After settling into my Singapore Airlines First Class seat, I was finally ready to eat. First up, the lunch service. On many Singapore flights there are extensive options to pre-book your meal choice. We did not utilize the Book the Cook service on this flight, mostly since there were so many options, and I figured I’d just give the onboard menu a shot for these flights. I did use BTC later in the trip.
Here is the menu:
lunch From San Francisco to Seoul
Create your gastronomic experience from our selection of tantalising options
Appetisers
- * Chilled malossol caviar with melba toast and condiments
- Hot-smoked salmon salad Horseradish raita and lemon vinigrette
Soups
- * Sunchoke soup with cracked wheat salad and pomegranate glaze
- Double-boiled chicken soup with ginseng
Salad
- White asparagus, semi dried cherries and pistachio, baby lettuces and aged feta cheese Balsamic and virgin olive oil dressing or Creamy French dressing.
Main Courses
- * Lobster agnolotti with spiced shellfish sauce, braised leek, salsify and trumpet mushrooms
- Stir-fried chicken with shimeji mushrooms, chinese vegetable and pumpkin rice
- Grilled 6oz US Prime beef fillet with balsamic jus, chunky vegetable medley and dauphinois potatoes
- Kingfish Korean style, seasonal vegetables and steamed rice with kimchi on the side
Finale
- * Dark chocolate mousse with marinated raspberry salad and raspberry sorbet
- Mango cheesecake with lemon lime sorbet, fruit salad with mango coulis
- Cambozola, brie, manchego and smoked cheeses served with dried fruit, grapes, nuts and crackers
- Fresh fruits in season
- A selection of gourmet coffees & fine teas served with pralines
* Exclusively created by Alfred Portale of Gotham Bar & Grill, New York
light bites from San Francisco to Seoul
Should you fancy a little snack or something more substantial in between your meals, simply make you selection known to our crew, during the flight
Noodles
- Create your own noodles dish in a rich chicken stock
- Choice of fresh noodles : kway teow or egg noodles or rice noodles
- Garnish with either : Chicken and black mushrooms or prawn an lettuce or black mushroom and Chinese greens
Sandwiches
- Croissant with creamy chicken and tomato
- Focaccia bread with roasted vegetables and cheese
Snacks
- Cashew nuts, honeyed walnuts or macadamia nuts
- Chips
- Cookies
- Chocolate bar
- Snack bar
- Krispy kreme doughnut
- A selection from the fruit basket
light meal from San Francisco to Seoul
Lean back and unwind with our simple yet delightful culinary selection
Appetiser
Antipasto platter : Serrano ham with burnt pineapple, burrata cheese with pesto, smoked duck breast with dried apricot confit
Main Courses
Seafood and rice vermicelli soup Rice vermicelli with prawns, fish and vegetables in broth
Braised short ribs of beef Korean style served with Jap chae, steamed rice, kimchi and soup
Baked blackened corn-fed chicken breast Served with salad and ranch dressing
Dessert
Panna cotta with berries compote Light cream custard with berries compote
Finale
A selection of gourmet coffees & fine teas
Time to eat
I opted for the smoked salmon rather than the caviar, I could have probably done both, but the salmon sounded better and tasted excellent. Next I had the sunchoke soup and salad with balsamic dressing. For my main course, I ordered chicken. I’ve found that when writing trip reports, I’m not certain why I chose the meals I did, but I guess it seemed the right choice at the time. The chicken was tasty, and my mindset is to always order something different from my wife, since sometimes I get to try her food. Apparently her medium temperature steak was tasty, since she didn’t offer me any, plus I was a course or 2 behind her since she skipped both the appetizer and salad. During the meal service, there is a bread basket offered. Also, a wine basket with 4 of the featured wines displayed, but any wine on the list is available.
place setting
smoked salmon with horseradish raita and lemon vinaigrette
They soon passed offered breads from a basket, and the garlic bread was exceptional
Sunchoke soup with cilantro and pomegranate
This salad was quite fresh and tasty.
I opted for the Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc with my chicken entree
My wife had the Mitolo Shiraz with her steak.
Surprisingly, I skipped dessert, and just had some tea.
Nothing says First Class like Krispy Kreme
Typically, I have the ability to sleep pretty well most anywhere, whether I want to or not. I didn’t seem to have much luck doing so on this flight. After the large meal, and several glasses of wine, I still wasn’t able to sleep. My solution? Order a Krispy Kreme doughnut. Not sure which of the gourmet chefs put this on the menu, but it kind of hit the spot. I’d prefer just a glazed, rather than the chocolate or with sprinkles, but still, hard to beat the sweet treat of a doughnut. Plus, it is the only time I’ve had a doughnut served on china and with silverware.
mmm, doughnuts
Eventually I was able to sleep and was out for several hours. I did tell them to wake me for the last meal, but I work up on my own. I wasn’t really in the mood for too much more food, but I did opt for some tea and noodles, which were on the snack menu.
some noodles from the light bites menu
I also had the Antipasto platter
and some Japanese Sencha tea
And sure, why not? I skipped much of the second meal, but I couldn’t pass up the dessert.
Panna cotta with berries.
Final thoughts
Soon we were on approach into Seoul. This was a very nice flight. The 11 hour flight length was ideal, a relaxing meal, some movies, some napping. Service was quite good,but soon I would see what the magic of Singapore’s famous service could be.
The flight crew bid us farewell before landing, but due to some security concern, we were not allowed to get off the plane right away. None of the passengers or crew near door 1 could speak Korean, so it took some time to figure out what was going on. Eventually the Korean speaking flight attendant came to the door to talk, but the issue was quickly resolved. Eventually we were allowed to enter the jetway and then begin our brief transit stop in Seoul before returning to our seats on the same plane with a new crew onward to Singapore.
