NRT-TPE-HKG Cathay First Trip report
Jun 15, 2001, 5:31 am
#1
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Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: HKG
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Posts: 3,179
NRT-TPE-HKG Cathay First Trip report
Trip report NRT-TPE-HKG CX451 June 14th
I finally found the connecting desks and also the security screening to go back into the terminal. Unfortunately, the lines for the transfer were so long and not moving at all. I decided I would go out of immigration just for the heck of it since I have 2 hours to spare. Even though the lines there were longer, they moved very rapidly, and I was out within 5 minutes. I proceeded back up the airport to the Cathay check-in where I checked into my NRT-TPE-HKG flight. The agent there thought it was strange how I had a boarding pass for the HKG-LHR segment, but I explained to her that I arrived from Hong Kong this morning, and had checked in for that flight. She accepted this and printed out my lounge invitation and boarding pass.
After security and immigration again, I headed over to the CX lounge. The CX lounge was on the upper floor of the terminal, and I was rather disappointed with it. There were no First class facilities and the design was like all the other CX lounges around Asia. It was quite crowded and the design was very plain and nothing special at all. The food wasn't that bad, as they had some rice balls and bits and pieces of snacks. I decided to check out the Admirals club next door, and found it much nicer. The food wasn't as good, but it was a lot larger and quite nice. Not as good as the RCC, but since this was the first time I've been in any Admirals Club, I was very impressed. There were showers, a smoking room, and also tons of space. I didn't check if they had a Flagship lounge, but I wouldn't be surprised. I returned to the CX lounge and went online for a bit. The boarding time was at 15:45, and I headed down to the gate at about 15:40.
The plane was the same one I came in on, and boarding started on time. Upon boarding, I found out that the cabin crew was the same ones that came with me from HKG. I had told them earlier I was returning the same day back to Hong Kong, but they had no idea I was on the same flight. Obviously they didn't check the manifest.
I found out from them that I was the only passenger in F on this segment to TPE, and I had the whole cabin to myself. I was seated in my usual seat 2A, and was served my usual pre-departure drink and also some Japanese nut mix. I chatted with some of the FAs and asked which were the preferred seats in F. I was told that any of the seats in row 1 or row 2 were usually full on the long hauls, and people usually hated 4A and 4K, as they were too close to the galley. This is completely different from what I read on FT. Strange…
The entire F class cabin crew came around just before departure thanking me for flying with them. I still think it's kind of strange for them all to introduce themselves and thank me. It's just way too formal for me. Our flight was roughly a little more than 3 hours, and our cruising altitude was at 37,000 feet. After takeoff, the FAs came around and offered me more drinks and canapés. The canapés were really good, and I went back later to the gallery for more. I also got the dinner for the flight and I picked my selection at this time. Knowing me, of course I picked the chicken. =P For dinner on the NRT-TPE portion, I had the following menu:
DINNER
Appetizer
Assorted seafood
Soup
Pumpkin cream soup with Alaskan crabmeat in baby pumpkin
garnished with cheese straws
Main Courses
Grilled fillet of beef with oxtail sauce
Or
Fried seabass with ginger vinegar sauce
Or
Stir-fried chicken with lemon sauce
Accompaniments
New potatoes, fried rice with egg, turned carrots with asparagus tips, shanghai pak choi
Cheese Board
Gorgonzola, Mimolette, Rouy, Pie d'Angloys
Fruit
Selection of fresh fruit
Dessert
Orange and chocolate flavored ice cream parfait
Served with mango sauce
Bread Basket
Oven-baked assorted bread and rolls
Tea/Coffee
A selection of teas - Ceylon, Camomile, Earl Grey, Jasmine, Japanese, Peppermint
Freshly brewed coffee
Served with assorted pralines
Wines
Cuvée William Deutz 1995
Louis Max Chablis Grand Cru 1996
Eileen Hardy Chardonnay 1996
Château Bel Air 1997
Saint Joseph Roquebrussane 1998
Château Lynch Bages 1986/1989
Gevrey Chambertin La Justice 1989/1995
Since there was no one else in the cabin, I spent about an hour chatting with the FAs in the galley. We mainly discussed the differences between Asian and American airlines, and was quite surprised that they actually knew a lot bout American ones. Afterwards, I bought some duty free and then asked them to serve me my dinner. The appetizer, which is the assorted seafood, was basically just a few scallops, salmon and squid all put together with olive oil. Very simple dish but quite good nevertheless. What was really good was the pumpkin soup. It was served in a little pumpkin that's been hollowed out. I've never seen such a small pumpkin before. The crabmeat in the soup was also a nice touch. I would recommend people trying that. I asked for seconds on the pumpkin soup, but the second portion didn't have as much crabmeat as the first. Main course came as a surprise. My expectation of stir-fried chicken was that of a college dorm style stir-fried, and not what was presented to me. The main course I had was lightly fried chicken balls, covered with a tangy lemon sauce. The fried rice was nicely wrapped in lotus leaf, and the carrots were especially tasty. If this is normal stir-fried chicken, I might even start to eat this on a regular basis if I can find a restaurant that serves it. After the main course, I declined coffee and cheese, and proceeded straight to the desert. It was a slice of ice-cream cake, with chocolate and vanilla flavor.
