Worst Meal ever

[Cruiser Elite]

Flew MNL-SIN on Mon Apr 4 on SQ921 - the meal that I was served in J was nothing short of disgraceful.

Entree was Pork Belly - 70+% fat - less than 30% actual meat - god how long have nutritionalists being telling the world DO NOT eat animal fat - yet SQ still allow this to be dished up.

Main course I selected beef Spare Rib - 2 medallions of beef - 1st medallion approx 25% fat - second medallion approx 40% fat.

With both courses I cut the fat from the meat and called flight supervisor to see for himself - he apologised and said "YES I did notice the high fat content myself - I do not know why kitchen would prepare food such as this".

I just could not believe SQ would dish up such cough - never before have I seen this flying with them.

Then to top it off - Sago for dessert - god i hate Sago - why they don't just stick to ice cream for dessert is beyond me.

I sent off letter to SQ feedback and got a less than satisfactory response - was so disapointing.

 

[DC3]

Flew MNL-SIN on Mon Apr 4 on SQ921 - the meal that I was served in J was nothing short of disgraceful.

Entree was Pork Belly - 70+% fat - less than 30% actual meat ....

Pork belly. Yum, yum. Rich, juicy loveliness. Sounds delicious. I'm sure that it's meant to have lots of fat on it anyway.

The last time that I had pork belly was in the Sydney FLounge

 

[reductionist]

Flew MNL-SIN on Mon Apr 4 on SQ921 - the meal that I was served in J was nothing short of disgraceful.

Entree was Pork Belly - 70+% fat - less than 30% actual meat - god how long have nutritionalists being telling the world DO NOT eat animal fat - yet SQ still allow this to be dished up.

Main course I selected beef Spare Rib - 2 medallions of beef - 1st medallion approx 25% fat - second medallion approx 40% fat.

With both courses I cut the fat from the meat and called flight supervisor to see for himself - he apologised and said "YES I did notice the high fat content myself - I do not know why kitchen would prepare food such as this".

I just could not believe SQ would dish up such cough - never before have I seen this flying with them.

Then to top it off - Sago for dessert - god i hate Sago - why they don't just stick to ice cream for dessert is beyond me.

I sent off letter to SQ feedback and got a less than satisfactory response - was so disapointing.

What was the gist of their response? Did they offer any kind of apology and/or compensation?

 

[Cruiser Elite]

What was the gist of their response? Did they offer any kind of apology and/or compensation?

Dear Mr Cruiser Elite,
Thank you for sharing with us your feedback via email.
We value your feedback as it is through such comments that we are able to monitor our services and keep abreast of customers' expectations.
Special meals are catered for the needs of passengers that require low fat meals. Please see our website for more information in regards to this.
Please be assured that they will be shared with the department concerned.
We appreciate the time you have taken to write to us.
Yours Sincerely
Renee
SIA Australia

 

[anat0l]

Dear Mr Cruiser Elite,
Thank you for sharing with us your feedback via email.
We value your feedback as it is through such comments that we are able to monitor our services and keep abreast of customers' expectations.
Special meals are catered for the needs of passengers that require low fat meals. Please see our website for more information in regards to this.
Please be assured that they will be shared with the department concerned.
We appreciate the time you have taken to write to us.
Yours Sincerely
Renee
SIA Australia

Talk about chewing the fat (pun intended, more seriously)

In seriousness, looks some some quality control is in order here. Mind you, it could be a stock thing, i.e. when they tested a batch previously (they take "turns" on testing a dish, and may not test every dish), it may have been acceptable, but whatever you got must've missed the proper QA.

In that light, what about others in J on the same flight? Surely they had to also eat the same tripe (pun again ) - or did they not eat it?

If you were still hungry I hope you had some J light bites, and hopefully without extra fat.

Why don't they stick with ice cream over Sago? Well some of us don't mind Sago... how was it prepared? With rockmelon and coconut cream (fattening, but I like it)? In any case, there was still a cheese platter, fresh fruits and/or sweeter light bites (e.g. pralines/chocolates), right?

