24left

AC 872 YYZ-FRA August 2018

New menu




Photo of breakfast card.








And for those of you watching at home, yes, champagne was warm (which really doesn't taste nice), and I did J-steerage and added cubes. Much better.





I love the bubble action




Oddly, I like the way the ice looks in the glass with the sunlight. lol




Mimosa time.





(sma)



Appetizer. I don't eat duck so photo is for showing.




Same salad. A bit bitter. No personality.




Love the bubbles. (there really isn't much to amuse me up here, so this is part of my "IFE". )







I really like this fish dish. Galley FA did an excellent job. ^

I asked for the sauce on the side as I find the sauces for the various fish dishes are too heavy. Although the ginger flavour in the rice is very subtle, I like the rice plain, not drowned in sauce.







Pre-plated cheese.







Pre-plated desserts.







Lovely crew were walking around with the snack basket. Thought it looked perfectly comfortable on my table.

(and no, I did not have a Kit Kat, but thanks for asking, lol)




I skipped breakfast, so no photos.

yyznomad

canolakid

Thanks for posting the menu and the very nice photos.
mini-rant: These intl 'creations' are an allergy-sufferers nightmare.... so photos plus descriptions help narrow the choices. Some day, we will have ingredient listings... like those items in the snack basket.

24left

AC 4 NRT-YVR August 2018

New Menu








NOTE: Both the AC website and the printed version of the menu for this flight are missing the page for "Bar". No idea if it was intentional as I noticed it's on the AC 872 menu I posted above and includes the Signature Cocktail.



Unlike flights ex-YYZ and ex-YVR in the summer, champagne ex-TPE, ex-HKG and ex-NRT are properly chilled. And this has been the case every summer for the last 4 years.

Clearly the outstation catering suppliers are more diligent or have better trucks or whatever. Yes, FWP, but still




Well, it seems NRT does not come close to TPE and HKG in the visual appeal of garlic bread. None of this basket looked interesting to me, so I skipped the bread.




Dear Air Canada,
Thank you for an awesome, fresh, crisp salad with flavour. No need to even add the dressing.

After far too long with that silly cabbage thing for a salad, this is a very nice change for the better.




I don't eat shellfish, so photo only. Presentation is nice though.




This had to have been one of the worst beef meals in quite some time.




The beef was difficult to cut (not new here on AC FT), but it had a weird texture and the taste was just off somehow.

The potato gratin was wet and not nearly as good as the one served in previous versions.

I just left the dish as you see it and pushed it away.






This was fine. Also felt like crew were rationing the cheese and crackers.




This was weird. Pistachio brownie. Not brownie really but the bottom part was ok. The top layer had a mousse-gelatinous texture and I didn't like it.




I didn't find this particularly appealing.




Options for the breakfast were croissants and raisin bread, which looked interesting.




Raisin bread toast was ice cold. And hard. Why is that?




Gruyere omelette was nice. Roast potatoes were nice.




Finally, service just did not come close to even my recent excellent AC 872, AC 18, AC 15, AC 112. Just saying.
.

Transpacificflyer

I am forever amazed at the fine dining many people experience onboard Air Canada. Unfortunately, when it comes my turn, well, I don't get the same gastronomic delights. My meals are often not properly heated and are generally mediocre at best, resulting in much of it left uneaten. Now, I know some of you are probably saying, oh jeez there he goes again, he's too tough on catering.. Well, I am sorry, but I am envious of your experience and AC keeps telling me I am going to experience "gourmet" quality. Allow me to illustrate;

Jasdou enjoyed some lovely nuts with his TB pre-meal drink. My TPAC gave me a few almonds in a package. Apparently, they didn't include proper nuts in the catering oder. I do however take solace in knowing I consumed a source of fiber.



My last TPAC was catered in Canada and offered a standard starter of salad, some sort of duck and those indigestible awful edamame beans. I tried the garlic bread, but one bite later and it was abandoned because it was cold. Not room temp, but cold as if someone had not thawed it properly.



And then onto the main course. Air Canada catering loves its salty sauces. The plate seemed a bit empty. A few asparagus sticks, a scoop of mashed white potato and the beef. I seemed to have had a large portion of connective tissue in my chunk, so I had to leave much of it on the plate. Now, some of you might notice the glass of white wine on the tray. It's not because I am unsophisticated and gauche. Rather, it was left over from the salad serving and I had been hoping that they would come along with the red wines at some point. Well, they did, but after I had waited, and waited and just gave up and had some sauce, potato and asparagus.




And then here was desert. Oh joy. It was sure to be something awesome, as I had heard so much about the new menu. I believe it was a lemon cheescake creation. It wasn't bad, but it was dry, which suggests stale. By coincidence I was watching a movie and the creature's expression went well with my dislike of the meal.



My apologies to the expert photographers on here, and yes, I know I am not supposed to eat before taking the photo, but I forgot.
I certainly appreciate that I am fortunate to sit up front and get something to eat as I expect that the folks at the back of the bus were doing far worse. It's just that I keep hoping that one day I will have the same dining experience that others seem to regularly experience. Perhaps it's my routes and the time of day.

ThatCOprep

StuckInYYZ

I suspect the toast came pre-toasted.(which only makes it worse)...The tray of bread definitely does not look toasted or even warm.

For some reason, seeing the yogurt above, I'm wondering how Lao Beijing yogurt would stand up up in the air. At least something different from the usual yogurts

Great photos as always!

