SFO-TPE in EVA Air Royal Laurel Class (777)

EVA seem to be operating all of their flights late out of SFO (and long-haul in general). Oddly no gate lice today, and seemingly very few special assistance passengers. I've found EVA seemingly always have at least 10-15 wheelchair passengers on the long-haul flights I've flown. This time, just two families and two wheelchair passengers.









Ah yes, the good ol' EVA Air reverse herringbone. While not the most cutting edge seat - it's a very solid, reliable product in a 1-2-1 configuration. I typically prefer 2-5A/K on the 777 as it maintains space from the lavs and of course who doesn't like three windows to themselves.

Boarding on EVA (and all legacy Asian carriers... i.e., not the VietJets of the world) is always a marvel - from the nearly identical looking flight attendants traipsing around to the speed at which they can board ~350 passengers in 30 minutes.

Tonight PDBs were customized to passengers - my FA Ann came around and asked for PDB preferences (sparkling wine, orange juice, water), though it seemed they were taking more complex requests as well - fun water for me. Gone are the hot towels which have been replaced by a packaged towel (cotton!), which I squirrel away for later use (looking at you, Taiwanese night markets).

The Valrhona chocolate that used to accompany the PDB seems to have been done away with and replaced with an antiseptic wipe.







The way EVA Air flight attendants introduce themselves is always too cute as they squat down in front of your seat... "Hello, I'm Ann. I'm in charge of this zone." Amenity kits were distributed prior to departure. Nice looking Salvatore Ferragamo kit, which has another small leather "mini-bag" inside of the main kit.

Not sure if this is post-pandemic service flow, but no menus were placed at seats; rather flight attendants bring the menus around and ask you to make your selections. It's not for the lack of menus, however, as I asked for one to reference throughout the meal and my request was gladly obliged, with the FA replacing her personal copy with one out of the galley.

I had pre-ordered the lobster online (only available for pre-order) and Ann confirmed my order. She also confirmed my congee breakfast and mentioned breakfast would be served 2 hours prior to landing (which I always find excruciatingly early...). She ended her presentation by asking the famous question, "...and... if you are relaxing, do we have permission to wake you for meal service?" They seem to have an aversion to saying that passengers sleep, when undoubtedly it's their favorite portion of the flight.

We pushed back about 20 minutes late due to "cargo..." which has been the case for all recent EVA flights I've looked at. Not sure why they haven't figured it out by now. My favorite announcement is when they're about to close the doors and the purser says "Flight attendants cross check, all call. Ground crew please leave."

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Dinner time - only my 5th? meal of the day. Served at 1:45am SFO time, about 2 hours after takeoff. I'd love to see this a bit earlier given the late night departure but I guess then I might be falling back to crAApy levels of service instead. I do miss the fancier table cloths of the past (can't remember the designer) as opposed to these more boring checkered cloths.

Amuse bouche was tasty - who doesn't love little mini bites of food. I just wish there were more.

Champagne was.. good. I'm not a champagne drinker so can't appreciate it as most bloggers on here (I don't get the obsession), but it was smooth and pleasant.

Seared scallop was more poached than seared, and forgettable - I frankly forgot I had even eaten it until I saw the picture.

Lobster was divine - perfectly cooked and great flavor. I've had this on two other occasions and EVA always does a nice job with it. Portion did seem smaller, or maybe I just got bigger.

Dessert was fine - the fruit was fresh, cold (important!), and sweet. The raspberry cheesecake tasted like factory-processed grocery store crap so I had one bite and passed.


















Finished dinner with a tea and then an excellent Kavalan single malt - always a pleasure getting this on EVA flights. No picture but imagine a translucent brown liquid with three ice cubes in a wine glass. Very smooth.

FA offered pajamas (she sized me up as a L, which is an American M) and made up my bed while I changed in the lav and I came back and slept 7 (!!) hours. I attribute this to the 3:30am meal completion time, 5mg of melatonin, a benadryl, and the kicker - Kavalan. Works every time.

In the past I might've considered staying awake to try one of the mid-flight meals, but sleep always wins. I vaguely remember the burger being good... but at this age I prefer sleep over food given the scarcity of the former). I was woken for breakfast about 2.5 hours prior to landing... still feels too early to serve breakfast if it's all going to be on one tray.

Started with an espresso which was excellent.

Congee always hits the spot, and while I'm not typically a congee fan, I eat it once every ~2 years, only on EVA flights. I attribute this to the Western options to be uninspiring and typically far worse than the ground version than congee typically is. Plus the FAs seem to put so much thought into arranging all of the accoutrement for the congee.

Fruit was a great way to round out the meal, with some VDS carrot juice which has been an EVA staple. One of these days I'll get crazy and try the match or calpis... but dairy and sugar are not my typical go-tos.









Overall, a very pleasant flight with EVA. The service was generally flawless and well-intentioned. It's clear EVA has maintained their level of training and service throughout the pandemic. A few small cuts (PDB chocolate, dessert) are noticeable but not enough to be anywhere close to disappointing.

One of my favorite things about EVA flights is the timing - as long as you are in the lie-flat seat. Taiwan-bound flights leave late (around midnight, or ~8pm for our East Coast counterparts), which lets you have dinner + watch a movie before exhausting yourself before falling asleep. After breakfast, you land in Taiwan bright and early - between 5-6am typically. You just have to make it through that first day without napping (and with plenty of 7-Eleven black coffees) and you'll be exhausted at the end of the day, but no jetlag.... returning to the US is an entirely different story, however.

Next up, The Sheraton Grand Taipei and a few days in Taipei.