Around The World First Class On Singapore Air

[Holly Moore]

Earlier this year I flew around the world on Singapore Airlines. Singapore Air's Around The World Fares are one of the best airfare bargains going. Even a better bargain as Singapore Air is consistently chosen "Best First Class" in the world by airline rating polls.

I flew US Air from Philadelphia to San Francisco and then Singapore Air to Hong Kong, Singapore, Frankfurt and ending at JFK in New York. While in Singapore I took the Eastern and Oriental Express to Bangkok. I'll do a separate post on that.

Part of what makes Singapore Airlines First Class experience so special is their in-air menu. It shows what is possible at 35,000 feet.

First Leg: San Francisco to Hong Kong. Meals served - Supper and Breakfast

Welcoming Champagne - Dom Perignon 1999 or Krug Grande Cruvee. That's all they pour. Order a mimosa with breakfast and it is made with Dom Perignon.

Supper Appetizer: Duck terrine with champagne jelly and baby lettuce

Soup: Creamy pumpkin soup with hazelnut cream

Entree: Pre Ordered from Singapore Air's SFO Book The Cook Menu. - Lobster Thermidore, with buttered asparagus, slow-roasted vine-ripened tomato, and saffron rice.

Dessert: Assorted fruit sorbet with seasonal fruit salad and tuile basket

Breakfast before landing in Hong Kong:

Fresh Fruit Plate

Maine Lobster Noodle Soup with egg noodles and Chinese greens

Edited June 23, 2007 by Holly Moore (log)

[Holly Moore]

Hong Kong to Singapore - Lunch

Appetizer: Malossol caviar with crabmeat salad

Soup: Cream of asparagus soup garnished with Parmesan crisp

Salad: Caesar salad

Entree: Braised Short Rib of Beef with root vegetables and celeriac-pear puree

Cheese Plate

[Holly Moore]

Singapore to Frankfurt Germany

Light Meal:

Appetizer: Duck liver terrine with smoked duck breast, fig compote, baby lettuce and mustard dressing

Main Course: Warm focaccia with roasted beef, tomato and sharp cheddar panini

Dessert: Ginger creme brulee with assorted fruit salad

Dinner:

Canape: Satay with cucumber and spice peanut sauce

Appetizer: Chilled malossol caviar

Soup: Shredded dry scallop and crabmeat superior thick soup

Salad: Caesar Salad

Entree: Grilled marinated lamb chops with black peppercorn sauce, roasted vegetables and mashed potato

Dessert: Warm pear frangipane flan with Macedonia nut ice cream with raspberry coulis

[Holly Moore]

Frankfurt to JFK New York

Breakfast:

Fresh Fruit Plate

Fruit Yoghurt

Grilled pork sausage with roasted tomato, sauteed mushrooms and roesti potato

Light Meal:

Appetizer: Marinated lobster with tomato couscous and balsamic reduction vinegar

Entree: Halibut roulade with pinenut crumb, wilted spincah, salsa rosa

Dessert: Soft center chocolate cake with orange ganache, vanilla sauce

[Holly Moore]

Finally some other airline meals en route:

US Air First Class - Philadelphia to San Francisco -

Dinner: Chicken Parmesan with salad and cheesecake, oh my!

Thai Air - Business Class - Chiang Mai to Bangkok - a one hour flight and a great breakfast.

And finally an plug for the Elephant Nature Park outside of Chiang Mai where I had the privilege of hanging out for a day with 30 plus rescued elephants. Fed them a couple of times, bathed them in the river too. Here's a couple of younguns in the mud pit.

[Busboy]

How many grease stains?

(Those scratching their heads over this question should consult Holly's website by clicking beneath his sig.)

[bigbear]

Wow..... just Wow.

[Peter Green]

What a great idea for a post!

What was your take on the flavours? There's always this arguement that your limited in what you can pull off in a pressurized cabin. The wines don't taste quite right, the food seems off to your tastebuds?

But can this be treated with the right choices? Are we better off with higher fat content foods (like that excellent duck terrine)? And for wine, is it wisest to stick with champagne, sweet dessert wines, and ports?

