orbitmic

Agree, it all looks very nice, and the 'tasting menu in two parts' sounds rather impressive or did you ask to be served your lunch later?

One thing that shocks me however in the La Premiere menu is the usual poor translation of menu items in this case in the lounge menu (as I did not see the original version of the in flight one): so is it a broth (as per the French bouillon) or a soup as in English, because a bouillon and a soupe are not nearly the same? Neither are a sauce Hollandaise and a sauce Mousseline or does AF believe then non-French speakers are incapable of understanding the subtlety of adding lightly beaten cream in the Hollandaise appareil and the difference it makes? Translating 'girolles' by 'chanterelles is something I won't even go into, and while 'glasswort' exists as a plant and can correspond to the plant family as a whole, at least in British English (someone please jump in if somewhere else people would mention glasswort) what they are using in that dish is refered to as samphire. These are only a few examples. To be honest, most of the English menu read on its own read 'ok' but it just describes partly different things from the French menu so one of the two must simply be wrong. I don't know if it is very amateurish translation or dishes that changed after they were translated but either way it is pretty disturbing.

In the air menu looks ok except the wine list which is rather underwhelming (don't take me wrong, these are very good wines, I just don't find them 'exceptional' as compared to what some other airlines serve in First.) I also find it rather funny that AF is apparently serving some caviar albeit as a garnish with their salmon starter but can't be bothered to say it on paper. Is that a new form of 'modesty'? mention the 'touch of olive oil' or the 'beet sprouts' but not the caviar garnish? I don't mean it as a pretentious inclusion, but if I were eating it I would enjoy knowing what I ate - is that caviar d'Aquitaine (if so one more reason to label it), Russian Sevruga, Italian, American, something else?? Caviar has now become a (luxury) industry with hundreds of competing farmed products and I just think it would be nice to tell people what they are eating.

Dag

I looked at the times the pictures were taken, and it took 2 hours from I finished dessert in the lounge until appetizer was served in the airplane, and 2:30 until the starter arrived. I did not regret the lunch in the lounge, which was better than the airplane food, but I was very full at the end

No, I had lunch at the same time as the other 7 had their meal.
I thought it tasted like caviar, but found it odd that it was not mentioned on the menu.

I will post the menu from AF007 later, and the wine list from that flight includes all (?) wines AF currently serving in Premiere.

Dag

AF7 JFK-CDG A380 La Premiere June 2012







Wine list, only a few of the wines were actually on board

Champagne was Lanson Noble Rose





Sweet wine featuered the one from Loire





White wine featuered the Clos du Cromin




In red wine, there were two options, the Chateauneuf-du-Pape and Pessac Leognan 2007 Bordeaux.

Dag

Amuse Bouche served before takeoff



Maine Lobster


Underwhelming chicken


Cheese, looks like business class:


Cake:


Nice fresh fruit for breakfast


Excellent crepes


Lounge breakfast menu




Table in the longe set for breakfast


Very good omelet with bacon on the side


Sorry for the long post.

JOUY31

Many thanks for this comprehensive report and the excellent photographs !

KQ321

Sadly I can't compete with Dag's flight in La Première. However, here's another Affaires menu...

Lunch

L'amuse-bouche
Foie gras with figs

Gourmet appetizer and seasonal salad
Smoked salmon, goose foie gras terrine, baby spinach, vegetable bâtonnets with wild Madagascar lime oil

Choice of main course / today's suggestions

• Pan-seared veal: lemon cream sauce, carrot purée with cumin, asparagus with olive oil
• Roasted fillet of guinea hen: jus reduction, grilled vegetable casserole, sugar snap peas
• Orecchiette pasta with calamari and arugula served over tomato sauce with coriander (Guy Martin)
• Marrakesh-style vegetable sauté: Moroccan-style sauce, semolina with turmeric and raisins, sheep's milk cheese

Our special selection of cheese
Petit Chèvre, Camembert

Desserts
Our dessert trio: mini chocolate shortbread, apricot-nougat cup, raspberry almond pastry
Sorbet and ice cream, choice of fresh fruit

This menu contains no pork

If you compare this menu with the same flight around 8 weeks earlier, the only thing that appears to have changed is the signature main course dish, and one of the cheeses. However, maybe some items rotate more frequently than that, and I was just unlucky to hit the same point in the rotations twice. Anyhow, it was still all very good.

correctioncx

Hkg-cdg July 2012 affaires

Lunch

Amuse boche : mozzarella cheese and peach brochette

Gourmet appetiser and seasonal salad:
breast of duck cucumber salad with tomato smoked salmon and grilled tuna with sesame

Choice of mains
1) grilled tournedos of beef with mushroom sauce, lyonnaise potatoes, celery with parsley and garlic

2) sauteed shrimp with curry cream sauce, rice with coriander, broccoli and red bell pepper

3) semolina with fines(sic) herbs and pumpkin coliseum, carrots with sesame seeds, French green beans, fennel and shimeji mushroom

Plat du jour: pork with capital sauce, egg fried rice, Asian style vegetables

Desserts:

Mocha mousse and caramelised pineapple parfait, orange macaron, fruit tartlet.

