Carfield
Apr 4, 01, 8:07 pm
Part II: The Trip to Hong Kong
UA 1844 LAX-SEA Lv1615 Arr1853
Boeing 757-200 N562UA
Back to the friendly skies, I started off with a rather busy hour at LAX. Lines were long for Premier members and economy class. Fortunately, I got the 1K line, but still a ten minutes wait because one of the agents went to break and an international connecting passenger in front of us. My check in went for a long time because the computer decided that Star Alliance connection should work today. They printed out all the boarding passes and checked in my bags all the way to Singapore, even though I will stay overnight at Vancouver. The agent tried many ways to correct the error and finally checked me in for Vancouver via Seattle and printed both boarding passes. I sat at Gate 66 and saw a couple interesting planes - Air France's Boeing 777 (to LAX… a new… AF used B777 to HKG since Jan 2001 too), JAL's MD-11 J-Bird JA8582 to Nagoya, and Korean's Boeing 747-400 HL-7491 to Sao Paula.
The aircraft came in early from Guatemala City and the flight was very full this evening. The gate agents were "cold" and as "impersonal" as possible. I guess they had worked for a long day and the picketing outside of Terminal 7/8 by ground personnel, reservation agents, and mechanics do not help improving the mood. We began boarding at 3:48pm. There was no pre-takeoff beverage because we were using door one for boarding this afternoon. The door was not closed till 4:25pm due to lost bag by a passenger, connecting problems, and the request by ATC for a new routing and an alternative airport, which then required more fuels. The head wind did not improve our conditions as well. Flying time was two hours and thirty-three minutes, including the ATC holds. Fortunately, I had the Channel 9 to keep me busy.
We took off from R/W 25R at 4:38pm and the dinner began immediately. First, there was the beverage service with the Ranch-Flavored Snack with Almond. But when I was looking for almonds on the snack, there was none. Strange… Anyway, the F/As then took the meal order and no 1K order today. There was a printed menu… But the entrée was cold today and the roll was cold and hard. The F/As were more interested in rushing the meal orders and had loud chats on the galley.
To Begin
Garden Fresh Salad
Parmesan pepper or Asian sesame ginger dressing
Radicchio, endives, lettuce, tomato, asparagus bottoms… a white roll
Main Courses
Braised short ribs of beef with a red wine sauce
Sauteed vegetable medley with potatoes, carrots and onions
I like the side vegetables more than the cold beef… but the cold carrots were not nice.
Or
Herb-roasted breast of chicken with apple cider sauce
Dill gnocchi and carrots allumette
Dessert
Eli's Apple Crunch cheesecake
The entertainment was NBC In-flight with a funny episode of "Mad About You," and other programs. One more beverage refills and the F/As began their fun chats. The flight continued with pilots keeping on informing us about the vector holdings. The pilots were great informing us our progress today. We finally landed at Runway 16R at 7:11pm. We parked at Gate N2 and I immediately went to Gate N13 for my AC flight, which was not surprisingly late.
AC 1558 SEA-YVR Lv2010 Arr2100
Dash 8-100 C-GGOM Williams Lake
The plane arrived ten minutes late from Vancouver but the turnaround was quick. We began boarding at 8:18pm and walked quite a long way to the plane. I dropped off my roller bag on the skycap cart and took my seat 2A. A full flight tonight… Anyway, the seat is tiny and the legroom is tight. The noise level is bad, but better than Jetsteam41. Anyway, the door was closed at 8:34pm and we immediately taxied to Runway 16R for takeoff. Interesting plane of the evening - the fire-spirited Aeroflot's Boeing 777 in the South Terminal… The seat belt sign actually went off at 8:52pm and there was a quick beverage service. The F/A passed out a tray of snacks (shortbread cookies or pretzels) and then followed by a tray of pre-packaged orange juice, apple juice, and water. Not bad for short flight… It at least has more service then the LAX-LAS United Sh*ttle flight. There were clouds all round, but was still a nice scenic ride to YVR. The situation was not too bad at Vancouver and we soon began our descent. We landed at Runway 26R at 9:26pm and was parked at Gate 95. Not bad for a forty-one minutes flight! BTW, the walk towards the terminal building was long…
I stayed at the Fairmont Vancouver International Airport for the night and it was an amazing experience. The rate was extremely good and the service was better than the Argent, Ramada Plaza, and Westcoast SEA-TAC, which charge more expensive rate. The room was spacious with very comfortable bed, showers, bath tubs, nice bathroom, and many closet spaces, and Room 707 guaranteed a good view of Concourse E at YVR. There was not much activity in the evening, but saw the CO's B737, AS's B737, UA's A320, AA's M80, AC's A320 and CP's B737 coming in for the night. Although international terminal was a bit farther away from the room, I managed to see the EVA Air's and Cathay Pacific pushed back from their gates around 1am for their respective flights back to Taipei and Hong Kong. It was a great evening…
Next morning, it began with more plane-spotting. I saw multiple Air Canada's Airbus 320s, B737, Alaska's Boeing 737-700s coming in and out. After packing up, I headed down to the International terminals. Fairmont YVR connected directly to the terminal… indeed next to the USA Concourse departure level. No hassle at all. I found a relatively desserted AC line and was quickly checked in by a very nice agent. She told me that I just missed a major crowd - ICN, HKG, TPE, KIX, NGO… Also, the computer system went down this morning and she had to check me in on two separate machines. Finally, my bags were checked through to Singapore but I needed to get my SQ boarding pass at NRT. I said thanks and proceeded to the AC lounge, which was formerly the Empress lounge.
