UA972
ORD-BRU
B787-10
12 JAN
I didn't see any/many reviews of the Chilean sea bass (with orange-aleppo roasted fennel, saffron farro risotto, pitted olives, Marcona olives and cioppino broth) yet, so I thought I'd take one for the team and pre-order it. As a fall back, I had six hours in the ORD Polaris lounge, so plenty of time to get a decent meal (and several beverages) there in case the fish turned out to be bad.
PDBs of champagne/water were offered prior to departure and the Purser came around for meal orders shortly after.
I was in 3L, so it was pretty easy to hear the conversations in the galley, one being between the Purser and the catering staff about missing nuts for forty pax.
Service began approximately forty minutes after departure and, unsurprisingly, no warm nuts were provided with the first drink service. I saw an Aperol Spritz offered on the menu and was pleasantly surprised it was actually loaded, despite the FA not being aware of it. The second FA working my aisle told the first FA the Aperol Spritz is why they had sliced oranges which she put on a cocktail pic and stuck into the cup. I've always been disappointed the old fashioned mix wasn't loaded on international flights, but this was a great option and it appears several are catered (I had three....)!
The appetizer choices were 'oak roasted hot smoked salmon with lentil tabbouleh and dill-date vinaigrette' or 'whipped mint labneh with blistered cherry tomatoes, minced parsley and za'atar vinaigrette'. I chose the former which was decent, though definitely fishier than I expected. The baby spinach salad had 'crumbled goat cheese, roasted baby beets and candied pecans' and seemed fresh/flavorful.
Would I get the sea bass again? Not sure. I had fish on QR DOH-SFO which really set the bar for an airplane fish dish, so I told myself I'd never order it again unless on QR, SQ or carrier who spends more than a couple bucks on their inflight meals. It wasn't bad, though lacked flavor (I'm grateful for the red pepper) and had far too much liquid in the dish.
The ice cream sundae was good as expected, especially thanks to the FAs taking the ice cream out of the cart so it wasn't a solid scoop before being served. Midflight snacks were setup by 1R and the missing nights made an appearance. As with most TATLs, the flight was too short to get any meaningful sleep before the lights came on for breakfast (barely three hours later). The choices were the cream cheese scrambled eggs (with pork sausage, rösti potato and roasted Roma tomato), fluffy custard brioche toast (with raspberries, toasted sliced almonds and creme fraiche) or a cold smoothie bowl (golden blend of oats in honey and yogurt, with raisins, coconut, fresh blueberries, kiwi and macadamia nuts for a sweet tart crunch). Breakfast was a typical UA breakfast and mostly okay, though I wish they'd switch yogurt flavors or go with a smaller container.
