We were welcomed aboard by the Chief Purser and one of her flight attendants, who accepted our boarding stubs and showed us to our seats. We had pre-booked the two pairs on the left hand side of the aircraft (1AC and 2AC) so it wasn’t that difficult to find, but we gladly took her up on the offer to hang our coats up, to the extent that she had to make two round trips.
Dragonair’s First Class cabin is configured two rows of 2-2-2, with the seats very similar to Cathay’s NBC product but slightly bulkier. Their product team chose a purple upholstery with yellow trimming, which, like the lounge pictures, looked awful on their website but is actually better in real life. 10.4 inch PTVs are mounted on the seatbacks or bulkheads in front of the seats, set into a wood frame. There are two toilets for First Class, mirror-imaged across the cabin in front of 1AC and 1HK.
Despite the seats being new, having been retrofitted for only a couple of years, the rest of the cabin was showing its age – the closet snap-clips which were originally a metallic red were showing noticeable signs of chipping, to the extent that there was more silver showing than red. But the cabin itself was very clean and everything in good working order. There were already nice big pillows on the seats in the same yellow colour as the headrest flap, and blankets were stowed in the overhead lockers. Like most airlines, Dragonair have opted not for the centre bins in the First Class section of their A330s.
The flight attendant came round to introduce herself and take orders for pre-take-off drinks, while the other flight attendant darted around putting headphones in the seat pockets and offering newspapers. Just the normal headphones – no noise-cancelling features or anything like that, although since the flight time would be less than two hours, it didn’t bother any of us at all.
It turned out that loads were very very light – we were the only four passengers in First, the Business cabin behind us wasn’t even half full, and from the queues at boarding I can’t imagine that Economy would have been much of a different story. The result was that doors were closed well ahead of schedule, and after a brief introduction from the (American or Canadian, judging by his accent) captain, we were on our way.
The safety video played on our PTV screens: quite a decent production, with dual Cantonese and English dubbing (and Chinese subtitles for the Mandarin-speaking passengers). The background music was very nice, although the ‘actors’ could certainly use some improvement – when the oxygen masks popped down the looks of surprise were a little overdone, and for some bizarre reason there was this creepy guy in glasses who smiled and nodded when his seatmate did up his seatbelt.
Not quite sure what his role was – if I had been his seatmate and he looked at me like that I’d be moving as fast as I could in the other direction.
Departures were to the east today, so HYB rattled her way down the airport to 07R. Engines roaring and a brief takeoff run later, we’d started our 1 hour 50 minutes flight to Shanghai Pudong International Airport.
The Chief Purser did the usual post-takeoff announcements (what was impressive about Dragonair was that on both legs the Chief Pursers were trilingual in English, Cantonese and Mandarin, doing all three announcements in one long gabble). Thankfully, we were spared any sort of exercise video a la CX’s guy-in-a-park-leaning-against-a-tree-rolling-his-limbs, although Dragonair have something akin to Cathay’s ‘Change for Good’ partnership with unicef, albeit a somewhat cheesy ripoff called ‘Change for Conservation’, which fails to achieve the same sort of double entendre as the former.
After exhausting her voice on the PA, the Chief Purser came round to dispense menus and arrival documentation (arrival card plus health declaration) for China. Measuring approximately 13 x 25 centimetres the cover featured some sort of green colour with thin black horizontal lines, the occasional thick gold line and some sort of drawing in black at the bottom that vaguely resembled, to my eye at least, a peacock doing yoga.
Page 1:
Dragonair Presents a Feast for the Palate
The choice of the fine inflight dining options continues to evolve for First and Business Class passengers travelling on selected routes throughout 2004. We are pleased to bring you a selection of the best dishes from some of the most renowned dining rooms: Yan Toh Heen Cantonese Restaurant; Super Star Seafood Restaurant; Dynasty Chinese Restaurant; and Sabatini Italian Restaurant; Shanghai Xiao Nan Guo Restaurant and Shanghai Leonardo’s Italian Restaurant.
