Which reminds me that I haven't posted my meal on a recent trans-Tasman, SYD-CHC on a 737 (on the return I treated myself to EK in F so no pictures of it here and the food was actually disappointing for First class), dinner flight. My QF flight however, was really really good which I found quite unusual on this route. Menu was as follows:
Received proper PBD, a nice glass of champagne. Even offered me seconds which was nice. To my huge surprise, I was also handed an amenity kit with a very nice colourful artsy design I hadn't seen before. And the eye shades even had a matching design to the bag, I was totally overwhelmed by it!
For the food, I can't stand pumpkin (and by the looks of it, most others in my cabin didn't either as I couldn't see anyone having it) so it was an easy choice for the duck. I was more tossing back and forth for the mains but decided on the Mexican-style pork and am glad I did- it was amazing!
I usually love duck dishes on airplanes but after the absolutely delightful Aian-style duck in the Flounge just before, this one was actually a bit disappointing. I would have thought that the chilly and grapefruit would create a nice mix of opposing tastes but alas, the chillies were totally bland and the chicken itself was also a weird cut of meat. Like admittedly often in Thai dishes, the sauce also seemed to have some fish sauce in and as I have a seafood intolerance, I would have loved to have it mentioned in the menu. I could still eat it as it was quite subtle only but still, not really a favourite for me.
Now please bear with me now as the image doesn't do the meal justice AT ALL. This was one of the most delicious mains I've been served in Qantas J for quite some time: Super nice tender shavings of pork in a very authentic tasting Mexican-style marinade and served with soft Tacos (that, typical for an airplane, turned out to be soft on only one side and hard as a rock on the other but hey...) some sour cram and a tomato salsa. Especially the pork itself- delicious! I felt beamed back to that hip Mexican restaurant I had been to in Bondi beach just a few days earlier, it was such good food. I finished off with the cheese plate which was the usual QF fare and a glass of Aussie Port-not port (whatever they call it here since they can't call it port anymore- is it Muscat?) which was actually really nice
:
The weirdest thing then happened afterwards: The captain came into the cabin and started re-pouring drinks for everyone in J. He had a chit chat with the passengers and even cleaned up the used food plates from the tables! I was totally gobsmacked when he poured me yet a third glass of red and praised him for the great service (while the naughty part of me was wondering in my head: I wonder if he has done his RSA course?
). I asked the purser about it later and he told me he had been as astonished by this as the passengers have and that he has never experienced this before either. Quite strange, but a lovely gesture I found!