By the time I finished my desert, the captain announced our descent into TPE. We were told that the passengers continuing onto Hong Kong could either go to the transit lounge in the airport, or stay on board. I fell asleep shortly before landing, and when I woke up, the plane was already sitting at the gate in TPE. I looked around and saw that the crew had already changed and that there were 3 other passengers in F class. What a shame I didn't say bye to the crew earlier. The new crew was going around introducing themselves at the time and handing out menus for our short flight to Hong Kong. Since the menu is including with the NRT-TPE one, I asked them if I could see the Business class menu. At this time, the captain announced that we had a security problem with the luggage, and it would take about an hour to resolve. Apparently they had to take out all the passenger's bags to take out a container, and reload the bags back in afterwards. We sat at the gate until 21:30 before we pushed back. At this time, it was really starting to rain, and the winds were quite strong. Immediately, I had thoughts of the SQ incident at TPE. Luckily, without incident, we took off about 15 minutes later.
The flight time was scheduled at 1 hour 10 minutes, which is longer than usual because of headwinds. We were nearly 1.5 hours late. Cruising altitude was 35,000 feet. After takeoff, we were immediately served the snack. The menu we had were as follows:
REFRESHMENT
Appetizer
Grilled salmon with zucchini and mixed pepper salad
Main Course
Spicy sweet and sour prawns
Pot-roasted chicken stew with taro
Accompaniments
Steamed rice with diced pepper and spring onions,
Oriental mixed vegetables
Dessert
Ice cream cake exotic
Served with strawberry sauce
Tea/Coffee
A selection of teas - Ceylon, Camomile, Earl Grey, Jasmine, Japanese, Peppermint
Freshly brewed coffee
The appetizer was two pieces of chilled salmon. It was rather dry and tasteless, but after adding some lemon juice, it was a lot better. For the main course, or main snack, I asked for the chicken. I don't understand why they called it a stew, since it was just two pieces of regular grilled chicken with chopped mushroom and taro on top. There were some vegetables on the side, but I didn't touch that at all. For desert, we were served an ice-cream cake similar to the one on NRT-TPE, except the flavor on this flight was mango and chocolate, thus the exotic. I had also wanted to try the berry cheesecake they had in Business class, and asked for a portion of that. It turned out I didn't like it at all. I thought the name was a bit misleading, as it was just a regular piece of cheesecake with a dash of berry sauce on top. Not very good at all. I was impressed with the snack service, as the flight was only an hour long. For US carriers, you'd be lucky to get a drink served. This was comparable to a regular meal on other airlines.
By the time the meal service was finished, we had started our descent into Hong Kong already. We touched down at 23:05, which left me only a bit more than an hour for the connection. Luckily we parked at a gate close to the Wing, and I was able to get off and get to the Wing within a few minutes.
BUSINESS CLASS MENU
DINNER NRT-TPE
Paupiette smoked salmon with seafood salad
Braised pork kaku-ni style
Shiso rice
Seasonal Japanese vegetables
or
Kung Po chicken
Steamed rice
Stir-fried shanghai pak choy
or
Penne Pasta with seabass and tomato sauce
Ice cream
Garlic bread or rye coupe, butter
Teas - Ceylon, Camomile, Earl Grey, Jasmine, Japanese, Peppermint
Coffee
REFRESHMENT TPE-HKG
Grilled salmon with jelly fish salad
Imperial soya chicken
Steamed rice and spring onions
Stir-fried Chinese broccoli
or
Poached mussel and scallop with white wine herb fish sauce
Buttered noodles
Carrots and snap peas
Berry cheesecake
Garlic bread or whole-wheat roll, butter
Teas - Ceylon, Camomile, Earl Grey, Jasmine, Japanese, Peppermint
Coffee
Pralines
[This message has been edited by tfung (edited 06-15-2001).]
