Plane food: Emirates
I used to be okay with flying, but the older I get the more I dislike it. I’m not at the Valium stage yet, so I try and give myself things to look forward to in an attempt to distract myself – oooh movies! ooooh going somewhere different! ooooh plane food! Yes, I look forward to getting plane meals! Sad, huh?
(Side note: I asked Alastair to tell me some cool things about flying. He responded, “Everything’s cool about flying! The fact that you’re thousands of metres above ground and supported by mechanical wings is amazing.”
Yeaaaaaaah…. that’s the exact part I don’t like.)
This trip, I booked us on Emirates on fairly cheap tickets… which might explain why we flew:
Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur to Dubai
Dubai to London (arriving 25 hours after we left Melbourne!)
And on the way home:
London to Dubai
Dubai to Singapore
Singapore to Melbourne
There were six flights altogether, and two meals were served on each flight. One was a full meal, and the other one was a snack, or lighter option. So that’s twelve meals we were served (I originally typed twenty-four meals.. maths fail). But don’t worry, I won’t bore you with all of them!
Let’s start on a positive note.
The Good:
Overall, the food on Emirates was pretty good (relatively speaking anyway). And I was very excited to see that they had cheese and crackers, little chocolates AND little desserts! Lots of airlines seem to skip the little desserts now, and hand out ice creams instead – I’ll bet it’s much cheaper, but it’s just not the same.
Look! Dessert! This was a chocolate banana streusel with vanilla sauce. It was really nice. Underneath the streusel topping was a chocolate and banana cake.
And another dessert… blueberry cheesecake with raspberry coulis and whipped cream
I’ll just show you one more dessert – this was a blackberry crumble with raspberry sauce. Oh my gosh, this one was particularly good. In the middle of the cake was a big blob of blackberries! I also liked the sugary, buttery topping. π
On the flight from Dubai to London, we received afternoon tea – sandwiches and a scone with a little packet of clotted cream and jam. The scone was served warm, and I was quite taken with the little packet of clotted cream.
This snack could’ve turned out terribly, but for some reason I remember liking it! Perhaps I was hungry?? The mini baquette was filled with chicken tandoori, and the croissant with coleslaw.
And this! This was the best meal I ate during all those flights. This was the fish option on the way to Singapore (the two options were chicken or fish on all the flights). The fish had been poached and topped with a sweet chilli and lime sauce and served with egg fried rice. It was just good: the fish was tender and moist, the sauce was tasty – not really spicy at all, but a bit sweet and a bit tangy.
The second best meal was the butter chicken, served with carrot rice and dal makhani. It could’ve been spicier, but it was nice to have a bit of curry.
The BAD
Now on to the bad. There were certainly some low points.
I don’t think I’ve ever had a good plane breakfast, and this was no exception. This was the mixed grill, which included a grilled beef steak, veal sausage, sauteed button mushrooms, roasted chat potatoes and a grilled tomato. It wasn’t inedible, but it was fairly bad. The other option was a Swiss cheese omelette. Plane omelettes- shudder.
This was the other part of the afternoon tea where we received the scone. These were reception sandwiches and a mixed dried fruit cake. The sandwiches were horrid and dry and I couldn’t eat them. I didn’t bother touching the fruit cake.
Another breakfast, this time a continental one. A croissant, which was average, and a “breakfast pastry” aka a cold apple turnover. It might’ve been okay warm, but being cold, it was tasteless and hard.
I don’t know why anyone could possibly think this would be a good thing to serve. This was a chicken tikka wrap, and the “soft tortilla wrap” went to paste in my mouth.
And finally, another continental breakfast – another croissant and breakfast pastry. I don’t know what was in that pastry, but I just about gagged on one small bite. I thought it was disgusting, but Alastair finished off mine after he had eaten his one!
It does seem like the food on Emirates was of mixed quality, but like I said earlier – it was mostly relatively okay. I do admit that I have low expectations of plane food, and I’m easily pleased with cheese, crackers and mini desserts. Yep, it doesn’t take much to keep me happy!
Check out these posts for more plane food.
Maria@TheGourmetChallenge
October 29, 2010 @ 11:24 am
yay plane food. I’m with you, I like plane food too. Something to do with the fact that your in a tiny space with a whole load of little bits and pieces in front of you.
All I can think of is…how cool are those triangular plates!! Sorry….stupid thing to point out.
Agnes
November 6, 2010 @ 4:11 pm
Yay, I’m so glad I’m not the only one who likes plane food! Triangular plates?? Hehee, you’re hilarious. Next time I’ll pop one in my handbag for you. π
Hannah
October 29, 2010 @ 11:58 am
*claps* I love seeing plane food! I would happily have pored through all 24 (whoops!) photos. I don’t think I’ve ever had a little dessert on a plane though – Qantas always just does the ice cream at some point during the flight. And amen to the awfulness of plane breakfasts, although I once got a quite nice bircher muesli on the short flight from Canberra to Melbourne!
Agnes
November 6, 2010 @ 4:07 pm
Hehee, why am I not surprised that my BFF likes plane food too? π
penny aka jeroxie
October 29, 2010 @ 12:32 pm
I don’t eat too much plane food. They make me bloat. So I rather drink and sleep π
Agnes
November 6, 2010 @ 4:02 pm
Oh you sleep?! I wish I slept well on planes. This trip wasn’t too bad – I dozed a couple of hours each flight, but in the past I’ve stayed awake the whole time. It’s awful!
mademoiselle dΓ©licieuse
October 30, 2010 @ 11:43 am
I used to love plane food when I was a kid! But plane food was generally better quality then. However, I’m still suckered in by the cute portions and packaging but I am most intrigued by the coleslaw on croissant.
Agnes
November 6, 2010 @ 3:58 pm
Yes, plane food was heaps better when I was a kid too! The coleslaw in the croissant sounds awful…. but I quite liked it! Something about the tangy crunch of the coleslaw and the soft butteriness of the croissant.
msihua
October 31, 2010 @ 4:08 pm
And people keep telling me that Emirates have super good food.. HMMmMmmmmm
Agnes
November 6, 2010 @ 3:56 pm
Well it’s not bad. It’s definitely along the best, tho not everything is awesome.
Conor @ HoldtheBeef
October 31, 2010 @ 6:26 pm
I love the excitement of plane food, like Christmas with all the little things to open π
Strange – I’m also a bit worse about flying as I’ve gotten older. Still totally able to handle it and don’t openly freak out, but nowhere near as comfortable as I once was.
Totally agree that an ice cream is not the same as a little portioned dessert, and also that plane brekkies are generally woeful.
Yay for clotted cream π
Agnes
November 6, 2010 @ 3:56 pm
For me, it’s probably down to being older and wiser, and therefore valuing my life more! Hah. :p
Flights Dubai
November 2, 2010 @ 7:47 pm
thanks for sharing your experiences. We have linked your page to our website flightsdubai.org.
looking forward to read your next writeup!
Agnes
November 6, 2010 @ 3:55 pm
Thanks! π