Brunch à la Carte

POUR PATIENTER

Fresh fruit served in a melon timbale

CHOICE OF HOT OR COLD DISHES

CHEF’S SPECIAL
Scrambled eggs served with sautéed duck foie gras, cépe mushroom and apple with celery purée

VEGETARIAN HOTPOT
Layered truffles, artichoke and potatoes, oven-roasted baby vegetables, fennel and truffle emulsion with balsamic vinegar

GOURMET PLATTER
Medallion of foie gras and onion compote, accompanied by fresh salad and pansy garnish*

*edible flower

SEAFOOD PLATTER
Maine lobster, sautéed sea scallop with olive oil, jumbo prawn with Cajun spices, baby artichokes with herbes de Provence

SELECTION OF FRENCH REGIONAL CHEESES

PETITS FOURS
Vanilla Macaroon, chocolate praline, raspberry and blueberry tartlet

CHAMPAGNE CUVEÉ SPÉCIALE

Dom Pérignon 1993

BORDEAUX BLANC LICOREAUX

Sauternes 1er Cru Classé 1995
Château Suduiraut

BOURGOGNE BLANC

Chablis 1er Cru <<Beauroy>> 1999
Maison Chartron et Trébuchet

BOURGOGNE ROUGE

Aloxe-Corton 1er Cru 2000
Maison Remoissenet

BORDEAUX ROUGE

Saint Émilion Grand Cru Classé 1997
Château Faurie de Souchard

These wines have been selected for you by Phillipe Faure-Brac, 1992 world champion wine steward.

LES PAINS ET VIENNOISERIES

Mini baguette
Walnut Bread
Cranberry Bread
French bakery selection
Preserves. Honey, yogurt

Coffee, decaffeinated coffee, choice of teas, herbal teas, hot chocolate

Freshly squeezed fruit juice

At the end of your supersonic flight, our cabin crew will be please to serve you caviar with a glass of “Cuveé Spéciale” champagne to welcome you to Paris.

I started with the champagne, which I had with the fruit course. I didn’t even know what a “timbale” was; it turned out to be a ring of canteloupe. Inside were fruits cut into tiny pieces – I detected melon, mango, orange and strawberry, all topped with a mint leaf and a blackberry. For the main course, I had the chef’s special. The eggs were fairly normal, as – I suppose – was the foie gras, which was on slivers of toast, and the mushroom. The apple was hollowed out and filled with the purée. The traveler across the aisle from me had the vegetarian hotpot, which looked excellent.

The flight attendant then brought me the four cheeses, which I’m too ignorant to identify (one was brie), and which came with a sort of salty rice cracker (and the bread basket again). I was about to ask for more champagne when she suggested – perhaps sensing I was about to commit a faux pas – that I try the Bordeaux with it. It was excellent. With the petits fours, she suggested the Sauterne. I accepted, of course, joking that I don’t normally have that many wines before 10 a.m. She flawlessly replied “Sir, you are aboard Concorde (it sounds so good with a French accent). You should try everything. These are suberb wines that have been very carefully selected.” She did seem slightly surprised that I requested coffee before I’d had my petits fours, but she brought it immediately. Each bottle of wine was presented for approval (I’m not sure what would have happened had I disapproved; in any case they obviously knew vastly more about wine than I). In fact, when I requested water, even that bottle (Evian) was presented for my approval.

The dinner items were cleared away, and the boutique items were displayed on a silver tray, decorated with a purple flower (there were flowers in a few places in the cabin and on all the trays – even those used to clear away dishes). The brochure had been in the seat pocket, along with the inflight music guide, the Air France magazine and Air France Madame, a women’s magazine.

La Boutique

24, Fauborg Hermès (perfume, I think)
Crystal Bottle 50 ml Extrait. Limited edition engraved “Concorde”.

Carré Hermès (scarf)
100% pure silk.

Cravate Hermès (ties)
100% pure silk.

Montre geométrie, St Dupont (watch)
Swiss made, steel case and bracelet.
Sapphire Crystal, quartz movement and waterproof up to 30m.

