What's going on with CX food in J?

Old Jan 8, 2015, 2:38 am
  #16  
 
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Originally Posted by exmike
hop on a US airline long haul J.. . then it wont seem so bad.
Actually I disagree. I flew AA (LHR-JFK) a few times in J the past 2 years, their F&B is actually much better than CX. Put the service and the FA's attitude aside, AA meals were generously portioned, better presented and of a much better quality (I am talking about western main course choices here). The wine on offer were also better in my view.

Anyways, most pax would agree F&B isn't a strength of CX.
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Old Jan 8, 2015, 4:19 am
  #17  
 
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Originally Posted by QRC3288
ha, spot on.

fwiw, those bahn mi are usually for ex-HKG crews doing turnarounds. the ground staff do the same for turnaround crews with cheese bread in Manila and coffee breakfast pastries in Jakarta.

and yes, ditto i'd way rather CX cater with the street food than a lot of the nonsense they serve in J. But hey, at least where CX fails with taste at least they make up with high-brow sounding food vocabulary words I never knew:

for example, while I likely won't get a good tasting meal, at least now I know what are "medlar seeds", enjoyed "mustard butter", know the English translation for 木耳 ("wood ear mushroom"), tried delicate dishes from the sea ("ling cod fish", "diced fish julienne", yum), savored "braised five spice beef shin" and "spicy four season beans", and I even learned that parsley could be used as a verb ("parsleyed new potatoes"......what the %%#@?!). CX never misses a chance to describe in extreme, lengthy detail practically every morsel I'm eating in J class. And here I was all along thinking I was mainly eating an unidentifiable protein with some slop sauce....
I've noticed that perhaps half the menu items are "double boiled". Is that a Cantonese thing, or just a CX thing? Why don't they just boil it once but longer? I suspect, but do not know for sure, that they use the term to sound fancy.
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Old Jan 8, 2015, 4:32 am
  #18  
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@Jane's Addiction
HKG-SFO - dessert on tray "seasonal berries with ginger syrup"; no cheese cart, rather a cheese plate if requested. Not proactively offered. Quality of cheese poor too.

@Orbitmic
No nuts in any form (bowl, packet etc) on any on three sectors (inc. BKK-HKG and HKG-SFO)

@HKGlobalTrotter
Agree. My experience: CX main meal in '14 May > AA in Aug > BA in Dec > CX in Jan '15. All J long haul. Never thought I would say that AA and BA had a better main meal than CX. I would note that CX breakfast > BA breakfast, which was terrible. QR trumps all of them, by far the best food of 2014 for me.


I'm more sad than anything else. I really considered CX to be one of the good guys. On to QR I guess....
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Old Jan 8, 2015, 5:35 am
  #19  
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Originally Posted by HKGglobaltrotter
Actually I disagree. I flew AA (LHR-JFK) a few times in J the past 2 years, their F&B is actually much better than CX. Put the service and the FA's attitude aside, AA meals were generously portioned, better presented and of a much better quality (I am talking about western main course choices here). The wine on offer were also better in my view.
I disagree and am with exmike on that. While CX is nowhere near the best on J food, I find it quite a lot better than both BA and AA which I both use very frequently too on a variety of routes.

@SeeBuyFly, Cantonese food indeed seems to include a lot of "double boiled" and "braised" (the other semi-permanent feature of CX dishes! )
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Old Jan 8, 2015, 5:51 am
  #20  
 
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Originally Posted by Gemba
I view CX as one of the best out there but this recent experience has shattered my confidence in them. Have you seen similar declines in catering quality?
Seen this in J for quite a while. Been happening in F for ages too:

Vintage Port -> 20 year old tawny port -> 10 year old tawny port.
Oscietra caviar -> Calvisius Venise caviar.
Balik salmon -> nothing.

Wonder when the Krug will get downgraded...

Last edited by KACommuter; Jan 8, 2015 at 6:30 am
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Old Jan 8, 2015, 6:54 am
  #21  
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Originally Posted by KACommuter
Seen this in J for quite a while. Been happening in F for ages too:

Vintage Port -> 20 year old tawny port -> 10 year old tawny port.
Oscietra caviar -> Calvisius Venise caviar.
Balik salmon -> nothing.

Wonder when the Krug will get downgraded...
I have always made sure that before my long hauls I have a good meal in time to be digested before I fly. I do 2 long hauls a month minimum. My objective is always sleep asap.

I kind of have that off as a fine art. I always get asked if I will eat & always reply no. They always ask to save some dishes for me.

Anyone who flies in business or first for the food is obviously doing so as as a one off. In this case you will nearly always be disappointed.

In general I have to say Cathay beat just about every airline I use for product,service & catering.

I am very lucky never to fly economic class but when I see people complain they are usually the ones who want everything on the menu, insist on watching every movie they can,press the call button too often
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Old Jan 8, 2015, 7:17 am
  #22  
 
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I sent a complaint saying the regional J food looked like Y food dressed up.

