Stranger

Still not as bad as the other choices. Still better than when they had halibut. Or strangely named fish out of FRA.

But admittedly I preferred the pre-Hawksworth version of black cod AKA sablefish if you want to make it sound fancy.

I suspect part of the issue is that he feels he has to make it appear as a sophisticated preparation. When simple is often better. But then who needs him?

Bohemian1

Having spoken to the chef just prior to his first menu going 'live', I can assure you that Chef Hawksworth cares about how the AC food reflects on his reputation as a chef. That's one of the reasons we sent in photos and detailed tasting notes to him from our trip shortly after his menu launched. I was actually pretty happy with the first sablefish dish he put out. But a couple of his other dishes were under seasoned, which is going some for airline food. Nothing that a pinch of salt couldn't correct.

Like any other airline, AC is just trying to offer their loyal F/J clientele something in an attempt to differentiate the experience. I've had other 'word class' chefs' food on aircraft and, speaking as someone who travels all over to experience so-called fine dining, your culinary expectations on public carriers has to be set low given the constraints both the airline and crew are dealing with.

CanRulez

Reheated food can never as good as food served in a restaurant.

Jasper2009

I wonder whether any airline serves a *quality* Irish stew (or maybe a game meat caserole or similar) which arguably tastes better after being reheated a 2nd time?

Wings100

If you want consistently great airline food you need to travel F or J on SQ.

Stranger

Don't you miss the key constraints?

1. The price caterers charge for the meal.

2. The time the skeleton AC crew has to heat up, plate and serve.

It's very possible that the latter is now the crucial issue BTW.

Bohemian1

All absolutely true. But 'heat up' is a big constraint too.

Stranger

The quality of black cod as an airline dish is that being a very fatty fish, it reheats quite well.

gcashin

Totally agree - original Sablefish was very good and definitely the best Hawksworth dish IMO as well.

The Chicken Saltimbocca or whatever it was they were serving as the Hawksworth dish back in December was among the worst meals I've ever had on AC and was inedible IMO so he's definitely had some misses.

GJS - yow

If SQ can do it, so can AC. No excuses. The first Hawksworth dish, the tamari-roasted sablefish, was restaurant quality IMHO (I posted about this much earlier).

For the price AC charges for J, the cost of catering is inconsequential.

If I was Hawksworth, I would keep the tamari-roasted sablefish as the fish dish, and start working on beef/pork, poultry, and vegetarian dishes so that the whole menu is Hawksworth signature dishes. Or else step away from AC and focus on terrestrial restaurants.

gabdusch

+1. Totally agree on this one, I wish there was more Hawksworth dishes to choose from the menu, as I've posted before.

A choice of 2 appetizers or maybe soup would be great also. ^

pappypappy

My thoughts exactly. Same with almost any curry (though I appreciate that one may not want a cabin full of people post-madras...), or frankly anything saucy. Hell, I would enjoy a decent lasagna. It almost feels like taste takes second place to trying to make it feel high-class or unusual.

I mean, I can grab a M* lunch for $80 when I land, so in the air just give me something with flavour that I can keep down...

Stranger

But when the manager dealing with catering finds pressure to cut costs (like all his colleagues), that quickly becomes irrelevant.

Silos.

capedreamer

I guess I'm in the minority here, but I just had the current Hawksworth sablefish curry and thought it was pretty good for AC catering.

I still prefer the original though.

gcashin

Has the Hawksworth dish changed for April, or is it still the Sablefish curry?