Yan Toh Heen – Yan Toh Heen’s authentic Cantonese cuisine has won this showpiece restaurant of the Hotel Inter-Continental Hong Kong international acclaim. Executive Chinese Chef Cheung Kam Chuen is recognised as one of Hong Kong’s top chefs, renowned for his traditional Chinese specialities and the expert preparation of seasonal delicacies.
Sabitini – Sabatini is an institution in Rome, and has gained an equally impressive reputation at its sister restaurant at The Royal Garden Hotel in Hong Kong. Famed for its simple, traditional Roman dishes, the family run restaurant represents Italian cooking at its finest and most delicious.
And after that little word from our sponsors, we get to the important stuff (well, to me, at least):
Page 2:
LUNCH/DINNER
HONG KONG – SHANGHAI
Crab Meat Avocado Timbale
Stir-fried Scallop with Crab Roe and Egg <Yan Toh Heen logo here>
Steamed Rice
or
Today’s Special
or
Grilled Veal Tenderloin wrapped with Pancetta
on Roasted Portobello with Saffron Cauliflower Sauce
Sage Potato and Kenya Bean <Sabitini logo here>
Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream <Haagen-Dazs logo here>
or
Hazelnut Chocolate Cake
Bread Basket
Proudly Serving Pacific Coffee <Pacific Coffee logo here>
Fook Ming Tea Shop <Fook Ming Tong Tea Shop logo here>
Anqui Super Oolong, Zhejiang Jasmine Mao Feng
Tea – Ceylon, English Breakfast Tea, Earl Grey, Camomile, Japanese, Jasmine, Oolong, Hong Kong Style Milk Tea
De-caffeinated Coffee
Pralines – GODIVA Chocolatier
* Vegetarian Main Course is also available on request. Please contact our flight attendants.
Insert:
DAILY SPECIAL
Sunday
Steamed Chicken with Abalone and Air-dried Ham
Steamed Rice and Stir-fried Wild Mushroom
Monday
Grilled Chicken Breast with Morel Sauce
Shiitake Polenta with Pumpkin, Zucchini and Asparagus
Tuesday
Pan-fried Beef with Abalone Sauce
Stir-fried Noodles with Mixed Vegetables
Wednesday
Thyme Scented Pork Chop with Porcini Mushroom Sauce
Spatzle with Assorted Vegetables
Thursday
Braised Beef Roulade with Bacon
Steamed Rice and Broccoli
Friday
Five Spice Spareribs with Honey Chili Sauce
Steamed Rice and Chinese Vegetables
Saturday
Grilled Chicken Breast with Port Wine Sauce
Garlic Roasted New Potatoes and Zucchini
Page 3: Chinese transliteration of page 2
Page 4:
Wine and Cocktail Selection
Aperitifs & Cocktails
Sweet/Dry Vermouth, Campari, Bloody Mary, Screwdriver, Sweet/Dry Martini, Manhattan, Bacardi Rum, Gordon Gin, Smirnoff Vodka
Whiskies
Chivas Regal 12 Yrs Scotch Whisky, Maker’s Mark Bourbon
Champagne
Moet & Chandon, Brut Imperial NV
White Wine
Saint Verain 2001 (Cote d’or, France)
Sauvignon Blanc 2003 (Margaret River, Australia)
Red Wine
Saint-Estephe 2000 (Medoc, France)
Langmeil Shiraz 2001 (Barossa Valley, Australia)
Liquers
Cointreau / Baileys
Cognac
Hennessy XO
Port
Dow’s Port 97
Page 2 was the one I was most interested in, and as you might imagine, it was a little bit of an eyesore with all the <logos here>. The ‘Daily Special’ idea was quite an interesting one though – a coded notation at the bottom indicated the dishes listed were for this given week only which suggests that this is Dragonair’s way of keeping the menu interested for its frequent China flyers. ^
After giving us a few minutes to peruse the choices and to make a decision, the Chief Purser was back to take the orders, followed swiftly by the flight attendant with lemon yellow tablecloths. Tray tables (standard size) fold out from the armrest and feature a not unattractive wood inlay.