I got a call back with an apology from CX and was told, yes it's exactly what it is, but they would forward my concerns to their catering department.
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Old Jan 8, 2015, 8:06 am
  #23  
 
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I flew 5 flights in J and 1 in F in the last 2 weeks. KIX x 2, HND x 2, TPE x 2.

The F flight was fine. No drop in standard there. Catering was ex-HND and so it was probably better than ex-HKG.

I agree that meals have gotten even worse than before. I had this really fatty pork - I could barely dissect out the meat and it was bathed in a slimy brown sauce. The dish was disgusting. Unfortunately they came to take my order in advance (as a DM) and so I didn't have a chance to view the selection in the cart coming down the aisle.

On another flight, it was a sweet and sour chicken. The chicken was fine - but the vegetables were so soggy and bathed in a huge tub of water. It was bad.

Cheese and desserts were wheeled down the aisle as before. They seem to be handing out ice cream instead of having real desserts - I guess this cuts costs too.

I have DM friends who now fly to Japan on ANA and the catering looks absolutely fabulous - and I'm told it tastes great too. Unfortunately ex-HKG tickets to HND on NH are too expensive for me (ex-TPE CX J class tickets are too good!)
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Old Jan 8, 2015, 12:30 pm
  #24  
 
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Seems like OP got the "supper" service that is standard on all late night (post-11pm) departures. I've flown CX872 (midnight departure HKG-SFO) in J twice over the past year, and both times observed similar service. Either a full meal with packaged breadsticks with savory dips as an "appetizer", choice of two entrees, seasonal berries for dessert, and optional cheese course; or a light meal with soup, salad, and berries. I personally think this two-tray service (initial tray with appetizer and dessert, followed by entree) is ideal for a departure time like this, barring the lame excuse for an appetizer. Remember that this is business class, and for business travelers, a good night's sleep is way more important than good food.

FWIW, flew CX724 (5pm departure KUL-HKG) yesterday and got a full dinner service with cheese/fruit cart before Haagen-Dazs for dessert. Took a full 1.5-2 hours for the meal service - sometimes I wish they would have an "express" option of sorts, similar to supper, for people who want to work/nap on those shorter flights!
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Old Jan 8, 2015, 1:20 pm
  #25  
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@jumbojet19920711
Supper service for a 1am departure makes sense and I can accept fewer choices & smaller portions. But that can't excuse the poor quality of what was offered. The appetizer was beyond lame, the Chicken Pot Pie tasted terrible and the cheese strangely tasteless.

I took HKG-SFO via a connecting flight from BKK and the poor quality food on the BKK-HKG sector meant that I was pretty hungry when I boarded for SFO. The BKK-HKG flight was delayed so I had no time to have a proper dinner in the lounge.

I've taken these exact sectors before and I don't remember the food being this bad.
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Old Jan 8, 2015, 6:57 pm
  #26  
 
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Originally Posted by orbitmic
CX still serves warm cashew nuts in little bowls and a separate cheese and fruit service off the trolley before dessert. If you did not have those things on your transpacific, I suspect that there might have been a problem with your specific flight and would suggest writing to complain.
My experience was the same as OP on HKG-LAX route (Dec '14). On the menu it now says "cheese selection*" and at the bottom of the page, "*Available on Request - please ask your crew". There was no separate cheese service off the trolley like before.

And what dessert? Those been disappearing from most of the regional/mid-haul flights I took in Nov/Dec. At one point, I even asked FA what happened to the cheesecake which was served the month before on the same route. She smiled and somewhat apologetically said "now we have cheesecake flavoured ice cream" Uh huh ...
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Old Jan 8, 2015, 7:21 pm
  #27  
 
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Originally Posted by KACommuter
Seen this in J for quite a while. Been happening in F for ages too:

Vintage Port -> 20 year old tawny port -> 10 year old tawny port.
Oscietra caviar -> Calvisius Venise caviar.
Balik salmon -> nothing.

Wonder when the Krug will get downgraded...

Whaaat, no more Balik salmon in F?

Really?
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Old Jan 9, 2015, 12:40 am
  #28  
 
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Originally Posted by Rivarix
My experience was the same as OP on HKG-LAX route (Dec '14). On the menu it now says "cheese selection*" and at the bottom of the page, "*Available on Request - please ask your crew". There was no separate cheese service off the trolley like before.
I got cheese from a trolley as well as fruits a few days ago on YYZ-HKG. CMB-HKG was on request - I suppose that was a short flight and they wanted us to get more time to sleep during the short red-eye.
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Old Jan 9, 2015, 5:12 am
  #29  
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Originally Posted by macabus
Whaaat, no more Balik salmon in F?

Really?
That has disappeared a long time ago (and been largely discussed on this forum!)

Thanks to others for clarifying about the supper service, makes sense! I wasn't aware of the departure time of that particular flight.
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Old Jan 9, 2015, 7:55 am
  #30  
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It's been years since I've willingly eaten CX food in any class. The only exception is the breakfast congee served on the long hauls in J and F. I actually like that quite a bit.

Mind you, it's fine for airplane food, but it's still airplane food.
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