I guess the point is given another flight with the same dishes, there's a fat chance you would get the same bad meal in the state you found it (pun intended - that's 3 ). If you did get the same meal with the same amount of fat, then you could safely conclude that SQ have somehow in their twisted mind either tried to serve up that amount of fat or there is a serious batch problem with the supply of pork and beef to whoever makes SQ's meals in MNL. In fact, given that the catering was ex-MNL and knowing Filipinos (my father is one), somehow now I'm not so surprised as to why there seemed to be that much fat, if not rather way too much...

FWIW you'd be surprised at some of the Asians who will eat that fat (but even me as an Asian I will not, being already overweight I don't need to push my luck that far for little satiable return). As much as it is slightly insulting, perhaps the next time you go J ex-MNL you might want to consider a SPML (e.g. low fat)? Also.... take pictures....

 

[reductionist]

Dear Mr Cruiser Elite,
Thank you for sharing with us your feedback via email.
We value your feedback as it is through such comments that we are able to monitor our services and keep abreast of customers' expectations.
Special meals are catered for the needs of passengers that require low fat meals. Please see our website for more information in regards to this.
Please be assured that they will be shared with the department concerned.
We appreciate the time you have taken to write to us.
Yours Sincerely
Renee
SIA Australia

Hrm. A little under-whelming. I dislike the backhand suggestion that it was your own fault for not specifying a low fat meal requirement when the issue you have was clearly to do with the higher than normal fat content in the meal served to you.

Did you happen to take photos of it? I can see how it'd be difficult to act on such feedback without being able to see exactly what was served to you.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

If you were still hungry I hope you had some J light bites, and hopefully without extra fat.

Why don't they stick with ice cream over Sago? Well some of us don't mind Sago... how was it prepared? With rockmelon and coconut cream (fattening, but I like it)? In any case, there was still a cheese platter, fresh fruits and/or sweeter light bites (e.g. pralines/chocolates), right?

Sago with Mango - I love Mango - hate Sago.

No cheese and crackers with this meal - no pralines with the coffee - ample Bollinger though - I did get my moneys worth.

J actually only had 6 pax I think - one terribly attractive young Swiss lady seated in
15A - I was in 15D - was actually totally aware of my disatisfaction / discussions with staff - she too spoke to them after and backed up my points 100%.

There is no greater supporter of SQ than I am - I love that airline - but this was just so out of character.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Did you happen to take photos of it? I can see how it'd be difficult to act on such feedback without being able to see exactly what was served to you.

No I did not take photos - in hindsight yes I should have - however I kinds didn't think it was all that necessary because as soon as the pork belly was served I called the flight supervisor down and he actually saw the item in question - it was then he said YES I do not understand how the kitchen would serve this - I will make a report.

I then called him back a second time to see the beef rib - they did offer me an alternative meal but I saw the fish and it really did not look too good either - still plenty of Bollinger was to be had.

 

[jukebox333]

Entree was Pork Belly - 70+% fat - less than 30% actual meat - god how long have nutritionalists being telling the world DO NOT eat animal fat - yet SQ still allow this to be dished up.

While I'd not doubt it's of dubious nuritional value, what you describe sounds rather authentic... I used to refer to the pork belly dishes I'd get from the night market stall vendors in Taipei as "whale blubber". Heart-attack-in-a-bowl, but actually quite tasty.

To me, the SQ response does seem formulaic - it could have been the answer to any of 20 different meal complaints. Doubt it got past Renee, I'm afraid...

 

[Cruiser Elite]

While I'd not doubt it's of dubious nuritional value, what you describe sounds rather authentic... I used to refer to the pork belly dishes I'd get from the night market stall vendors in Taipei as "whale blubber". Heart-attack-in-a-bowl, but actually quite tasty.