I finally found the connecting desks and also the security screening to go back into the terminal. Unfortunately, the lines for the transfer were so long and not moving at all. I decided I would go out of immigration just for the heck of it since I have 2 hours to spare. Even though the lines there were longer, they moved very rapidly, and I was out within 5 minutes. I proceeded back up the airport to the Cathay check-in where I checked into my NRT-TPE-HKG flight. The agent there thought it was strange how I had a boarding pass for the HKG-LHR segment, but I explained to her that I arrived from Hong Kong this morning, and had checked in for that flight. She accepted this and printed out my lounge invitation and boarding pass.
After security and immigration again, I headed over to the CX lounge. The CX lounge was on the upper floor of the terminal, and I was rather disappointed with it. There were no First class facilities and the design was like all the other CX lounges around Asia. It was quite crowded and the design was very plain and nothing special at all. The food wasn't that bad, as they had some rice balls and bits and pieces of snacks. I decided to check out the Admirals club next door, and found it much nicer. The food wasn't as good, but it was a lot larger and quite nice. Not as good as the RCC, but since this was the first time I've been in any Admirals Club, I was very impressed. There were showers, a smoking room, and also tons of space. I didn't check if they had a Flagship lounge, but I wouldn't be surprised. I returned to the CX lounge and went online for a bit. The boarding time was at 15:45, and I headed down to the gate at about 15:40.
The plane was the same one I came in on, and boarding started on time. Upon boarding, I found out that the cabin crew was the same ones that came with me from HKG. I had told them earlier I was returning the same day back to Hong Kong, but they had no idea I was on the same flight. Obviously they didn't check the manifest.
I found out from them that I was the only passenger in F on this segment to TPE, and I had the whole cabin to myself. I was seated in my usual seat 2A, and was served my usual pre-departure drink and also some Japanese nut mix. I chatted with some of the FAs and asked which were the preferred seats in F. I was told that any of the seats in row 1 or row 2 were usually full on the long hauls, and people usually hated 4A and 4K, as they were too close to the galley. This is completely different from what I read on FT. Strange…The entire F class cabin crew came around just before departure thanking me for flying with them. I still think it's kind of strange for them all to introduce themselves and thank me. It's just way too formal for me. Our flight was roughly a little more than 3 hours, and our cruising altitude was at 37,000 feet. After takeoff, the FAs came around and offered me more drinks and canapés. The canapés were really good, and I went back later to the gallery for more. I also got the dinner for the flight and I picked my selection at this time. Knowing me, of course I picked the chicken. =P For dinner on the NRT-TPE portion, I had the following menu:
DINNER
Appetizer
Assorted seafood
Soup
Pumpkin cream soup with Alaskan crabmeat in baby pumpkin
garnished with cheese straws
Main Courses
Grilled fillet of beef with oxtail sauce
Or
Fried seabass with ginger vinegar sauce
Or
Stir-fried chicken with lemon sauce
Accompaniments
New potatoes, fried rice with egg, turned carrots with asparagus tips, shanghai pak choi
Cheese Board
Gorgonzola, Mimolette, Rouy, Pie d'Angloys
Fruit
Selection of fresh fruit
Dessert
Orange and chocolate flavored ice cream parfait
Served with mango sauce
Bread Basket
Oven-baked assorted bread and rolls
Tea/Coffee
A selection of teas - Ceylon, Camomile, Earl Grey, Jasmine, Japanese, Peppermint
Freshly brewed coffee
Served with assorted pralines
Wines
Cuvée William Deutz 1995
Louis Max Chablis Grand Cru 1996
Eileen Hardy Chardonnay 1996
Château Bel Air 1997
Saint Joseph Roquebrussane 1998
Château Lynch Bages 1986/1989
Gevrey Chambertin La Justice 1989/1995
Since there was no one else in the cabin, I spent about an hour chatting with the FAs in the galley. We mainly discussed the differences between Asian and American airlines, and was quite surprised that they actually knew a lot bout American ones. Afterwards, I bought some duty free and then asked them to serve me my dinner. The appetizer, which is the assorted seafood, was basically just a few scallops, salmon and squid all put together with olive oil. Very simple dish but quite good nevertheless. What was really good was the pumpkin soup. It was served in a little pumpkin that's been hollowed out. I've never seen such a small pumpkin before. The crabmeat in the soup was also a nice touch. I would recommend people trying that. I asked for seconds on the pumpkin soup, but the second portion didn't have as much crabmeat as the first. Main course came as a surprise. My expectation of stir-fried chicken was that of a college dorm style stir-fried, and not what was presented to me. The main course I had was lightly fried chicken balls, covered with a tangy lemon sauce. The fried rice was nicely wrapped in lotus leaf, and the carrots were especially tasty. If this is normal stir-fried chicken, I might even start to eat this on a regular basis if I can find a restaurant that serves it.