To have some extra space during the meal service I moved across the aisle to 1D (companion in 1A immediately took advantage of the empty 1C by dumping his newspaper on it, which shows how much he missed me), but M and K decided against moving or couldn’t be bothered, remaining in 2AC.
After that, the trays began flying out from the galley, along with our drinks. Already on the tray was the crab timbale appetiser, an elliptical bread plate, a small packet of butter, and a knife-and-fork set wrapped in the napkin. Also on the tray was one of those small advert-cards (exactly like CX’s) – this one touting Dragonair’s 12 daily services to Shanghai, which did go towards explaining the light loads!
The opinions on the appetiser varied. I’m not a big fan of cold gloopy muck (which is certainly what it tasted like) so I picked at the creamed crab on the bottom and returned a verdict of acceptable, but if I could choose – I wouldn’t. Companion and M hated it, while K loved it. During the course of our discussion (the joys of an empty cabin meant that we could talk across the aisles without worrying about bothering anyone else) the other flight attendant came by with a bread basket (plain, cheese, garlic). I chose the cheese roll which was literally piping hot – I picked it up and dropped it back on the plate immediately, it was that hot – although I thought he [the FA] was slightly stingy with the garlic bread, only giving companion one slice.
Maybe it was because of the short flying time, but the cabin crew were certainly on their toes for this meal service. Appetiser plates were cleared within seconds of them being finished (the diligent flight attendant kept peeping between the galley curtains to check on our progress) and the main courses followed swiftly after. On Dragonair First Class the main course is preplated in a wide, shallow, elliptical white ceramic dish and brought out straight from the galley on a small tray. Since the design of the dish doesn’t lend itself to being gripped by tongs, the flight attendant used one of the yellow linen napkins to transfer it on to the passenger’s tray.
We’d all opted for something different for our main (although none chose the vegetable main), so there were certainly enough to go round. I’d opted for the veal which was delicious ^ Similar verdicts on the scallop and the chicken, although M and companion complained that the serving was on the small side. No such complaints about my choice.
Again, the main dishes were cleared extremely quickly and we were asked for our dessert preferences. They’d loaded three different flavours of Haagen-Dazs ice cream (coffee, strawberry, vanilla) and of course there was also the hazelnut cake. Showing our diverse tastes once more, I went for strawberry ice cream as did M. K opted for the cake and pronounced it tasty, but far too sweet.
The ice cream was served in its packaged tub, on a small dish with a doily and a spoon. No need to make use of the little plastic stick that was stuck under the lid…
After the ice cream came an offer of tea or coffee, along with a small dish with two Godiva chocolate squares (milk and dark chocolate). The male flight attendant came round with blankets, which only companion took – the rest of us found the cabin stiflingly hot, which we suspected felt cold to all Hong Kongers on board – Hong Kong natives are notorious for fearing cold. Twenty degrees outside and half the population will be decked out in woollen coats and scarves; 15 degrees bring ominous “COLD” warnings on television weather forecasts and a rush for hotpots.
That aside, the feedback on the blankets was not impressive – it was a grey sort of composite staticky material which created numerous yelps from the left hand side of the cabin each time companion shifted position.
Thanks to the low numbers in the cabin and the efficiency of the flight attendants, the whole meal was wrapped up in under an hour, leaving another hour’s flying time to Shanghai. The five channels on the PTV (yes, five – really makes you wonder why they bother
) were showing a combination of sitcoms, news updates and documentaries which I didn’t bother with, and kept the screen on the flight path display. I did try out some of the twelve audio channels, but having been spoiled by Cathay’s Audio on Demand system, cycled songs no longer hold much appeal for me.