Aeromexico - Like Dining in the 20th Best Restaurant In The World - Kinda Sorta Almost
You can only imagine that when Aeromexico talks about how Chef Enrique Olvera does the menus for Aeromexico Clase Premier, as touted on the website, and knowing that Pujol is
#20 on the San Pellegrino list of the 50 Best Restaurants, the excitement builds prior to each and every trip on this fine airline, a proud member of Skyteam. This is the case, notwithstanding my prior experiences dining on Aeromexico over the past few years. While memories fade, but the scars still linger, there’s always
Hatikva of a better day of food on Aeromexico, given the fame of the chef, who, no doubt, prepares each and every Clase Premier meal with love.
Unbeknownst to me, I was about to embark on Lox Express Airlines.
I still recall with masochistic pleasure some of the gourmet delights that this proud member of Skyteam has served me. So, I decided to order a SPML for the trip, to wit, the SFML. It did not confirm for the SFO/MEX segment (a midnight snack), but did for the others.
SFO/MEX - Consistent predictability. It is like your Holiday Inn Express breakfast. You know its contents before you go downstairs. There’s the Ham y Cheese croissant, or the lox with a stale bagel, and salad, along with some chocolate squares. Given that the IFE didn’t work at all on this segment, nor did the electrical outlets, the snack
de la madrugada was the entire entertainment. I, once again, got the lox, because it is tasty. The bagel, not so much. Washed down with some of the white, and then some of the red, wine, I doubt Chef Enrique Olvera has much, if anything, to do with this meal, because there are no menus featuring his culinary masterwork. After approximately 4 hours, an early MEX landing, only to sit around over 30 minutes waiting for a pre-dawn gate.
Escala MEX - I’ve decided to quasi-enjoy my MEX stopovers. This is not easy to do, but since the money tree in my yard has failed to produce, sometimes AM is the only airline that can get me to/from South America in a lie flat seat for much of the trip, at a fare I can afford. The routine is as follows: (1) Suffer the Immigration Line. (2) Go through security. (3) Go directly to Amex Lounge. (4) See when the next complimentary 15 minute massage is. (4) Book that, with a shower afterward. (5) Have breakfast, with at least 2 cups of coffee. (6) Have the massage and shower. (7) Depart to Aeromexico Lounge, so I can appreciate that the Amex Lounge is where I spent most of my time. (8) Hydrate, in the AM lounge. (9) Go to the gate. (10) Board the plane.
MEX/SCL - I do not know why the 10 AM departures are breakfast flights followed by a pre-arrival dinner, but they are. Like the Holiday Inn Express breakfast, once you know what to expect, at least you know what to expect. Unless. You. Ordered. The. Special. Meal. A pleasant crew greeted me with a glass of PDB Champagne in a real glass. Then, after departure, the next time you see the crew is with the service cart, which contains your breakfast, and your beverages. They knew of my SPML, which was a different set up than the regular set. I had a different fruit bowl. I had yogurt. And, instead of the choice of hot dishes, I had a lox sandwich. Inside the bread, with the lox, were some julienned vegetables. Oh yes, a packet of Heinz strawberry jam, and some spreadable butter-ish. While I have no doubt that Chef Olvera’s knives may have cut my fruit with care, I do have doubt that he specially selected the jam. I made mostly gone, not horrified with my food. I did enjoy the Montes Alpha served with the meal.
After several hours, watching some strange film, drinking some water, and having a light snooze, the special hour came, that hour that the next inflight meal would arrive. That hour was approximately two hours prior to arrival. All about expectations, I didn’t expect the same tray set, sans the main course. In fact, I was correct. My tray arrived stuffed with everything, including the a dessert brownie bit with plastic wrap over the plate. Along with that was a green salad topped with an abundance of lox, a plate with a dried chunk of some sort of white fish in a red sauce with vegetables similar to those which were on my breakfast lox sandwich, a roll in plastic wrap, some oil and vinegar in a bottle, salt y pepper and crackers. And yes, more Heinz strawberry jam!
But I digress. I forgot to mention the excellent appetizer service. You see, AM serves a small cheese and cracker bits plate prior to the main meal. That is, unless you order the special meal. Instead, you get a ramekin of cold nuts and seeds. Having previously been served the cheese plate, I was not jealous. Montes Alpha accompanied my cold nuts.
Back to the dried chunk of some sort of white fish. Chef Olvera must have gone to take a long dump while cooking this. Or, the sous chef needs to be fired. Or something must have happened. Something also must have happened to his pastry chef. That brownie thing deserved the incinerator it probably met after SCL arrival. The crew did serve me the dessert from the regular menu. They also served me a “fresh” roll, but the plastic wrap roll was actually better.
Speaking of the menu’s dessert, I was quite surprised to see that “Tartaleta de cajeta,” described as such, is printed on a menu to deep South America. If you don’t quite understand, from where I sit now (less than 2 hours’ flight east of the recent SCL arrival), if I asked a woman to give me her “tartaleta de cajeta,” she’d either slap me, spit at me, or tell me how much it costs.
The flight arrived on time, the immigration line was short, the baggage arrived promptly, and the hotel was fine.
And so, while my meals probably didn’t live up to the expectations of eating in the 20th best restaurant in the world, the entire airfare probably wasn’t much more than dinner for 2 with wine at quite a few in the top 50 list.
I do not expect to eat any more lox until, at the earliest, my trip back to the USA.