I came back on 872 HKG-SFO just yesterday (in a 74B, BTW), I can attest that the meal service in J nowadays is rather substandard, which was why I skipped it entirely. FWIW, I skipped the 873 meal service on my outbound flight too (in a 744, however).

Having flown the late-morning/mid-day flights to/from SIN and KUL within the same period, I can even say the lunch service on these 3+ hour flights are better than the main meal on the trans-Pac flights (at least both 872/873).

On my flight 720 KUL-HKG on 1/4, the meal service was as follows:

Chicken Satay/Nuts
Appetizer Balik Salmon
Mixed Greens Salad

Choice of:
Grilled Lamb
Jumbo Prawns
Pasta

Fruits AND Cheese
Dessert
Chocolate Pralines

As opposed to 872 with:

Nuts
Appetizer Terrine
Mixed Greens Salad

Choice of:
Jumbo Prawns
Beef Rice
Pasta

Fruits OR Cheese
Dessert
Chocolate Pralines (not offered, but alternatively since it was the holiday season, a Yule Log was offered in addition to a silver gift-boxed three cookies....)

Frankly, service was good in all flight segments, but I would recommend everyone to skip the inflight meal service due to:

1. Substandard meal service;
2. Better food choices on ground (especially true with Wing/Pier F Lounge food);
3. Unhealthy diet at late evening hours before a long flight where the extra pounds go straight to the waistline....

Wine, however, was another issue entirely, and will be discussed in another thread...

[This message has been edited by jkc22 (edited Jan 05, 2004).]