March 29, 2001
AC 3 YVR-NRT Lv1345 Arr1700
Airbus A340-300 C-FYLG (Flt# 905)
The CP lounge was nice with the normal arrays of light snacks, like cheese, nuts, and cookies, and beverages. I had an ginger ale and spent my 30 minutes replying emails and reading HT/FT. Not much time though, because it took a long time to go through the security check point. I asked about the Fast Track, but the agent told me that I needed to go through the normal line.
Boarding took place at 1:20pm and at Gate 73, which took some times. I settled into seat 1A and my neighbor was already there. There was the normal array of pre-takeoff beverage, amenity kits distribution, and menus. I saw the same Asian F/A again. She actually spoke Japanese too, but was not too friendly this afternoon. She hid mostly in the galley. The J class was full, unlike other AC flights. Y class was pretty full, too. To my delight, two very handsome male F/As were in charge of J class. That made my flight pretty delightful, despite I never saw them in between the meals. Anyway, we pushed back on time and followed the CX's Boeing 747-400 (B-HOP) till takeoff. We took off from Runway 8R at 2:06pm.
Flying time was ten hours, due to strong headwind, and our flight route took us initially to 24,000ft. We turned Northwest after passing Nanaimo, and climbed to 34,000ft after entering the Alaskan coast. We passed through Seward, port of Anchorage, and Bethel. Then we climbed to 36,000ft and crossed the International dateline. We traveled along the coast of Japan until we reached the Tokyo area.
Flight service was fair - nothing spectacular but was pretty decent. I was impressed with Air Canada's Japanese meal and recommended to anyone who will fly this route in its J class. Perhaps with the help of All Nippon Airways, AC kept the Japanese meals to a high quality. Here was the menu. BTW, the wine list continued to disappear from AC J class. The meal began with the beverage cart and a pack of disgusting Japanese rice crackers.
Lunch
Western Style
Hors d'Oeuvre
Vietnamese spring roll w/red, yellow, green peppers strips & bean sprouts
Chicken and mandarin orange on white toast
Fish or cheese mousse on melba toast
Poached Salmon Fillet with Ginseng Appetizer
Seasonal Greens with Vinaigrette
Braised Chicken Breast with Black Mushrooms, Gai Lan with Oyster Sauce, Jasmine Rice
Or
Veal Chop Osso Bucco, Gnocchi, Tomato Cup with Leaf Spinach and Pine Nuts
(Everyone, eating both Japanese and Western meals, are served the hors d'oeuvre, cheese, fruit, and desserts)
Selection of Cheese and Sliced Fresh Fruit
Brie, Blue, Swiss, and Cheddar cheese (pre-sliced or cubed) with crackers
Fruit brochette with ½ strawberry, pineapple, and papayas
Mango Cake
Or
Mixed Ice Cream with Raspberry Coulis
Green Tea, Lemon Sorbet, & cherry Sorbet
Japanese style
This is a Kaiseki Style Authentic Japanese cuisine
Hors d'oeuvre
Grilled Scallop
Steamed Yuba Tofu with Fish Cake
Simmered Konnyaku Paste
Simmered Smelt
Baked Egg Roll
Deep-Fried Crab Meat
Vegetable Julienne with Jellyfish
Steamed Egg Custard
Chasoba Noodles
Grilled Black Cod
The main dish here served on a separate course with
Steamed Rice - Of course, the F/As did not pass out the rice till we finished our main course, but the rice was served on a real rice bowl
Miso Soup
Pickles
Sliced Fresh Fruit
Japanese Sweets
The egg custard was delicious and all the dishes were served on authentic Japanese colorful dishes. The whole presentation was nice and the F/As kept asking us if we needed green tea. Both my neighbor and I had the Japanese meals, so no report on the Western meal. After dinner, the F/As passed out a box of Lindt's Lindor Milk Chocolate Truffles (2 pieces) and bottled water to each passenger. Then the F/As disappeared, except a glass of orange juice at 6:53pm. No one asked us if we needed any water, beverage, or the Japanese noodle/snacks offered in the menu. The F/As were busy chatting at the galley area. Once again, F/As need to be more aggressive in offering passengers snacks. Sometimes I wish that AC can just push out a snack cart and set up a buffet, or offer snacks as a third meal… just like Y class. The F/As pushed out a cart and served the waken passengers.