After the main course, I declined coffee and cheese, and proceeded straight to the desert. It was a slice of ice-cream cake, with chocolate and vanilla flavor.By the time I finished my desert, the captain announced our descent into TPE. We were told that the passengers continuing onto Hong Kong could either go to the transit lounge in the airport, or stay on board. I fell asleep shortly before landing, and when I woke up, the plane was already sitting at the gate in TPE. I looked around and saw that the crew had already changed and that there were 3 other passengers in F class. What a shame I didn't say bye to the crew earlier. The new crew was going around introducing themselves at the time and handing out menus for our short flight to Hong Kong. Since the menu is including with the NRT-TPE one, I asked them if I could see the Business class menu. At this time, the captain announced that we had a security problem with the luggage, and it would take about an hour to resolve. Apparently they had to take out all the passenger's bags to take out a container, and reload the bags back in afterwards. We sat at the gate until 21:30 before we pushed back. At this time, it was really starting to rain, and the winds were quite strong. Immediately, I had thoughts of the SQ incident at TPE. Luckily, without incident, we took off about 15 minutes later.
The flight time was scheduled at 1 hour 10 minutes, which is longer than usual because of headwinds. We were nearly 1.5 hours late. Cruising altitude was 35,000 feet. After takeoff, we were immediately served the snack. The menu we had were as follows:
REFRESHMENT
Appetizer
Grilled salmon with zucchini and mixed pepper salad
Main Course
Spicy sweet and sour prawns
Pot-roasted chicken stew with taro
Accompaniments
Steamed rice with diced pepper and spring onions,
Oriental mixed vegetables
Dessert
Ice cream cake exotic
Served with strawberry sauce
Tea/Coffee
A selection of teas - Ceylon, Camomile, Earl Grey, Jasmine, Japanese, Peppermint
Freshly brewed coffee
The appetizer was two pieces of chilled salmon. It was rather dry and tasteless, but after adding some lemon juice, it was a lot better. For the main course, or main snack, I asked for the chicken. I don't understand why they called it a stew, since it was just two pieces of regular grilled chicken with chopped mushroom and taro on top. There were some vegetables on the side, but I didn't touch that at all. For desert, we were served an ice-cream cake similar to the one on NRT-TPE, except the flavor on this flight was mango and chocolate, thus the exotic. I had also wanted to try the berry cheesecake they had in Business class, and asked for a portion of that. It turned out I didn't like it at all. I thought the name was a bit misleading, as it was just a regular piece of cheesecake with a dash of berry sauce on top. Not very good at all. I was impressed with the snack service, as the flight was only an hour long. For US carriers, you'd be lucky to get a drink served. This was comparable to a regular meal on other airlines.
By the time the meal service was finished, we had started our descent into Hong Kong already. We touched down at 23:05, which left me only a bit more than an hour for the connection. Luckily we parked at a gate close to the Wing, and I was able to get off and get to the Wing within a few minutes.
BUSINESS CLASS MENU
DINNER NRT-TPE
Paupiette smoked salmon with seafood salad
Braised pork kaku-ni style
Shiso rice
Seasonal Japanese vegetables
or
Kung Po chicken
Steamed rice
Stir-fried shanghai pak choy
or
Penne Pasta with seabass and tomato sauce
Ice cream
Garlic bread or rye coupe, butter
Teas - Ceylon, Camomile, Earl Grey, Jasmine, Japanese, Peppermint
Coffee
REFRESHMENT TPE-HKG
Grilled salmon with jelly fish salad
Imperial soya chicken
Steamed rice and spring onions
Stir-fried Chinese broccoli
or
Poached mussel and scallop with white wine herb fish sauce
Buttered noodles
Carrots and snap peas
Berry cheesecake
Garlic bread or whole-wheat roll, butter
Teas - Ceylon, Camomile, Earl Grey, Jasmine, Japanese, Peppermint
Coffee
Pralines
[This message has been edited by tfung (edited 06-15-2001).]