And what a contrast between the international flights and the one US carrier (Bangkok to Chiang Mai is a pretty short bump, so I wouldn't pick on them. The food looked good, no matter what).

I'm looking forward to the rail trip!

Cheers,

Peter

[Fat Guy]

Holly, were there choices for the various courses? I'm surprised at the degree of emphasis on Western food, so was wondering if there were Asian choices as well.

[Abra]

What I want to know is: did you ever get off the plane, or just fly your way around the world eating airplane food? It looks amazingly good. Any idea what they serve in tourist class?

[BekkiM]

Holly, were there choices for the various courses? I'm surprised at the degree of emphasis on Western food, so was wondering if there were Asian choices as well.

←

I wasn't lucky enough to fly first class, but did fly business class from San Francisco to Singapore (en route to Vietnam) and I vaguely recall submitting my menu selections ahead of time. But maybe that was because we were flying with a 7-year-old and wanted to make sure we got a kid's meal for him. Not that we need to have bothered; the food on board was excellent and our semi-foodie child would have eaten anything they put in front of him.

Wish I'd taken pictures...

Edit to add: As I recall, you could choose between Western and Asian offerings, customizing your meal to your preferences.

Edited June 23, 2007 by BekkiM (log)

[Holly Moore]

Peter,

The flavors were there, spot on. The wine selection was probably as impressive as the champagne choices - I had one or two selections with every meal and they paired well - just didn't keep track of them and don't know wines all that well to recognize the good from the great.

I wasn't complaining about the Thai Air meal - amazed they could pull it off on a full plane and a one hour flight. A US airline would have been lucky to swing a bag of mini pretzels in that same time period.

US Airway's first class attempt was just pathetic.

Steven,

There were a number of Asian alternatives - I often had Asian apps and the lobster soup before landing in Hong Kong was great. But as I was eating Chinese in Hong Kong and Thai throughout Thailand I probably used my Singapore Airline flight entrees for breaks from Asian fare.

Samples of the Asian cuisine included a Thai breakfast porridge with chicken, smoked Cantonese duck with plum sauce, Nasi Padang (beef rendang with grilled chicken and steamed fish souffle) Lychee Bay Style Congee, and such.

As to grease stains - an airline seat, even a Singapore Air first class compartment like seat, isn't the greatest for tidy dining. If my shirts are any indication, each meal was at least 5 grease stains.

Edited June 23, 2007 by Holly Moore (log)

[Holly Moore]

BekkiM - Singapore Air offers their Book the Cook pre-order menu for both First and Business Class from most of their departure points.

[Fat Guy]

What I want to know is: did you ever get off the plane, or just fly your way around the world eating airplane food?  It looks amazingly good.  Any idea what they serve in tourist class?

←

I've flown economy class from New York > Frankfurt > Singapore and back, and the food was mediocre. Not as absolutely terrible as what you'd get on an American airline, but not particularly good either.

[Holly Moore]

What I want to know is: did you ever get off the plane, or just fly your way around the world eating airplane food?  It looks amazingly good.  Any idea what they serve in tourist class?

←

Spent five days, including Chinese New Years, in Hong Kong and two weeks in Thailand split between Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Puckett. I'll get around to posting some about those places too.

Tourist class - I'm guessing the scraps from the first class plates. Actually I believe Singapore Air does a good level of food service and general service at all fare levels.

Edited June 23, 2007 by Holly Moore (log)

[Makan King]

What is interesting to me is that the two caesar salads look quite different (Hong Kong to Singapore, and Singapore to Frankfurt). They were obviously prepared by different catering companies, but I had imagined that SQ would want to make the same dishes appear similar no matter which kitchen prepared them. Was there one that you prefer?

I was also surprised by the untidy appearance of many of the dishes. For first class, where there are fewer passengers to serve, I would imagine that it would be easier to present a prettier plate. Perhaps a problem is that some of the plates appear to big for the dishes, especially the fruit salad.

Thanks for the vicarious experience! What a great way to fly. (Sorry, couldn't resist!)

edited for missing words and punctuation

Edited June 24, 2007 by Makan King (log)

[Carlovski]

I'm sure most of us have seen this before, but for a comparison try having a look at this collection of airline meals