About two hours prior to arrival, the F/As turned on the lights, passed out hot towels, and juices. They prepared us for a quick light meal service. There was a choice of Japanese and Western style light meals, but no more Kaiseki style meal. Just regular AC trays…
Western style
Coconut Shrimp Appetizer
Roasted Duck with Hoisin Sauce, Jasmine Rice, Baby Bok Choy with Oyster Sauce, Carrots with Mirin
Or
Baked Fillet of Salmon with Patato Crust, Leek and Salmon Confit, Buttered Green Asparagus, Oven Roasted Carrots, Red Cabbage and Pearl Potatoes
Fresh Fruit
Japanese Style
Sushi Appetizer
2 pieces of California Roll, Squids with Fish roe
Fillet of Salmon Teriyaki with Ginger and Snowpeas, Steamed Rice
The most disgust piece of fish ever seen… it was smelly and dry. I finally added some soy sauce to the rice and left the fish alone. I think fish really became really bad after staying in the galley for more than certain amounts of time.
Clear Soup -- Not served
Pickles
Fruit Salad
4 pieces of pineapples, 3 slices of mangos, 2 grapes and 1 slice of kiwi
Green Tea
After the meal service, the F/As passed out immigration forms and served more beverages. Then we began our descent, but was told that we were on hold by ATC. It was very busy at NRT tonight. We finally landed at Runway 34 at 5:24pm local time. Fortuantely, we were parked at a real gate, unlike the YYZ flight. Gate number was 63 and once I deplaned, the ANA staffs set up a bulletin board with the name of connecting passengers and the destination. My name was listed and was given direction to take the shuttle bus to Terminal One. Some passengers took MH to Kuala Lumpur, and UA to Pudong and Seoul Ichon. In conlusion, AC scored a bit better with the Japanese meals, but the F/As seem to lack the enthusiasm that I had noticed two or three years ago. I hope AC could re-launch its J class soon with a new "Attitude."
SQ 11 NRT-SIN lv1910 Arr0100+1
Boeing 747-400 9V-SPC
Knowing my flight facing head winds, I had a feeling that SQ 11 would possibly face the same scenario. I was correct and the transit counter of SQ told me that the flight was delayed by thirty minutes. So I decided to hop on to the Silver Kris lounge, which was a major disappointment. It was small and I literally needed to stand. With the load of passengers from SQ 12, the lounge was at its full capacity. So I took a walk in the duty free shop and waited to return to the lounge after SQ 12 departed. The snack counters were great and I was so hungry from my AC flight that I consumed a bowl of wonton soup and another mini noodle cup. I got about four bottles of Evian water and proceeded to wait for my flight in a more spacious setting at the gate area. The flight was not terribly full today. Y class did not look busy at all. J class had a couple empty seats in the main deck including the seat next to me. Finally the plane came in and we began boarding at 7:38pm. As usual, the great SQ F/As came with trays of welcome drinks, champagne, orange juice, and water. Then they came by with newspapers, menus, noise canceling headsets, and menus. The door was closed at 7:53pm. We took off after MH's B747-400 and JAL's Boeing 767 taking off, and CX's Boeing 777-300 landed. We took off at 8:15pm from Runway 34.
Flying time was seven hours with headwind. We stayed at 35,000ft the whole time. Our flight route took us southwest towards Manila and then headed directly to Singapore. We hit some rough air for the first two hours of our flight.
