You lucky. J meals on transpacific flights are at an all-time low. They are replacing dinners with suppers as much as possible if the flight leaves late so that they can do away with the full-blown meal service. HKG-SFO, which took 12 hours, began with a supper that consisted of a romaine lettuce salad as appetizer (Unheard of pre-SARS). Main course was choice of roast goose on rice or grilled steak (two red meats, weird selection), all pre-plated to Y-sized tray. You can also opt for the light option which is the noodle soup they serve mid-flight. (SFO-HKG was worse. The two choices of main were a meat dish and get this, a PASTA.) Pre-plated cheese, fruit and cheesecake followed. Breakfast/brunch had a very small fruit plate, followed by choice of omelette, noodles with dim sum and rice porridge. Normally, rice porridge on CX had some "stuff" in it, but the porridge on my flight was PLAIN. And no more recipes by Yung Kee to say the least. I don't drink much on planes, so the selection of alcohol was irrelevant to me.

The food in J on KA from HKG to PVG (2-hour flight) was excellent compared to CX. If you get a breakfast flight, you would have a choice of three hot dishes or the continental service. Lunch/dinner flights have three hot choices, two of them with a restaurant chain behind the recipe. Real appetizers too (I had the crab and celery salad on my flight.)

When AC is improving their cuisine across the pacific (and I'm sure other airlines that fly transpacific too), CX is making the wrong move. Of course, their IFE is excellent if you get NBC. The flight attendants are always helpful and go out of their way to make your journey more pleasant (well, everything but the catering). Plus Platinum challenge on AA. I wouldn't fly CX for the food though.

[This message has been edited by zhaobao (edited Jan 05, 2004).]