Could not agree more about CX food. I'm by no means an expert, but I think the CX food is definitely overrated - maybe it's all the love from viewfromthewing that gets people overly excited about the grub :)

Cathay delight is my go to - except of course when the forget to load the ingredients :confused:

Agreed on lounge food, kinda average. Def a huge fan of the coffee bar - great to chill and inhale haagen daaz.

Agree. CX food is ok, nothing to write home about. It's the service and bed that makes F the winner.

Cx830 / hkg > jfk
 

CX830 / HKG > JFK

Load: 6/6
Flower: Yes, removed just before landing
Notecard: No
Champagne: Galley pour with amuse bouche
Water bottles: Evian

Cx548 hkg hnd
 

CX 548 HKG HND

Load: 6/6
Flower: yes
Notecard: yes, and in both Japanese and English
Champagne: poured at my seat, both pre-departure and inflight
Water: Evian

This is the morning flight to Haneda and was sitting in 1A. As others have written, the food was a great disappointment. Standard congee, dim sum or omelet offerings, just a rehash of J meals on FC china, and very tasteless at that. Otherwise, the service was more than excellent and made up for the poor dining options. Indeed, a great crew really makes a great flight.

Flew this exact route last August - couldn't agree more. Crew was excellent while the food was meh.

Did you have a Japanese crew?

Yes, indeed. The ISM was Filipino but the lead FA in first class was Japanese, as was the #2.

Ha! Cathay Delight is my go to too! They didn't load the kiwi juices half the time...don't understand why. Flew CX 889 and they had it on the YVR-HKR flight but not the JFK-YVR.

The only load CX delight every month. The other month they have the cranberry and rose drink, Oriental Breeze.

Flew out on Cathay F and Back JAL F
 

No flower
Evian Water
Krug poured seatside as I requested
Amuse Bouche foi gras
Note received

Food is just not good on Cathay. I don't know why over the years they cannot pull it together. compared to Singapore or any Middle East Airlines they are serving Business class food in F. It is Interesting to me though as I used to have a friend who lived with 6 other people in a HKG apt. They all had real Rolex's and fine clothes, yet went home to this tiny apartment they shared....But on the street you would think they were rich....at least I did. Cathay's first reminds me of this.....Serve The Krug champagne....then 2nd and third rate wines and food that is not good....What appears to be, just aint so..Window dressing..somewhat of a facade.

Return with JAL in first was Beyond Amazing. Fantastic Service, the food was sublime and plentiful and everything prepared well. Nothing missing or forgotten....Their Sake's were fantastic and their wines were delicious. A flight attendant walked through the cabin every 15 minutes checking and refilling and providing water etc throughout the flight. Seat was slightly smaller then CX but WOW....what a difference in soft product. I was impressed.

I am on CX F next week yet again to NY....Will post back.

Safe travels to all!

No such U.S. customs exist, LH, known for their roses, always carries them to the USA and ex-USA. I even had a conversation with a FA once in LH F about the roses. She told me in the ex-USA leg, the roses are sourced in the U.S. She then went to get the roses from the outbound, presumably kept in a freezer somewhere, to show the difference, those were indeed two different types of roses, as presumably, the latter was sourced in Germany.

I concur with what you said. A few years ago, I bought my sister a roundtrip CX First Class ticket from USA to Asia and back. The outbound seemed o.k, she was neither impressed or disappointed. The return apparently was a disaster. She was upset but I don't exactly understand why because I was very surprised her experience was that bad. In years past, I also made her to fly LH and OZ in F so she may be comparing CX to her prior experience. What's bizarre is this is someone who flew AF in economy and really enjoyed her experience but when she flew CX F, she essentially told me not to bother with CX again. For me, CX is an o.k. airline. I like their regional Business class and think their regional Business class within Asia along with Dragonair is well priced and are very decent. CX long-haul F is another story and the poor catering is a major problem because it's obvious CX tries to cut corners in their soft product management.

I last flew CX F this month on the HKG-HND route, I think this regional F is also decent and probably the only route I will recommend flying CX F on the condition that you take only the PM flights, not the AM flights. On these F flights, the Japanese meal is more than acceptable for flights of 4 hours or less. Plus, they are using the long-haul equipment on this regional flight, so that naturally gives it a big advantage. Other than the HND route, there are just so many other airlines who have better overall product than CX in long-haul F. Until CX management recognizes this, they will continue to lose a lot of business to competitors. Cutting corners in F is just not going to work, customers aren't stupid.

CX846 HKG-JFK

Load: 6/6
Flower: yes
Notecard: yes
Champagne: yes
Water: Evian

Interesting meal!
Usually I'm not impressed by the meals CX serves, but this time CX served "inspirational dishes created by Michelin-starred Executive Chef Uwe Opocensky from Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong." And the lobster was good!

I'm on the same flight on April 7th.
Hope I also get the MO inspired menu.

Just did F RT between HKGSFO last week; got flowers, DM notecard, lots of champagne. Evian on the outbound, Crystal Geyser on the return (prefer the latter).