A drink service began after takeoff and the F/As came with a plate of beef and 2 chicken satays. The service was an expedited one, due to the delay. Here is the menu:
Dinner from Tokyo to Singapore
Canapes
Satay
With onion, cucumber, and spicy peanut sauce
Appetizers
Teriyaki quail and rice crusted prawns, cucumber and seaweed salad
Soba
Salad
Selected mixed salad
Muclun, green pepper circles, and cherry tomato with a choice of Japanese vinaigrette or Honey Mustard Sauce
Entrees
Japanese style beef with leek, bamboo shoot and yam jelly, steamed rice with peas
*Exclusively created by the SIA International Culinary Panel
Excellent dish
Grilled miso glazed chicken breast on hot potato salad and vegetable stew
Braised fillet of fish in mild oyster sauce
Broccoli, carrots and mushrooms, Steamed Rice
Cheese
Selection of cheese with garnishes
Boursin, camerberst, and Swiss with crackers
Fresh fruit
A selection of fresh fruit
Kiwi, grapes, bananas, and oranges
Dessert
Raspberry sorbet with sesame tuile
Pralines
To end on a sweet note
Wine List
Champagne
Duval Leroy Blanc de Chardonnay 1995
American white wine and German wine
Geyser Peak 1997 Sonoma County Chardonnay
1999 Rheingau riesling spatless balthasar ress
American red wine and Italian red wine
Joseph Phelps Pastiche 1996 California
Rive Barbera d'asti superiore 1997
After an excellent meal, I watched a couple sitcoms on the Wisemen system and took a nap till landing. The F/As came along with a tray of juice and water before we began our descent. We touched down at 2:13 local time. We quickly parked at Gate E3. Then I found out that SQ 15 from San Francisco and Ichon was scheduled to arrive at 3am. I was glad that I picked the Narita flight this afternoon.
March 31, 2001
SQ 862 SIN-HKG Lv1100 Arr1445
Boeing 747-400 9V-SMO
Check-in - good as usual and the agent continued to place the bag tag to my passport… Silver Kris lounge was nice as usual and I saw a Star Gold member turned away from the Silver Kris lounge and asked to go to the Premier lounge. I had a bowl of nice duck congee, some sandwiches, cream of vegetable, and evian water. I played with the computer a bit. Then I proceeded to boarding. E4 was the gate and the boarding had not commenced despite the monitor said that the flight was at its final boarding stage. The boarding began at 10:34am and the load was rather light. I took my seat, 17A, and was immediately offered drinks, newspapers, and menus. The door was closed early and we took off from Runway 20L at 11:18pm. We hit some bumps on our ways to the cruising attitude, 37,000ft. Flying time was a quick three hours and five minutes, excluding the ATC holds later. Flight route took us into Malaysia and Tioman and heading straight into Hong Kong.
The lunch service began with a bag of mixed nuts and our choice of beverage. Then the service began.
Appetizers
Prawns with Citrus Salad
Honey mustard sauce
3 shrimps, 2 slices each of orange and grapefruit segments, and the sauce on a separate container… nice and fresh
Salad
Seasonal mixed salad
2 tomato slices, 2 shiitatke mushrooms, cucumber dices, & lettuce with a choice of 1000 Island and Vinaigrette
Entrees
Grilled lamb chops with lemongrass infused jus and spicy ratatouille
The exclusive entrée again… nice lamb chops… I originally chose the chicken curry but they ran out. Too bad!
Pan fried seabass fillet with light mustard sauce, sauteed cress and buttered potatoes
Strait Chinese style chicken curry, Stewed vegetables, and Jasmine rice
Cheese
Selection of cheese with garnishes
Walnut, camerberst, Swiss with crackers
Fresh fruit
A selection of fresh fruit
Plums, Mangos, bananas, and grapes
The F/As offered to cut my mango, but I said I could handle it. Wow… excellent service…
Dessert
Chocolate calvados gateau
Pralines
To end on a sweet note
Wine List
Champagne
Duval Leroy Blanc de Chardonnay 1995
German wine and White Burgundy
1999 Rheingau riesling spatless balthasar ress
Montagny 1er cru 1998 Laboure-roi
Red Bordeaux
Les Charmes de kirwan 1997 Margaux
Chateau Peymouton 1998 Saint Emilion Grand Cru
Italian red wine
Rive Barbera d'asti superiore 1997
For the rest of the flight, I watched "Nurse Betty," which was an excellent movie. I love Greg Kinnear. That man was so gorgeous and his smiles were charming. Of course, Renee Zellweger is an excellent actress. She really does a good job. I watched an episode of "Vernoica's Closet," and I admit that I love the show. Too bad, others don't agree. I really want to know what will happen to Josh. Will he get married?
We landed from the city today. It was nice to see Kowloon and all the nice sights. We landed at 2:28pm and taxied into gate 25.