I am not doubting the authenticity of what 'Pork Belly' is - indeed in a former life I did own an export abattoir exporting beef / lamb / mutton / offals etc to all continents - never involved with Porcine except on a plate in front of me - the point I am trying to make is that in the year 2011 for an International Airline of SQ's stature to serve up that cough in J is totally unacceptable.

Pax had no choice of Entree - that is what you got - Pork Belly still a great delicacy in most Asian countries where they choose to partake - but J pax on an international flight were given no choice here.

I still find it unfathomable that they would actually think this is a reasonable product to dish up to whoever might be on board.

 

[DC3]

Posted with a photo of what Qantas can dish up in the Sydney FLounge. Admittedly, not on a flight. Nothing like the description of the SQ in-flight meal, unfortunately.

Wed 12th January 2011

....... Starter pork belly with pickled vegetables, with a jack daniels ans dry. Yum, this was awesome.

View attachment 1615

 

[FuzzyAUS]

to the OP pitty about the bad meal, in J, i would be unhappy too..

as to the Sydney QF FLounge, the pork belly there is YUMMY

 

[RB]

It seems the OP has suffered a poor run. However to me it seems that both meals do have the opportunity to be presented in a way that is prone to fattiness.

 

[freepyjamas]

I have extremely low expectations of airline food, so I'm rarely disappointed. I think it's a minor miracle they can serve up anything even remotely edible given the circumstances, so I tend to look at mealtimes on planes as more a boredom breaker and a stomach filler than a chance to really enjoy the food.

Having said that, if anyone can explain to me why they always put that awful tasteless lousy excuse for fruit that is green melon into every single fruit salad on every single plane in the world, I'd be forever grateful. Cheap and stores well, I guess.

 

[Princess Fiona]

I have extremely low expectations of airline food, so I'm rarely disappointed. I think it's a minor miracle they can serve up anything even remotely edible given the circumstances, so I tend to look at mealtimes on planes as more a boredom breaker and a stomach filler than a chance to really enjoy the food.

Having said that, if anyone can explain to me why they always put that awful tasteless lousy excuse for fruit that is green melon into every single fruit salad on every single plane in the world, I'd be forever grateful. Cheap and stores well, I guess.

Actually Honeydew melons are very tasty when ripe, unfortunately no airline catering company seems to have ever sourced ripe Honeydew's

 

[NM]

Actually Honeydew melons are very tasty when ripe, unfortunately no airline catering company seems to have ever sourced ripe Honeydew's

But I suggest that unripe honeydew is better than ripe or unripe durian! Thankfully I am unaware of any airline serving durian onboard.

 

[JohnK]

I doesn't sound too good for something like that to be offered in business class but I have come across worse meals and not necessarily in an aircraft.

By the way I just love the kind of animal fats that one can find on a lamb chop or pork chop and the fat hardly ever comes off. I guess that is why I am overweight as well.

 

[TonyHancock]

My worst meal, of recent times, was on QF9 MEL-SIN in J in April this year. I ordered the Salmon, it was delivered cold. I told the FA who took it away and that was that! The crew was the worst I have ever experienced with QF in 13 years. It was my first long haul flight as WP1. :shock:

Five months in I have yet to speak to anyone from P1.

 

[pauly7]

Etihad keep on redefining my definition of worst airline food, latest trip about a month ago in J, serving up a main of Salmon that was so dry I couldn't eat it, then on another flight serving a slop of curry that looked, smelt and tasted suspiciously like dog food

 

[simongr]

My worst meal, of recent times, was on QF9 MEL-SIN in J in April this year. I ordered the Salmon, it was delivered cold. I told the FA who took it away and that was that! The crew was the worst I have ever experienced with QF in 13 years. It was my first long haul flight as WP1. :shock:

Five months in I have yet to speak to anyone from P1.

complain! I had some awful food as an AA EXP on QF, I described the food as quite an achievement to be both bland and tasting bad at the same time. I received a $150 voucher for use at the Hyatt Harbour kitchen restaurant in Sydney.