Stranger

Strongly disagree.

(Note however that it's not always balsamic, but, I seem to recall, lemon. Same brand.)

24left

As Adam Smith, I and others noted, that lemon flavoured one was awful It had a weird or off taste, and overpowering chemical lemon flavour.

I would much prefer just a nice bottle of EVOO. NZ has a fantastic little bottle offered when the breads are served. SQ offers little bottles of oil and balsamic vinegar.

Stranger

I did not mind the lemon thing. Not sure if it was the Spanish brand or the same French brand as the balsamic. As to olive oil, sure, if it's to be used with bread instead of butter. But for salad, some vinegar or lemon would be in order, With balsamic being probably the best choice as long as you are not allergic.

As to SQ's little bottles, how does that differ from AC's? At least AC's brand is considered a good one, not that one would not make something better at home with choice ingredients. But I don't see how if commercial the SQ one could be distinctly better?

24left

The lemon flavoured dressing was the same company but had an off taste.

I never said SQ's brand was better. They offer bottles of oil and bottles of balsamic.

The oil I was served recently on NZ was a local NZ product, had great flavour and was excellent with their various bread offerings.

My NZ food photos are here (first 2 posts)

Business Class Meals - Menus & Photos

DrunkCargo

I was going to say who ever poured that beer had a good laugh too?

Bohemian1

Agreed.

As were their local wines.

longtimeflyin

While it was several decades ago, my school cafeteria easily beat that meal. For starters, at least the meal was hot.

I fail to understand why Air Canada doesn't offer something that is cheap and hot as a light meal on routes like that. For example, the TPAC light meals involving noodles, dim sum or whatnot should not cost the airline more than chicken, and I'm sure patrons would much rather the former than what I and cmk10 perceive as an abomination of a meal, whether or not Air Canada classifies it as "light" or not in an effort to cut costs I presume.

Stranger

OTOH several decades ago AC meals would likely have beaten your school cafeteria. Perhaps even in Y.

longtimeflyin

Executive First class and even before then when Ward Air was still around - yes, I agree with you, but in general airline meals back in the day were infinitely better than it is today. That said, flying was also much more exclusive and we also had Canadian Airlines competing against our only national flag carrier.

I feel that business class meals on Air Canada was fantastic around 30 or so years ago, started to get pretty abysmal around 20 years ago (XM refurbishment days) and now is starting to improve again due to competition for premium fares.

Like many things in life, it is cyclical. I, for one, am hopeful that things continue improving for premium fliers, while fares continue dropping for price conscious fliers, but that is a topic for another thread.

24left

AC 17 YVR-TPE July 2018









PDB faux bubbles and juice




Make your own mimosa





Ah, here we go








(sma)


I noted some minor improvement with the garlic bread. It has more garlic and the underside was actually a bit crispy/crunchy rather than a total soft bread thing.







The new duck appetizer. I don't eat duck, but I take photos for the audience




@Stranger
This was really tasty. It was well prepared and wasn't drowned in heavy, salty sauces. The red pepper sauce was not hot sauce but was a sweet pepper sauce and had a nice flavour. The rice was perfect but I really couldn't taste any ginger. The greens were a bit overcooked but whatev.











I was in row 4. By the time the trolley arrived, there were 9 pieces on the serving plate. There are 15 seats on this side of the cabin.

Given the really nice single-serve sugar tart, these tiny cheesecake pieces were very sad for a business class offering. And no, I didn't ask if there were more pieces in the galley.



​​​​​​​@songsc
Indeed.

I said to the FA that the pieces were tiny. She offered 2. I said that would be fine once everyone in the cabin had been offered at least one.

Compote was nice and not overly sweet, perhaps due to the lemon in the sauce.




Pre-arrival meal

I find the gnocchi and sauce too salty. So I took the veggies from the mid-flight snack and put them in a cup of hot water.

The chicken, veggies and fruit were the better option, for me.

Stranger

Could very well be a crew who was better at handling the stuff.

What's wrong with duck? At least it has more taste than the nowadays flavorless chicken. (As they say in some other article in this thread...)

Admittedly, duck should not be smoked, but breast served rare. Which obviously is too much to expect.

And would be a main.
Yes, looks good. In his book or website, Hawksworth has some good recipes for it. I tried one and it came out quite nice. Again, nicer than one can reasonably expect to get after reheating on a plane.

But miso black cod is a standard Japanese item, and one which we both enjoy. Plus, the fish being very fatty, it typically does not get dry no matter how you mishandle/overcook it. Salmon and halibut being particularly bad in that respeci, especially sockeye.

We have had some decent black cod on AC before they got Hawksworth involved, actually. Once I was on a YUL-BRU flight, and the guy sitting behind me was actually a pro on his way to some sort of a fish event/conference/festival. We shared the same view on black cod/sablefish.

Anyway, the current recipe is on the menu for our next trip later this month. Flight out of YYC. We'll see. (Of course, these things also depend upon the point of departure, and even if the same caterer and the same recipe, ends up very different.

Mind you, most AC customers would likely be horrified with fish the way we cook, Still opal inside. One of the things Martha Stewart gets right BTW.

24left

I should actually ask/watch how the garlic bread is "warmed".

I have no idea if anything is wrong with duck. I just don't eat duck. We all have our food preferences I suppose. My issue is that various duck and prawn appetizers seem to be on all of my AIR CANADA flights and I eat neither and unlike NZ etc, there isn't a choice (see my NZ there posts)

Bohemian1

There you go getting me all misty eyed over my NZ flights last month.

But I will make a promise - I will order duck as often as I can and maybe there'll be none left to serve you and they will give you something you prefer.

A guy can try anyway.

24left

LOL and awww, you'd do that for me???? LOL
As for you being "misty eyed" over your NZ flights last month", feel free to indulge in my NZ foodporn......that burger and those ice cream desserts have me in food-lust. LOL

Bohemian1

I really, really, really enjoyed the NZ soft product, at least in J.

While the 'ottoman' that could be used by a companion to share a drink, play cards, etc. was cute, AC has a better hard product IMHO. Expect for the linen towels in the WC.