Part III is coming up...
UA 1844 LAX-SEA Lv1615 Arr1853
Boeing 757-200 N562UA
Back to the friendly skies, I started off with a rather busy hour at LAX. Lines were long for Premier members and economy class. Fortunately, I got the 1K line, but still a ten minutes wait because one of the agents went to break and an international connecting passenger in front of us. My check in went for a long time because the computer decided that Star Alliance connection should work today. They printed out all the boarding passes and checked in my bags all the way to Singapore, even though I will stay overnight at Vancouver. The agent tried many ways to correct the error and finally checked me in for Vancouver via Seattle and printed both boarding passes. I sat at Gate 66 and saw a couple interesting planes - Air France's Boeing 777 (to LAX… a new… AF used B777 to HKG since Jan 2001 too), JAL's MD-11 J-Bird JA8582 to Nagoya, and Korean's Boeing 747-400 HL-7491 to Sao Paula.
The aircraft came in early from Guatemala City and the flight was very full this evening. The gate agents were "cold" and as "impersonal" as possible. I guess they had worked for a long day and the picketing outside of Terminal 7/8 by ground personnel, reservation agents, and mechanics do not help improving the mood. We began boarding at 3:48pm. There was no pre-takeoff beverage because we were using door one for boarding this afternoon. The door was not closed till 4:25pm due to lost bag by a passenger, connecting problems, and the request by ATC for a new routing and an alternative airport, which then required more fuels. The head wind did not improve our conditions as well. Flying time was two hours and thirty-three minutes, including the ATC holds. Fortunately, I had the Channel 9 to keep me busy.
We took off from R/W 25R at 4:38pm and the dinner began immediately. First, there was the beverage service with the Ranch-Flavored Snack with Almond. But when I was looking for almonds on the snack, there was none. Strange… Anyway, the F/As then took the meal order and no 1K order today. There was a printed menu… But the entrée was cold today and the roll was cold and hard. The F/As were more interested in rushing the meal orders and had loud chats on the galley.
To Begin
Garden Fresh Salad
Parmesan pepper or Asian sesame ginger dressing
Radicchio, endives, lettuce, tomato, asparagus bottoms… a white roll
Main Courses
Braised short ribs of beef with a red wine sauce
Sauteed vegetable medley with potatoes, carrots and onions
I like the side vegetables more than the cold beef… but the cold carrots were not nice.
Or
Herb-roasted breast of chicken with apple cider sauce
Dill gnocchi and carrots allumette
Dessert
Eli's Apple Crunch cheesecake
The entertainment was NBC In-flight with a funny episode of "Mad About You," and other programs. One more beverage refills and the F/As began their fun chats. The flight continued with pilots keeping on informing us about the vector holdings. The pilots were great informing us our progress today. We finally landed at Runway 16R at 7:11pm. We parked at Gate N2 and I immediately went to Gate N13 for my AC flight, which was not surprisingly late.
AC 1558 SEA-YVR Lv2010 Arr2100
Dash 8-100 C-GGOM Williams Lake
The plane arrived ten minutes late from Vancouver but the turnaround was quick. We began boarding at 8:18pm and walked quite a long way to the plane. I dropped off my roller bag on the skycap cart and took my seat 2A. A full flight tonight… Anyway, the seat is tiny and the legroom is tight. The noise level is bad, but better than Jetsteam41. Anyway, the door was closed at 8:34pm and we immediately taxied to Runway 16R for takeoff. Interesting plane of the evening - the fire-spirited Aeroflot's Boeing 777 in the South Terminal… The seat belt sign actually went off at 8:52pm and there was a quick beverage service. The F/A passed out a tray of snacks (shortbread cookies or pretzels) and then followed by a tray of pre-packaged orange juice, apple juice, and water. Not bad for short flight… It at least has more service then the LAX-LAS United Sh*ttle flight. There were clouds all round, but was still a nice scenic ride to YVR. The situation was not too bad at Vancouver and we soon began our descent. We landed at Runway 26R at 9:26pm and was parked at Gate 95. Not bad for a forty-one minutes flight! BTW, the walk towards the terminal building was long…
I stayed at the Fairmont Vancouver International Airport for the night and it was an amazing experience. The rate was extremely good and the service was better than the Argent, Ramada Plaza, and Westcoast SEA-TAC, which charge more expensive rate. The room was spacious with very comfortable bed, showers, bath tubs, nice bathroom, and many closet spaces, and Room 707 guaranteed a good view of Concourse E at YVR. There was not much activity in the evening, but saw the CO's B737, AS's B737, UA's A320, AA's M80, AC's A320 and CP's B737 coming in for the night. Although international terminal was a bit farther away from the room, I managed to see the EVA Air's and Cathay Pacific pushed back from their gates around 1am for their respective flights back to Taipei and Hong Kong. It was a great evening…
Next morning, it began with more plane-spotting. I saw multiple Air Canada's Airbus 320s, B737, Alaska's Boeing 737-700s coming in and out. After packing up, I headed down to the International terminals. Fairmont YVR connected directly to the terminal… indeed next to the USA Concourse departure level. No hassle at all. I found a relatively desserted AC line and was quickly checked in by a very nice agent. She told me that I just missed a major crowd - ICN, HKG, TPE, KIX, NGO… Also, the computer system went down this morning and she had to check me in on two separate machines. Finally, my bags were checked through to Singapore but I needed to get my SQ boarding pass at NRT. I said thanks and proceeded to the AC lounge, which was formerly the Empress lounge.
