Once I finished the flute of the rosé, I noticed that it was already past 20:00 which meant they started the Pre-flight Dining service where you are able to enjoy a multi-course dinner of freshly cooked dishes in the dining area. I walked over to the dining area and one of the waitresses came round quickly asking whether I would like the menu for the Pre-flight Dining. I replied yes, and she brought the menu, with a glass of Swiss chardonnay and a bottle of sparkling water that I asked for.
Restaurant area
Bar counter inside the restaurant area
Table setting
Menu
... in detail
Impressive menu, for sure. Speaking as a person not good at turning down enticing food, I was really tempted to order far too much, but I managed to control myself (for the time being!) and decided on the cucumber spaghetti salad with shrimps and the guinea fowl breast. The waitress serving me was attentive and took my order quickly, after which I started reading my copy of Economist that I hadn't yet managed to start on.
Quite soon, the first dish arrived. Somehow, I missed the "cucumber" part when I read spaghetti, so you could imagine my surprise when I received a spaghetti made from cucumber rather than pasta! Apart from the initial surprise, the dish itself was fantastic - the cucumber was very refreshing and simply screamed "summer" in the perfect way, while the prawn was a decent size and grilled nicely. And as you can see from the photo, it was really well presented.
Cucumber spaghetti salad with shrimps
Next to arrive was the "Guinea fowl breast on spring onion risotto with hay flower sauce and ratatouille". I tried the risotto first - it was wonderfully creamy and flavourful and I could have quite happily had more of it. The comfort food factor was right up there with a big tub of Haagen-Dazs - when feeling unhappy and down, a big serving of this risotto would cheer me right up! Then I tried the guinea fowl which was excellently cooked and still moist, tasting really quite excellent with the finely chopped ratatouille on the side. Overall, a resounding success and I loved every mouthful. As before, it looked great too.
Now, it would normally be time to choose dessert and finish the meal. But sensing that I have some space left, I thought - "It might be nice to try the fish!" Not out of pure gluttony as one might reasonably conclude, but simply to try different dishes and report back for my readers, you see?
The poor waitress was awfully confused when I asked for the fish instead of ordering dessert - she couldn't seem to comprehend that I could possibly want the fish after finishing the previous two courses. She understood eventually and walked away with a smile to repeat the order to the chef - I have no idea what she said behind the closed kitchen doors, but it wouldn't surprise me if it started with "You won't believe this, but he still wants more food..." while laughing.
The fish arrived pretty soon after, and it smelt absolutely wonderful by way of an introduction even before I saw it in front of me. When I tasted it, I'm glad to be able to report that it tasted just as good as it smelled. Perfectly cooked and moist, the only very minor complaint was that the bed of onions was a little oversalted, but overall it was truly a joy to eat.
After the empty plate was cleared away, there was really no space left for any more food except perhaps a small dessert. The peach tiramisu sounded like the best middle ground between the sorbet (too light) and trilogy of chocolate parfait with fresh raspberry (too heavy), so I asked for that and a glass of white port to go with it.
A very generous serving of the white port arrived first, which tasted exactly like what I had in mind. I've really grown to love port in the last year or so and I can quite happily sip on several large glasses on a quiet evening. It horrifies my housemate of course, who insists that port is only a post-meal drink... but when it tastes so good, I can't just save it for after meals!
And soon after, the peach tiramisu arrived. Excellent presentation as I have now come to expect, and it tasted very nice too - although it could have done with a slightly stronger punch from the espresso. Yes, I am picking very small faults with what is otherwise a perfectly nice dessert.
White port
Homemade peach tiramisu
Relaxing at the table for a while afterwards, I reflected on the dinner service on the whole. Firstly, it's a great touch to be able to order freshly cooked dishes from a menu, rather than eat from the buffet station which is not always ideal when the food may have been prepared a long time ago. Moreover, each and every dish was well presented, flavoursome and perfectly cooked. The setting of the dining room was also very nice - good lighting, nicely sized tables and table setting like a normal restaurant. And finally, the service from the waitress was also excellent throughout, with very good attentiveness and a smile with every encounter at the table.
Overall, it was a great way to eat before a night flight so that you can maximise sleep time onboard (or, in my case, probably in order to eat two great meals instead of one). Today, of course, I wasn't going on a flight that evening, so I still had the opportunity to digest it all over a good night's rest before eating tomorrow!
Meal over, it was now around 21:30 and I moved back to the main seating area for another glass of the Perrier Jouet rosé. Afterwards, I decided to call it a day at the lounge and head to the hotel, so I thanked the lounge receptionist and received instructions on how to reach the arrivals hall again. After a disastrous first attempt at getting the hotel shuttle bus (i.e. the wrong bus - must be the champagne!), I waited 45 minutes for the next one and finally boarded the correct bus.
On the bus, the fellow passengers started chatting and one guy, it turns out, overslept and missed his flight to Toronto that morning. Rather than being allowed to fly on the next flight, KLM said he had to buy a new ticket!! I thought most airlines just laughed at you a little bit and then put you on the next flight - my fears about oversleeping and missing flights was proven correct. Once we reached the hotel, I checked in and then met up with Mr. Oversleep for several beers at the hotel bar until 1am, mostly drowning his sorrows at having to fork out 800 euros for a new ticket (!!). I returned to my room and just collapsed in bed.
What can I say? The visit to the FCL was a really great way of spending the evening relaxing, eating and drinking. Overall it was a great day of flying around and (unlike some fellow passengers) without missing flights by oversleeping. The real deal was still waiting, however - the flight to LAX tomorrow!
(To be continued soon...)