en Rognonnade. And using google, apparently a rognonnade is a piece of meat rolled around its kidney.

 

The flesh was extremely juicy and yet still had a little tension within the meat. It was slightly chewy but definitely not tough. I had expected kidneys to taste a little bit gamier but it was surprisingly light. The sauce went perfectly with the entirety of the dish. I'm not quite sure what was in it, but definitely black pepper, and perhaps some red wine.

 

We had 2 portions of this dish so the other dish went round the table and received rave reviews compared to what my companions had. So all in all, I would say good choice by me!

 

Last but not least...

 

 

Dessert was a pastry of some sort, crispy, apple strudel type top drenched with tangerine syrup and cream in the middle. I had expected something sweet, but it was sour. Apart from that it was still a pretty decent dessert though I have to say I was a little bit disappointed with it because like I said, I have a sweet tooth. But to each his own, I'm sure some people will find this to their palate.

 

The whole meal took about 3 hours. I think, that's the average time you have to commit to dinner if you really want to be out and about having a good meal in Paris or Europe for that matter. In Europe, dinner and dining in restaurants is a form of entertainment, nobody rushes through their meals. Everybody enjoys their food over good conversations and good wines. So meals take a long, long time...relative to how we dine over here in Singapore where the dishes are served thick and fast.

 

It certainly does take some getting used to, but if you can get past that, then the culinary experience you can garner from spending some time in eateries like Le Taillevent can be truly rewarding(albeit a bit expensive)!

 

Vive La France!

Copenhagen, Denmark

Recently I was in Europe for a bit, and along the way I spent some time in Copenhagen, Denmark. Honestly speaking, it wasn't the most exciting place in the world, but having done my homework I knew that before I arrived.

There's a saying that you are what you eat, and I for one truly believe in that statement. So when I arrived, what I was most interested in wasn't the city sights or the pretty night lights(though they were pretty awesome), but Nordic cuisine. I wanted to gain a basic understanding of Scandinavian food culture and what it entails.

So after a gruelling 12.5 hour flight, I arrived a world away in the bleak of the Danish winter. Unfortunately, no snow as temperatures weren't cold enough for snow cover to hang around for too long. In any case, here are the mandatory shots of Copenhagen...

You have from the top...the Tivoli Gardens, then a Danish Christmas Market and finally the magnificent Nimb Hotel located in the Tivoli Gardens. And of course there's also the legacy of Hans Christian Anderson in the form of his little mermaid..

 

The Amalienborg Palace which is the official home of the Danish Queen Margrethe II...

 

 

 

Alright now for what its all about...the food. Nordic cuisine is essentially simple fare. Or so that was what I was lead to believe. In any case, most of the locals favour open sandwiches called Smørrebrød, which consists of a hard rye bread which is buttered and then layered with cold cuts or fish. This is one of the staples of the Danish people. Yes, like most Caucasian countries, the Scandinavians do enjoy their breads.

 

I ordered a smoked salmon Smørrebrød with cream cheese and a cup of coffee, but coming from a country and culture that usually feasts on rice, noodles and hot food in general, I probably couldn't possibly eat this long term. Don't get me wrong, it was good, and bloody expensive too. The set below set me back a proper 60 kroners which is slightly more than SGD$13.

 

 

While I was there, I realised they eat a lot of fish too, with salmon and cod particularly widespread. The fish(at least those that I had) were fresh and generally of a really high quality. I had this cod dish, which is quite common in Copenhagen, at the restaurant in Nimb Hotel and it was delicious. However, as with all creamy based foods like Spaghetti Carbonara, it does get a bit much after a while. The cod though, was outstanding, the flesh was flakey and sweet and quite clearly, the star of the dish. It would have been fantastic as well if it had been just lightly salted or buttered and then pan fried. With ingredients this good and this fresh, you definitely don't want to do too much cooking.

 

 

In the 2 days I had to spend in Copenhagen, I also managed to take in food from a Pølsevogn which literally translates to sausage wagon.

 

These hot dog stands can be found all over Copenhagen. Savouring it in the winter chill, allowing the warmth to permeate through my hands and mouth was fantastic. However, taste wise it was nothing fantastic, basically it was just sausage in a bun. Pretty standard stuff. Costs about 30 Kroner(SGD$6.50) a pop. 

 

 

Nope, I wasn't in a market...the top picture was the display outside the restaurant of one of the best steaks I've ever had, and I've had a fair few. On the last day in Copenhagen, I had lunch at MASH restaurant in Copenhagen airport. MASH stands for Modern American Steak House, but it is a Danish owned establishment which I think recently started another branch at Piccadilly in London.

 

The restaurant came strongly recommended by my driver in Copenhagen, but seeing that it was within the airport terminal itself, I couldn't help but feel sceptical.

 

The restaurant didn't look fancy, basically it appeared to be a mid range restaurant. Normal décor, unassuming furniture, but I guess it should have struck me then. This place was all about the food. The steak was extremely flavourful with just the right amount of marbling. I had it medium rare, as everyone should, and it was cooked to perfection. Hands down one of the best steaks I've ever had. Anyone who's going to Copenhagen, or London for that matter, you have got to try this place. I had sides of mash potatoes and fried calamari and really, can't complain. Service was good as well, so let's just say, if they do franchise this place in Singapore, I'll be first in line.

 

Unfortunately, I forgot to keep the receipt and I cant really remember how much the meal cost, but really, you can't go wrong dining here. Who says you cant get good food at the airport(;

Denmark, I'll be back.