March 29, 2001
AC 3 YVR-NRT Lv1345 Arr1700
Airbus A340-300 C-FYLG (Flt# 905)
The CP lounge was nice with the normal arrays of light snacks, like cheese, nuts, and cookies, and beverages. I had an ginger ale and spent my 30 minutes replying emails and reading HT/FT. Not much time though, because it took a long time to go through the security check point. I asked about the Fast Track, but the agent told me that I needed to go through the normal line.
Boarding took place at 1:20pm and at Gate 73, which took some times. I settled into seat 1A and my neighbor was already there. There was the normal array of pre-takeoff beverage, amenity kits distribution, and menus. I saw the same Asian F/A again. She actually spoke Japanese too, but was not too friendly this afternoon. She hid mostly in the galley. The J class was full, unlike other AC flights. Y class was pretty full, too. To my delight, two very handsome male F/As were in charge of J class. That made my flight pretty delightful, despite I never saw them in between the meals. Anyway, we pushed back on time and followed the CX's Boeing 747-400 (B-HOP) till takeoff. We took off from Runway 8R at 2:06pm.
Flying time was ten hours, due to strong headwind, and our flight route took us initially to 24,000ft. We turned Northwest after passing Nanaimo, and climbed to 34,000ft after entering the Alaskan coast. We passed through Seward, port of Anchorage, and Bethel. Then we climbed to 36,000ft and crossed the International dateline. We traveled along the coast of Japan until we reached the Tokyo area.
Flight service was fair - nothing spectacular but was pretty decent. I was impressed with Air Canada's Japanese meal and recommended to anyone who will fly this route in its J class. Perhaps with the help of All Nippon Airways, AC kept the Japanese meals to a high quality. Here was the menu. BTW, the wine list continued to disappear from AC J class. The meal began with the beverage cart and a pack of disgusting Japanese rice crackers.
Lunch
Western Style
Hors d'Oeuvre
Vietnamese spring roll w/red, yellow, green peppers strips & bean sprouts
Chicken and mandarin orange on white toast
Fish or cheese mousse on melba toast
Poached Salmon Fillet with Ginseng Appetizer
Seasonal Greens with Vinaigrette
Braised Chicken Breast with Black Mushrooms, Gai Lan with Oyster Sauce, Jasmine Rice
Or
Veal Chop Osso Bucco, Gnocchi, Tomato Cup with Leaf Spinach and Pine Nuts
(Everyone, eating both Japanese and Western meals, are served the hors d'oeuvre, cheese, fruit, and desserts)
Selection of Cheese and Sliced Fresh Fruit
Brie, Blue, Swiss, and Cheddar cheese (pre-sliced or cubed) with crackers
Fruit brochette with ½ strawberry, pineapple, and papayas
Mango Cake
Or
Mixed Ice Cream with Raspberry Coulis
Green Tea, Lemon Sorbet, & cherry Sorbet
Japanese style
This is a Kaiseki Style Authentic Japanese cuisine
Hors d'oeuvre
Grilled Scallop
Steamed Yuba Tofu with Fish Cake
Simmered Konnyaku Paste
Simmered Smelt
Baked Egg Roll
Deep-Fried Crab Meat
Vegetable Julienne with Jellyfish
Steamed Egg Custard
Chasoba Noodles
Grilled Black Cod
The main dish here served on a separate course with
Steamed Rice - Of course, the F/As did not pass out the rice till we finished our main course, but the rice was served on a real rice bowl
Miso Soup
Pickles
Sliced Fresh Fruit
Japanese Sweets
The egg custard was delicious and all the dishes were served on authentic Japanese colorful dishes. The whole presentation was nice and the F/As kept asking us if we needed green tea. Both my neighbor and I had the Japanese meals, so no report on the Western meal. After dinner, the F/As passed out a box of Lindt's Lindor Milk Chocolate Truffles (2 pieces) and bottled water to each passenger. Then the F/As disappeared, except a glass of orange juice at 6:53pm. No one asked us if we needed any water, beverage, or the Japanese noodle/snacks offered in the menu. The F/As were busy chatting at the galley area. Once again, F/As need to be more aggressive in offering passengers snacks. Sometimes I wish that AC can just push out a snack cart and set up a buffet, or offer snacks as a third meal… just like Y class. The F/As pushed out a cart and served the waken passengers.
