Olive oil, balsamic and butter

The next course after the appetiser was the caviar course. Once again, a dying breed around the world, even in F, but it has been maintained at OZ. Compared to TG, OZ probably take a more pure interpretation of the experience by providing a mother-of-pearl spoon rather than a regular metal spoon. (It is believed that metal spoons impart a certain taste which interferes with that of the caviar, which is why a mother-of-pearl or bone spoon is preferable). The caviar is served straight from individual serve jars, though I can't remember if it came off an iced serving tray or not. The wedge of lemon is encased in a porous bag which allows you to squeeze away without getting pips on your plate. The accompaniments included a few blinis as well as Melba toast, but the latter was a bit lame and not quite crispy enough.

The overall serving of caviar from OZ looks a wee bit smaller than that on TG, but the OZ serving appeared to have larger caviar pearls. As I said, OZ have the advantage of loading at ICN so they can be very precise with catering, so there was strictly only one serving of caviar per F pax on board. (Yes, I was trying to be greedy in asking for another serve after this one!)


OZ F caviar course.

The following course was the small serving of seafood served with saffron and curry sauce. An interesting course in writing, but turned out to be OK. It's a combination of mussel and scallop (if I recall correctly), surprisingly prepared quite well for air travel, with a creamy sauce with hint of curry and a generous amount of saffron. It isn't a smack in the face hit of spice that you would expect from a curry. The combination of the lemon and onion makes for not a bad course.


Seafood salad with saffron and curry sauce.

At this point, I decided to try the other Champagne, the Taittinger Comtes de Champagne. This is a 2000 vintage, which is different to the 1999 vintage that I've been used to on QF F on board (or Brut served in the QF F lounges in SYD and MEL). Nevertheless, I've been impressed before, and I was once again impressed. A distinctly different character to the Pol Roger.


The new drop - Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 2000.


Pouring the Taittinger.

The next course was a soup one - cauliflower veloute, of which the latter noun tends to refer more often to a sauce rather than a soup. It did have the consistency of the veloute rather than a much less viscous soup, but it was delicious. I probably would've asked if there was any more left for a second helping, if only that I knew that my stomach was telling me, "hold back there, mate - you've still got about half of the menu to go..."


Cauliflower veloute with Parmesan chip.

The final of the starter courses (still with me?) was a Parmesan chicken schnitzel with a creamy mustard sauce. Very German in inspiration and hit the mark nicely. The micro-salad on the side complemented this course well. The combination of the schnitzel with the mustard sauce was to die for, and if I'd had another one, that might've been the case


Parmesan chicken schnitzel with potato and creamy mustard sauce.

Finally, after all of that... the main course! My choice of main course was the lamb loin, mainly because it seemed to be the most interesting looking one of the three. The wagyu did look attractive but it seemed rather simple, whereas the grilled salmon and shrimp Fricassee was similarly intriguing but to see it served with a beef jus was a bit left-field. So that's why I settled on the lamb loin served with artichoke and a black pepper jus. It might've been that this course was quite late in the proceedings, but the lamb could've been a slight bit more tender (perhaps slightly overcooked) and the jus a bit thicker and stronger (it was lacking a bit of depth), especially when you're combining the lamb and artichoke. Still, the flavours were there and it tasted OK.


Main course of roasted lamb loin with artichoke, lemon gremolata and black pepper jus.

I don't know how much time elapsed between first course and now, but we're not done yet! Now for the concluding courses - firstly the cheese selection. Unlike TG, at least OZ do select some more exquisite cheeses (or at least try), though I still suppose that being an Asian airline, they're not really into the whole selecting cheeses thing compared to the Western world. I don't know what the deal is serving crudites with the cheese plate - is this a cultural thing?


Cheese plate.