Meal & Beverage:
Here is where HX needs to work harder.
Here is the menu – both in photo and I also transcribe it.
Dynasty Restaurant, Vancouver
Warmed mixed nuts
Lunch served shortly after takeoff
Starter
Side Salad [Mesclun with grape tomatoes and cucumbers]
*Prosperity Canadian smoked salmon rainbow toss
[Shredded vegetables with smoked salmon tossed with a spicy hoisin sauce topped with crispy wanton skins]
Main Course
Grilled Beef Tenderloin in butter herb sauce, roasted herb potato wedges and seasonal vegetables
Or
*Steamed cod fish flavored with preserved olive, egg fried rice with sweet corn
Or
Cheese and spinach cannelloni with marinara alfredo sauce
Dessert
Rich chocolate cake
Or
Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream bar
Or
Cheese Plate
Selection of Breads
Tea and Coffee
*Dishes designed by Chinese Master Chef Sam Leung and Dim Sum Head Chef Garley Leung, Dynasty Seafood Restaurant in Vancouver
Mid-Flight Snack
A selection of sweet and savory snacks is available at the SKYBAR.
Alternatively, please ask the cabin crew at any time if you would like to enjoy one of the following mid-flight snacks.
Tortilla Wrap with roasted vegetables
Or
Chinese braised pork belly with steamed bun
Or
Cheese Plate
Refreshment
Served Prior to Arrival
Starter
Seasonal Fresh Fruit
Main Course
Roasted Cajun Chicken breast strips with penne pasta in a pesto cream sauce and seasonal vegetables
Or
Stir fried scallop, asparagus and lily bulbs, with steamed rice and seasonal vegetables
Dessert
Blueberry cheese cake
Selection of Breads
Tea and Coffee
Champagne
Gonet-Medeville Blanc de Noirs Premier Cru Brut NV, France
White Wines
Charlotte Street Chardonnay, Southeast Australia
Luis Felipe Edwards Family Seleciton Gran Reserva Sauvignon Blanc, Leyda Valley, Chile
Red Wines
Charlotte Street Cabernet Sauvignon, Southeast Austarlia
Luis Felipe Edwards Family Selection Gran Reserva Merlot
Spirits
Smirnoff Vodka Red Label
Gordon’s Dry Gin
Johnnie Walker Black Label
Glen Moray Classic Single Malt Whiskey
Jack Daniel’s Black Label
Remy Martin XO Cognac
Port Wine
Sanderman Ruby Port
Beer
International Selection
Hong Kong “Yum Cha” Culture
“ESSENSE”
Baiyaqlian Oolong Tea
Hubei Steamed Green Tea
Imperial Pu-Erh Tea
Golden Tip Red
YVRBC_2017_HMHRC3_V1
Beverage service with warmed mixed nuts
Starter – now they used the cart for more efficient service
It was a nice attempt to create a special dish, but smoked salmon was bit on the salty side for this dish. They typically use salmon sashimi, but I know they want to feature a famous Canadian product.
An additional salad course – good touch
Breads – four kinds to choose from – wheat rolls, French rolls, olive rolls and garlic bread
I used the garlic bread to eat the salmon appetizer to lessen the saltiness.
Main course – still served in a casserole dish - pre-plating is almost a “must” these days
Dessert – only “choices” and there is no cheese & fruit board.
However, the chocolate cake was delicious. YVR kitchen has some great chocolate cake dessert.
While the quality was good, the quantity is a bit lacking. They need to add a proper fruit and cheese course now. It does not need to be a trolley service but it should offer a comprehensive fruit and cheese plate. A good business class product nowadays need to be four courses, along with individually platted main course. You need to be better than CX so that is a good direction.
The mid-flight snacks are really bad and these items are a bit too “hip. Pork Belly buns are not authentic Chinese dish and more like a hippie fusion food. The tortilla wrap was too foreign for Chinese passengers, but I had it. It was okay but I think I prefer a warmed ham and cheese sandwich or a warmed Chinese wrap. I am also surprised that there is no “noodle” dish or “dim sum” dish, which is standard these days. Economy class has cup noodles and in the end, many J passengers ordered the cup noodles from economy class. Someone really dropped the ball here.
Light meal – about two hours prior to landing, the F/As turned on the light. The meal was served over two courses and there are more breads offered including garlic bread.
The fruit bowl was fine.
Unfortunately, the main course failed miserably as the scallops did not survive the long journey. It looked good on paper but in the end, over-cooked scallops are never good ideas for an in-flight meal.
The Blueberry cheesecake was okay.
I had better light meal on my Cairns to Hong Kong flight a few years ago. They should go with simpler dishes such as noodle soup or things like lasagna, or even a fried rice/noodle dish.
SKYBAR
One of the leftover relics from these all-business-class A330-200s is the SKYBAR, and now they are back in full usage. I still think HX can use it more, but there was a basket of snacks and fruits out there, along with the flight’s full alcohol selection. The F/A told me that one person has to station here at all times. I like this formal bar setting so you get to chat with crews and get a nice place to stretch your leg. But I suspect the new A350s won’t have this feature. However, you can enjoy it now.
Magazine selection
I love the Mueller’s cover.
Flight Attendants
To me, the highlight of the flight was the crews, who were friendly, and I had some wonderful conversation in the SKYBAR. I sincerely thanked the whole team serving business class and in the SKYBAR. They were simply exemplary. I was addressed by my last name throughout the flight and they were constantly refilling beverages and asking passengers if they wanted snacks. I just hope the snack selection was better. As I said earlier, there was a big family with several children running around. Unfortunately, one of the little ones had an incident, and the F/As handled the situation with ease and grace. The head F/A put on a face mask and gloves, along with disinfection spray, and cleaned up the seats with little noise. Hong Kong Airlines may not be perfect in many things, but most of the F/As are friendly and personable. They might not be the matriculate like CX or SQ F/As but in terms of sincerity, they are good.
Descent soon began at 4:08pm Hong Kong local time. These days, ATC congestion is pretty much a daily occurrence but today it was alright. We more or less went straight into Hong Kong.
The F/As also took the opportunities to thank passengers and I got a hand-written card from the J class team.
Nice day in HK
Here is a reservoir – here is how HK people get their fresh water, along with purchasing water from PRC too.
Almost there…
Gear was down at 4:45pm
We landed on R/W25R at 4:49pm, and taxi was long today. There were so much congestion, but good of plane-spotting.
For some reasons, we did not park in the Midfield Concourse, which is Hong Kong Airlines and Hong Kong Express’ main base now.
Here is our parking spot – S108
We finally parked here at 5:10pm.
The arrival arrangement was quite chaotic as HX assigned only one agent to handle the arrival. I felt bad for this guy and of course, there was no separate premium class bus here in HK, as bus gates are unusual rather than norms, except LCCs, which are mostly mono class operations anyway. I honestly don’t mind buses but hate when they tried to squeeze. For a LCC, it is more or less expected but for full service airlines, you should be able to hire a few more buses. At the same time, of course you got to see the plane up close. I don’t think photography was allowed in HKG (someone can correct me) but that agent was busy enough.
[When I told the crews on my HX80 flight that we had a bus gate, they were very surprised.]
HX has some major baggage delivery issue when it first moved to the Midfield Concourse. One time, it took an hour to deliver my bag, and subsequent visits did not yield better results – 40 minutes. But since we parked close to the main terminal, bags started to arrive at 5:30pm – 20 minutes after parking. However, the YVR team messed up the priority baggage loading. It was fine since it was their first day. Plus 20 minutes was a win for everyone anyway.