About two hours prior to arrival, the F/As turned on the lights, passed out hot towels, and juices. They prepared us for a quick light meal service. There was a choice of Japanese and Western style light meals, but no more Kaiseki style meal. Just regular AC trays…
Western style
Coconut Shrimp Appetizer
Roasted Duck with Hoisin Sauce, Jasmine Rice, Baby Bok Choy with Oyster Sauce, Carrots with Mirin
Or
Baked Fillet of Salmon with Patato Crust, Leek and Salmon Confit, Buttered Green Asparagus, Oven Roasted Carrots, Red Cabbage and Pearl Potatoes
Fresh Fruit
Japanese Style
Sushi Appetizer
2 pieces of California Roll, Squids with Fish roe
Fillet of Salmon Teriyaki with Ginger and Snowpeas, Steamed Rice
The most disgust piece of fish ever seen… it was smelly and dry. I finally added some soy sauce to the rice and left the fish alone. I think fish really became really bad after staying in the galley for more than certain amounts of time.
Clear Soup -- Not served
Pickles
Fruit Salad
4 pieces of pineapples, 3 slices of mangos, 2 grapes and 1 slice of kiwi
Green Tea
After the meal service, the F/As passed out immigration forms and served more beverages. Then we began our descent, but was told that we were on hold by ATC. It was very busy at NRT tonight. We finally landed at Runway 34 at 5:24pm local time. Fortuantely, we were parked at a real gate, unlike the YYZ flight. Gate number was 63 and once I deplaned, the ANA staffs set up a bulletin board with the name of connecting passengers and the destination. My name was listed and was given direction to take the shuttle bus to Terminal One. Some passengers took MH to Kuala Lumpur, and UA to Pudong and Seoul Ichon. In conlusion, AC scored a bit better with the Japanese meals, but the F/As seem to lack the enthusiasm that I had noticed two or three years ago. I hope AC could re-launch its J class soon with a new "Attitude."
SQ 11 NRT-SIN lv1910 Arr0100+1
Boeing 747-400 9V-SPC
Knowing my flight facing head winds, I had a feeling that SQ 11 would possibly face the same scenario. I was correct and the transit counter of SQ told me that the flight was delayed by thirty minutes. So I decided to hop on to the Silver Kris lounge, which was a major disappointment. It was small and I literally needed to stand. With the load of passengers from SQ 12, the lounge was at its full capacity. So I took a walk in the duty free shop and waited to return to the lounge after SQ 12 departed. The snack counters were great and I was so hungry from my AC flight that I consumed a bowl of wonton soup and another mini noodle cup. I got about four bottles of Evian water and proceeded to wait for my flight in a more spacious setting at the gate area. The flight was not terribly full today. Y class did not look busy at all. J class had a couple empty seats in the main deck including the seat next to me. Finally the plane came in and we began boarding at 7:38pm. As usual, the great SQ F/As came with trays of welcome drinks, champagne, orange juice, and water. Then they came by with newspapers, menus, noise canceling headsets, and menus. The door was closed at 7:53pm. We took off after MH's B747-400 and JAL's Boeing 767 taking off, and CX's Boeing 777-300 landed. We took off at 8:15pm from Runway 34.
Flying time was seven hours with headwind. We stayed at 35,000ft the whole time. Our flight route took us southwest towards Manila and then headed directly to Singapore. We hit some rough air for the first two hours of our flight.
