SKYEG

I had the lamb . It was cooked really well but I didn't like the taste too much.

The salad was new to me and was really really good. Super impressed with it. Presentation was good too! Awesome SD , same name as me (Sam) 😂



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Bartolo

Thank you for the photos. This presentation is embarrassing (I make this all the time at home). Trust you on taste. Why serve it?

Bartolo

You can be in charge of food as long as some vegetarian and healthy choices are added.

PS, please keep Iogo yogurt on the breakfast choices. Best thing about the tray.

Sean Peever

Agreed, veg options needed and Iogo yogurt is not going anywhere! I buy the big bags at home, approx 3-4 each month.

Also what I can do with veg options with all the time I have spent in India would blow your mind!

Bartolo

Good thing we don't go to the same supermarket. I've cornered the market on iogo at my local. I've been know to buy in quantity! Too bad it's brief outing in the MLL is over. The cheap stuff there now is pathetic.

Would love your veg options.

vernonc

Might as well add some ethnic food to the list with your experience. Kebab ? Something else with chicken ?

24left

Ya'll need to scroll upthread a few posts and you can see what Waldorf salad should look like. I have no idea who at AC thought what they served was remotely close. (yes boys and girls, FWP) and

Not sure why Mr. Peever and his awesome food suggestions are in this thread which is about meals served on North American J ....but I love his list and I say we put him in charge!

Seems to me the discussion should be here

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-c...l-food-ac.html


Well, in the other thread, a few of us want to know why AC can't manage salads as a main course - and I posted photos.

That would be awesome, but AC is already offering pseudo ethnic food on certain routes and the ones I've tried are underwhelming. I am not sure they can manage an awesome Chicken Tikka at 40,000'. We've all had some impressive meals in J on other airlines - including ethnic/regional - and they manage it. Maybe those airlines care about pleasing customers, maybe those airlines have better catering.

Bartolo

I recall a chicken tikka dish when AC first rolled out what they termed bistro cuisine (TALT). It was actually very good. Disappeared fairly quickly from the rota. SD told me they had complaints about the smell in the cabin from the dish. Once when I brought beautiful fresh strawberries (in season) on board, I was told their fragrance was noticeable throughout the cabin. Not sure if that was a criticism but I offered done to FA.

Sean Peever

Because that's what I would do for NA J . You should see the ideas I have for INTL J .

Woo! 2 votes! How many more do I need to get the job?

24left

Let me be clear...

#MakeSeanPeeverInchargeOfACFood

^

Sean Peever

So, I mean for this post to be constructive - not critiquing.

The problem with AC J Domestic food is that they try to be fancy without the budget to be fancy.

That means you have two real options to improve it.

1) Increase the budget (I just assumed this would not happen)

2) Change the food options (Figured this was most likely)

So the best course of action, assuming the above, is to do the foods you can do really well with the budget you have - rather than trying to do foods that are fancier when you don't have the budget to do it.

Hence a lot of the suggestions I made above can be made in bulk very easily, and cost can be kept down, while quality of that item still kept good.

Your expectation when you see "beef tenderloin" is X. And AC has proven for over a decade that they won't meet the quality of X.

So why not do something like Lasaguna or Dumplings, where the expection is Y and they can meet or exceed Y with the same budget.

Over promise and underdeliver vs under promise and over deliver.

Nazdoom

You're assuming their model is to encourage repeat sales by making the J experience on AC worth buying again. An alternative strategy is to use ridiculous language ("beef tenderloin" for McDonalds' quality beef) in adverts to entice first time J sales. The latter strategy is not sustainable long-term, but their strategy may very well be to draw prospective flyers away from other airlines through marketing.

If your time on this forum has taught you anything, certainly one of those things is that AC is not keen on rewarding FFers very much. My hunch is this type of marketing is to appeal to prospective J pax in Asia and Europe and the US to misrepresent the soft product just enough to make the sale.

But I'm also cynical so excuse me. I would like some nice and easy comfort food though... Flying international F on other airlines and I've never heard of half the terms used on menus. What's wrong with bacon mac&cheese yo!

Sean Peever

You are correct, I did make that assumption! But repeat J sales are where you have to go if you want to stay in the game! There are only so many people who will pay $6G R/T YVR - YYZ before you have to start repeating pax.

24left

Comfort Food. Yessssss.

I posted photos of the mid-flight burgers from my trips with CX and BR. Each was significantly better than ANY AC beef dish I've had in the past year.

I know what you're all thinking, if the beef has been consistently bad, why keep ordering it. Well, I don't do AC pasta after that giant mushroom debacle, and often the fish or chicken are coated in stuff I can't eat. And some of the special meals I've tried are even worse.

Back to the burgers. Simply. Easy to prepare. Can flavour it up with herbs like CX and BR. Can add condiments for additional flavours.

And I agree 100% with the ridiculous menu descriptions when the actual item on the plate bears little resemblance.

FWP alert over.

Nazdoom

Speculation on my part, but my hunch is their current goal is just to leech off the large volume of premium fare travel from Asia. They have BR, NH, and CA in the alliance with direct flights into YVR and YYZ whose pax they can then position within Canada, OZ and SQ with flights to US hubs they can then transfer pax to Canada, and they recently added CX to leech off those pax needing a connection. In addition, they've been consistently adding capacity to Asia and opening new AC routes (e.g. YUL-PVG).

I think, for J, AC has really turned its eyes to foreign travelers to leech off high-fare international connections. Someone flying CX J who hasn't visited Canada before would probably rather connect onto AC J than WS Y, even though the AC J may be some regional flight with few amenities. The promotional materials will no doubt sway people, as most won't bother turning to threads like this.