First Service

Menus

Finnair







SAS




Drink menus
Finnair


SAS









Pre-dinner drink

Finnair - Aperitif & salted nuts (no pic)
SAS - Drink and warm nuts









Entrée
Finnair - (2 dishes on one-tray-concept, see main dish picture)
Green pea purée with mustard potato salad and pickled red onion + Roast beef tataki with ponzu sauce

SAS - (served as a separate dish)
Hot smoked Salmon from Faroe islands with cream of baked Hokkaido pumpkin, pickled seat buckthorn and Kikuna leaves












Main
Finnair - Grilled pork belly with roasted potatoes, chimichurri beans, mustard sauce
SAS - Braised pork cheeks with black trumpet mushroom sauce, pickled local apples, dauphine potatoes with thyme, baked parsley root and brussels sprouts in browned butter









Cheese / Dessert

Finnair: Lemon tartlet + Rhubarb mousse (choose one of two options)
SAS: Cheese: Organic Rød Løber and Havgus 12 months. Dessert (3 options): Organic vanilla ice-cream lolly from Hansen is with redcurrants covered in organic milk chocolate from Friis-Holm









Finnair
ffay005:
The Finnair flight to JFK departs HEL at 5:20 pm, so once up in the air, the flight lines nicely up with dinner time. However, the meal service is uninspiring and dull, and the ingredients cheap up to the point where I feel sorry for the FAs that are clearly ashamed of what they have to offer.

The service starts with an aperitif of choice along with a ramekin half-full of salted almonds.

There is a flax table cloth, and then there is a tray with five items: two appetizer cups, one main dish, one glass with your drink of choice and a set of utensils wrapped in a flax napkin. There is no side salad, no salt and pepper. They offer sliced, non-heated wheat bread and rye bread, and graciously provide a plastic single portion butter pack to those who opt for bread.

There are two small appetizers. You don't choose one, everyone gets both. One appetizer consists of two slices of roastbeef in ponzu sauce. The other appetizer remains a mystery. The menu calls it "green pea purée with mustard potato salad and pickled red onion", which perhaps it is, but basically it is an inedible green slime-like liquid.

There are three main course options. If you want to make sure you get your favourite option, you can pre-book it online (only on flights ex-HEL). As a rule, Lumos and Platinums are asked about their choice ahead of other J pax.

On my flight, the options were grilled pork belly with roasted potatoes, chimichurri beans and mustard sauce or lightly smoked rainbow trout with stewed buckwheat, roasted cauliflower and string beans or tortelloni stuffed with grilled vegetables and pesto rosso sauce. All the main courses feel cheap, but the pork belly is actually tasty although a bit on the small side.

The tray is cleared relatively quickly. There is a small cheese plate (one blue cheese, one regular cheese), which is offered in addition to dessert along with some Finncrisps. I don't opt for the cheese, but of the two dessert options, I choose both, and they gladly oblige. The factory-made processed lemon tartlet tastes like something you buy in a pack of ten from your local supermarket. The rhubarb mousse is sweet and good, but it only lasts for two and a half spoonfuls.

I drink water with my meal, but there are three red wines, three white wines, a dessert wine and a port on the wine list. Apart from the Larsen cognac, all spirits come from the Finnish Kyrö distillery (gin, vodka, whiskey, cream liqueur). A few types of powder coffee and teabags are also available.





SAS
intuition:

Called "Main event" in the menu and it basically is full dinner. It is slow to start and it took 1 hour after take-off before pre-dinner drink is offered. But the positive side of that is it lines up with lunch time in departure TZ.

Tables are dresses with linen cloths, warm nuts and pre-dinner drink is offered.

The drinks are mixed on location, and the staff is good with presenting the options. E.g. If you ask for a GT, they respond "We have two different Gins onboard" and can tell the difference. I opt for a SASmopolitian and it sits perfectly as a start-me-up drink, considering it is around 11.30.




Again, slightly slow service (though appreciated on a day flight) and 30 minutes later table is cleared. Drink service returns to take orders for entrée. I opt for Champagne and this is the Charles Heidsieck Brut Réserve. This is served in a designer glass (if I recall correctly designed by Skrufs glasbruk). The shape is similar to Finair's design glass and sits very well in the hand. The glass is extremely thin, something I appreciate.






Entrées are presented - SAS has the service where all options are on display and you can look at everything before deciding. Again staff is good at talking about the dishes too, so you really feel you know what you're getting and can choose what fits you most. Two options are on offer (Salmon or Deer) plus mixed salad. I opt for salmon. It is slightly tame, but the condiments are excellent.



30 minutes are allotted to entrée too, and during that time drink service even returned for seconds. As this is a flight where I'm not trying to get any sleep, I really appreciate the meal being broken down in separate services and you are given time to enjoy every step of it.



Table gets cleared and drink service returns once again, now taking orders for main course. There is a small timing issue here as meal option is not yet decided upon. On the other hand, I dislike having a warm meal just sitting waiting for a drink service to arrive. So maybe it actually is better to have the wine served first even though you are not 100% decided on the meal.



Mains are again presented visually and talked about, just as for entrées, which is very appealing. On offer is no less than four options (Fish, Pork, Chicken and Vegetarian). I opt for Pork Cheeks.

The meat is not bad and is lifted to higher heights by the mushroom sauce. Again, condiments are excellent. I know there is a split opinion on Brussel sprouts, but if you only going to eat them once these roasted ones in browned butter should then be your choice.

But best is the dauphine potatoes. Personally, I think a Nordic airlines should always cater potatoes in some form (and no Finnair, mash doesn't count) and this dauphine form apparently is a winner for airline food.

The Tuscany Chianti pairs very well.



Table cleared and cheese / desserts are offered in one joint service. I want cheese and get a small plate. Not a great presentation, but excellent taste. The Kracher Beerenauslese Cuvée goes great with it.

As it is a joint dessert service, they solicit I have something more. I end up saying yes to "icecream". Now, presentation-wise that is a low point - I get an ice popsicle on a plate. Taste and quality is excellent, but it is difficult to overlook the sloppy ending.



Oh, by the way. SAS flies the A330 with the espresso-maker. I'm soooo happy to get a cappuccino made to order in the air again.







Honourable mention: I like many things about this service, but to pick one maybe not so obvious differentiation to Finnair, it is the way drinks are offered - Staff is super clear on the context:

"What do you want to drink before Dinner?"

"What do you want to drink to the entrée?"

"What do you want to drink with the main meal?"

"Do you want avec, sweet wine, port or anything else to finish off?"



In my experience, on Finnair you are asked one time:

"Do you want to drink anything?"

and you have no idea if they mean for pre-dinner, starter, main, dessert/cheese. I always felt the need to order everything at once, because you don't know if/when drink service will return.