A drink service began after takeoff and the F/As came with a plate of beef and 2 chicken satays. The service was an expedited one, due to the delay. Here is the menu:
Dinner from Tokyo to Singapore
Canapes
Satay
With onion, cucumber, and spicy peanut sauce
Appetizers
Teriyaki quail and rice crusted prawns, cucumber and seaweed salad
Soba
Salad
Selected mixed salad
Muclun, green pepper circles, and cherry tomato with a choice of Japanese vinaigrette or Honey Mustard Sauce
Entrees
Japanese style beef with leek, bamboo shoot and yam jelly, steamed rice with peas
*Exclusively created by the SIA International Culinary Panel
Excellent dish
Grilled miso glazed chicken breast on hot potato salad and vegetable stew
Braised fillet of fish in mild oyster sauce
Broccoli, carrots and mushrooms, Steamed Rice
Cheese
Selection of cheese with garnishes
Boursin, camerberst, and Swiss with crackers
Fresh fruit
A selection of fresh fruit
Kiwi, grapes, bananas, and oranges
Dessert
Raspberry sorbet with sesame tuile
Pralines
To end on a sweet note
Wine List
Champagne
Duval Leroy Blanc de Chardonnay 1995
American white wine and German wine
Geyser Peak 1997 Sonoma County Chardonnay
1999 Rheingau riesling spatless balthasar ress
American red wine and Italian red wine
Joseph Phelps Pastiche 1996 California
Rive Barbera d'asti superiore 1997
After an excellent meal, I watched a couple sitcoms on the Wisemen system and took a nap till landing. The F/As came along with a tray of juice and water before we began our descent. We touched down at 2:13 local time. We quickly parked at Gate E3. Then I found out that SQ 15 from San Francisco and Ichon was scheduled to arrive at 3am. I was glad that I picked the Narita flight this afternoon.
March 31, 2001
SQ 862 SIN-HKG Lv1100 Arr1445
Boeing 747-400 9V-SMO
Check-in - good as usual and the agent continued to place the bag tag to my passport… Silver Kris lounge was nice as usual and I saw a Star Gold member turned away from the Silver Kris lounge and asked to go to the Premier lounge. I had a bowl of nice duck congee, some sandwiches, cream of vegetable, and evian water. I played with the computer a bit. Then I proceeded to boarding. E4 was the gate and the boarding had not commenced despite the monitor said that the flight was at its final boarding stage. The boarding began at 10:34am and the load was rather light. I took my seat, 17A, and was immediately offered drinks, newspapers, and menus. The door was closed early and we took off from Runway 20L at 11:18pm. We hit some bumps on our ways to the cruising attitude, 37,000ft. Flying time was a quick three hours and five minutes, excluding the ATC holds later. Flight route took us into Malaysia and Tioman and heading straight into Hong Kong.
The lunch service began with a bag of mixed nuts and our choice of beverage. Then the service began.
Appetizers
Prawns with Citrus Salad
Honey mustard sauce
3 shrimps, 2 slices each of orange and grapefruit segments, and the sauce on a separate container… nice and fresh
Salad
Seasonal mixed salad
2 tomato slices, 2 shiitatke mushrooms, cucumber dices, & lettuce with a choice of 1000 Island and Vinaigrette
Entrees
Grilled lamb chops with lemongrass infused jus and spicy ratatouille
The exclusive entrée again… nice lamb chops… I originally chose the chicken curry but they ran out. Too bad!
Pan fried seabass fillet with light mustard sauce, sauteed cress and buttered potatoes
Strait Chinese style chicken curry, Stewed vegetables, and Jasmine rice
Cheese
Selection of cheese with garnishes
Walnut, camerberst, Swiss with crackers
Fresh fruit
A selection of fresh fruit
Plums, Mangos, bananas, and grapes
The F/As offered to cut my mango, but I said I could handle it. Wow… excellent service…
Dessert
Chocolate calvados gateau
Pralines
To end on a sweet note
Wine List
Champagne
Duval Leroy Blanc de Chardonnay 1995
German wine and White Burgundy
1999 Rheingau riesling spatless balthasar ress
Montagny 1er cru 1998 Laboure-roi
Red Bordeaux
Les Charmes de kirwan 1997 Margaux
Chateau Peymouton 1998 Saint Emilion Grand Cru
Italian red wine
Rive Barbera d'asti superiore 1997
For the rest of the flight, I watched "Nurse Betty," which was an excellent movie. I love Greg Kinnear. That man was so gorgeous and his smiles were charming. Of course, Renee Zellweger is an excellent actress. She really does a good job. I watched an episode of "Vernoica's Closet," and I admit that I love the show. Too bad, others don't agree. I really want to know what will happen to Josh. Will he get married?
We landed from the city today. It was nice to see Kowloon and all the nice sights. We landed at 2:28pm and taxied into gate 25.
Part III is coming up...