Briquet Urban, St Dupont (lighter)
Very graphic, chequered geometric pattern, palladium plating.

Roller Concorde St Dupont
Exclusive version of the prestigious range designed for Concorde. Limited series in Chinese black laquer and palladium, interchangeable rollerball/ball-point pencil.

Pendulette Vega, Baccarat (clock)
Vega, named after a star, a luxury setting of crystalline perfection and contemporary design.

Waterman Sèrénité
Originality and differentiation with this roller pen.
Black body and attributes in mat silver.

Foulard Concorde
Pure silk scarf designed for Concorde by Jean Boggio. (this featured multicoloured Concordes, the same design as the menu cover)

Pedulette Edouard Rambaud
Small Edouard Rambaud clock.
Double face, exclusive for Concorde.

Etiquette baggage Concorde
Silver plated luggage label holder
Exclusive for Air France.

Maquette Concorde
Injection-molded model, easy snap-together.

Pin’s Concorde
Faithful reproduction of the aircraft in solid silver.

I bought the luggage tag – which weighs about as much as my bag. On the return, I bought the model and pin as well. The selection was much more limited than the regular onboard sales (which were in the magazine) – interestingly, the three common items (the scarf, ties and model) were slightly cheaper on Concorde than mainline. Purchases were delivered slightly later in bags – in another demonstration of the crew’s attentiveness, when I took out the tag slightly later to examine it, the flight attendant instantly appeared to ask if it were alright and I were satisfied.

The sales over, I went for a walk. I counted the pax – a mere 24 – and noted that a couple were sleeping. Perhaps this was their way of showing that even Concorde wasn’t special to them – or perhaps they were just tired. But I wanted to shake them awake. I hope I never become so blasé that I could sleep through an experience like Concorde. I noticed that the midships lav area was very warm, perhaps why the curtains were drawn. The windows, too, were hot to the touch by about 9:30, transmitting the friction generated by our great speed. A tray of water had been laid out in the cabin, along with a basket of chocolate-coated almonds. Returning to my seat, I gazed out of the window at the deep blue sky, far darker than the familiar pale blue I could see near the horizon. They say that you can see the curvature of the earth from Concorde, but I frankly didn’t see it – perhaps because of haze near the earth’s surface. I listened for awhile to the audio system, which had seven channels, although it was too loud to listen to without the noise cancellation and it seemed like a waste to deaden the Concorde’s song. Reflecting my strong emotions, I decided to listen to opera – even though I don’t much like it. Everything else seemed too mundane.

All good things must come to an end, at 10:54 they announced that we had just one more hour to go and that it was time for champagne and caviar. A very noticeable descent began five minutes later, shortly after which the table was again set. The Dom Perignon was served again, along with a 30g tin of Caviar House Iranian Osietra caviar, with wafers, a lemon wedge and cream – the last incongruously in a plastic container. To scoop the caviar, we were provided the requisite mother-of-pearl spoon.

At 11:16 we crossed the French coast near Cherbourg, and at 11:24 there was another marked deceleration with the aircraft at a very steep nose-down pitch. At 11:30 we made a sharp right hand turn, after which the flight attendant came back to ask how I had enjoyed my flight and to chat once more about the wonderful aircraft. At 11:37 Captain Ramon announced ten minutes to landing, which he apologized would be five minutes late. Three minutes later the crew were signaled and at 11:44 he announced that Paris was visible off the right of the aircraft. Moments later the gear came down and at 11:47:08 we touched down. The engines spooled up powerfully once more, for about 30 seconds of reverse thrust. At 11:57 – 5:57 p.m. local time – we arrived at the gate.

Flight time had been 3 hours and 27 minutes – to the second – of which 2:36 was supersonic, at 60,000 feet. The flight attendants brought us our coats and even our bags from the overheads, and we soon deboarded into a crowded, mundane CDG. Normally I would have been excitedly spotting, but spotting after Concorde is like reviewing the local high school art competition after leaving the Sistine Chapel.