Sorbet and choice of fruit

Meal service:

Appetizer: mesculn salad with asparagus and cherry tomatoes

Main course:
1) grilled breast of chicken with yogurt sauce, polenta, French green beans
2)provencale style rigatoni pasta with smoked bacon and parmesan cheese

Dessert
Fresh fruit salad

I find the meal disappointment and definitely not on par with CX in J class.

The good thing was the entree plate and the sorbet. The prawns was terrible as it was not fresh and tasteless.

Also mid flight snacks is what CX serves in Y class - cup noodles.

Combine with the really bad seat - was told this is the upgraded one with the foot rest built in the shell in front.

Really if it is not because of the ultra cheap fare I got forced to take I will not take AF.
The amenity kit is a joke as well.....

national47

Dinner for CDG To ARN. The food was pretty tasty but Air France needs to work on its presentation. The meal looks like a transatlantic coach class dinner. Delta does a much better job with the presentation. Along with chicken and vegetables there was a seafood salad of some sort, cheese, mini desserts and bread.

Goldorak

Well, I respect your opinion but have to disagree with it, surely when you think that you have nothing to eat on a domestic Delta flight, except awful BOB. Regarding long-haul, food in Y on Delta is close to uneatable and that you have much less to eat than on an AF tray.

national47

This was for an Affaires seat. Delta first class domestic may not taste as good but it looks better. It was hard to cut the chicken without the sauce spilling.

orbitmic

I do agree the presentation looks pathetic. DL F annoys me no end when on a 3h flight you will only get dry snacks (crisps, nuts, etc) or a fruit because you are 'outside of meal times (what a joke), but indeed when they actually serve food (meal times over 900 miles or flights above 1500 miles -- which are far too high thresholds) the food looks much nicer (and actually often tastes ok). Still, nice to see that hot meals have reappeared on slightly shorter AF flights than before I guess, but national47 is right that it looks exactly like a long haul Y meal except for slightly fancier cheese and dessert presentation...

JOUY31

Definitely an improvement ^. CDG-ARN is a 2h30 flight and hot meals were previously restricted to flights above 2h55 (Greece, Turkey, Russia).

nystateofmind

Had a similar meal in Affaires on AF006 in June. Had the veal and while I liked the carrot/cumin puree whoever sliced the veal did a horrible job so it was thin on one end and thick on the other so it did not cook properly and part was overdone and part was undercooked

brunos

I flew from HKG yesterday (evening flight) and had the same identical menu. The entrée plate was plentiful, not very tasteful but nice. I avoided the shrimps following your experience but my wife did and was disappointed.
As we took evening flight we then had a breakfast which was tasty.
Overall, I would not rate AF food/wines below CX. Wines had somewhat improved since I last flew. A decent white Rully 2008 from Joseph Drouhin and a Baron de Brane Margaux 2007 (2nd wine of Brane Cantenac).
Service was OK, although one never answers when you ring the button.
But the seat was atrocious. An old NEV1 (or its twin NEV2). I had forgotten the middle-ages and its torture instruments. Since they are retrofitting NEV4 like crazy, why didn't they give priority to replacing their awful NEV2 first? Ans the trio seating is really bad. Like you, I was "forced" to take AF, but would never do it with the risk of such seat and tiny screen. In a 12hrs flight I give 90% importance to a good flat bed; Yes AF food/wine was good, but now need voltarene.

correctioncx

I disagree with you on catering. Even the bread on AF is bad and this is a French airline! The cheese is bad, the main course is bad - cx would never serve prawns this bad in J class. Also lack of any decent snacks - no noodles proper sandwiches etc.. No hot soup option. Also lack of any decent Asian options.

Other things that r bad: no proper duvets, the amenity kit is a joke, the lounge at CDG is worst than those travellers lounge in CX.

Really comapring AF to CX is like comparing pierre garnier to Mcdonalds.