24left

You'll see that you are not the only recipient of inedible meals, a sodium-fest of sauces and pasta and the endless parade of various duck dishes and never-ending prawn appetizers.

If you read some of my reports, you'll see what I found to be tasty and such, as well as a few items that would barely pass the food sniff test.


Further, IMHO, there is a bit of a game going on with catering, at least in my experiences ex-YYZ and ex-YVR on TPACS and such. The issues are different on the double-catering problems on transcons.

TPAC flights go out without snack baskets or champagne or other things. SPMLs are not boarded, or are not edible. Crew are forced to apologize and yet I would hate to think some of this was accidentally on purpose by design, and that someone thought it would saves a few pesos.

If AC is going to advertise The Signature Service on select North American transcons wide body flights, then all items that are advertised as part of the service should be there. I am well aware many consider this to be FWPs, but guess what, we pay for these seats, we pay for this class of service and if you offer it, than deliver on it.

Food content and quality seems to be up and down in my experience and while my recent reports of great meals and crew and service on AC 112 YVR-YYZ, or AC 872 YYZ-FRA or AC 15 to HKG or AC 18 from TPE, it is not consistent and if you want an example, read my report in the other thread about AC 4.

No doubt your description of the meal quality and missing or other items were an accurate reflection of your experience, but don't assume that everyone else got something vastly better, or vastly worse.

And frankly, I'm just as tired of the ice cold plates on which I receive my formerly hot meals.

I will criticize AC when they fail to deliver on their promises or are perpetually inconsistent. I will also give Air Canada the credit for trying to improve in many areas.

P.S. Just in case you we thinking about me when you mentioned the phrase "expert photographers", I thank you but I am nothing of the sort. I like playing with my food. And I like taking photos to post here and elsewhere so that others can perhaps be entertained. Or not. BTW, it's a serious PITA to move the food around my table while looking for the best angle for my food porn, especially when trying to get the boudoir shot.
.

24left

@StuckInYYZ

Thanks!

I actually like the yogurt ex-NRT and ex-HKG. Also decent ex-TPE. This Japanese one has always been consistent and tasty.

Yes, the bread tray looked unappealing so I just said no thanks.
As for the cold, hard, pre-toasted raisin toast, what a waste of a nice bread and treat.

And yet, here on my NZ flights to and from AKL, the most awesome fruit and nut toast, perfectly warmed and delicious. Love the olive bread and the dark rye. See my photos and comments in posts 1 and 2.

Business Class Meals - Menus & Photos

Flight times were no different than most of AC's typical TPACs, yet wow at the food, and the ice creams.

yyznomad

24left

@yyznomad

LOL, the "bread" SD. Yes, that was epic. No bread served and when I inquired, he had said "we didn't get enough so it's on-demand only". I asked him how pax were supposed to know you didn't get enough or to ask without knowing bread was missing. Meanwhile, a plastic bag of clearly frozen/cold bread buns was sitting on the food cart in the galley. Also as you recall, the crew never came around to clear the dishes and food trays and they sat for some time and I took photos. I finally went to the galley and asked if they planned on coming around the cabin.

I believe I and another FTer flew with that same SD a few months back on a different TPAC. I don't remember names, but I usually remember faces and details (lol) of things like crew, excellent service and preventable failures.

......Also, I posted photo for you from the other day at the Noodle Bar.

StuckInYYZ

That's downright cruel you know? Especially considering that my flights for the remainder of the year have been cut and what's left are all under review...

I wonder how much food waste there is for airlines. and of those how much is from bad presentation or poor cooking that was "just slipped" in?, How BtC and other forms of pre-ordering might help... I mean, if AirAsia, SQ and others can do could do it (although some at a smaller scale), I don't see why others couldn't..... oh wait....

Seriously, I suspect the amount saved could amount to more than a single olive from a bunch of salads... Especially in economy.... you offer say 3-4 menu choices and possibly some form of feedback via the IFE...and I'd be the savings would be quite substantial...and you might get more happy customers (and more food porn....not to 24L's level, but more)...

Ah well... good thing I don't run the airline....

Now back to yelling at the project managers who don't understand the projects they manage. (But that's another story)

Nazdoom

Flying AC17 YVR - TPE on Tuesday, any suggestions for which J meal to choose?

I've flown AC J transcon and transborder dozens of times, but first time tpac (always opt for BR/OZ/SQ/JL/CX instead) - so very open to suggestions! My AC domestic experience has always been to opt for chicken or fish over dry beef/lamb or mushy pasta, but eager to see if international catering / on-board heating is better.

24left

Did you look at the AC.com website for the menus?
The menu is posted on AC.com for Tuesday. TPE is same menu as AC 7 to HKG.

3 of the 4 items listed are EXACTLY the same as were offered on my AC 872, menus and photos posted just above.

I try to avoid AC beef. Read my post about AC 4 above.
And I'm not really a fan of chicken with coconut curry

I ordered the fish as I've had it before and I like it.

And.....YMMV.

Nazdoom

Thank you! AC website was giving me "no menu available" for AC 17 all next week. The AC 7 menu did show up and I can see from the menu label it applies to TPE too.

I avoid egg so the fish with fried rice is unfortunately out (it sounds great otherwise). Based on your comment on the chicken I'll probably roll the dice with the beef and hope it's edible. Worst case I have mashed potatoes and asparagus that are hard to ruin. CX F gave me a melt-in-your-mouth ribeye last year, in contrast to a few rubber puck tasting steaks I've had on JL and AC, so hoping for the best but going in with low expectations.

​​​​