CX is making some hype about Restaurant Style in its investor presentations https://www.bloomberg.com/news/video...gh-patch-video - it seems management want to say they are doing something to attract premium pax (but without spending real money)

I don't think I've ever had the "second" meal without bread or pastries.

Here are the sample photos from the press event. Most of the breakfast meals don't have bread, but there is one photo where there is a cooked breakfast (not continental) with pastries.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...5e9485924d.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...0bbdf8cf8e.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...23c7fd0e63.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f64d9af2ec.jpg

Now I realise tray really does not come with table cloth...how classy.

I believe nowadays even universities have cafeteria with better food presentation.

@royng: YMMV but presentation has no value to me.

They can present food like space food https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_food as far as I care so long as they improve quality.

I am against any suggestion that presentation increases any value <-- I've seen CX try too hard to tweak presentation but destroying value in the process. This behaviour should be discouraged.

imagine spoofing client to fly CX with promise of restaurent style food only to find out its blatant lie and utter rip off at best.

in any business key is underpromise and over deliver... not other way around like CX has done. ceo may earn kudos at the media presentation for next 3mth, but imagine backlash when those analyst fly themselves and truth is unfold...

just be truthful, tell the clients we suck at catering but have best bed (not true) and best schedule (maybe) at lowest price for your needs. sell your strength, not the weakness

I wonder when CX would adopt the Book the Cook concept of SQ...

Looks like folks are definitely starting to notice the new J service on CX...

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip...s-ord-hkg.html

Cx 806 hkg-ord
 

The "plating" looks so sad...

Maybe it's the lighting that makes it less appealing, though the lack of a table cloth on the tray still gets on my nerves.

This a bummer. I am hoping F awards open up before my 9/17 departure.

I was wondering, for those who have experienced the new service, were the FAs more chatty? more interaction with the passengers as promised? or were they more distressed than ever?

Those trays are all too reminiscent of institutional food service (hospitals, schools, prisons, etc). Not really a great association for such an expensive product.

Looking at the press presentation pictures, I definitely would call this restaurant quality presentation.

Unfortunately, to let the whole work out properly, the crockery style should reflect the rest of the items.
Ie the food itself as well as the surroundings where the whole is placed.

Compare the avant-garde (alike, I am not a specialist in that) crockery with the green/beige/brownish coloring of the CX cabins. No fit, so to say.

The same for the food on the plates. The style of the food simply does not match with the crockery.

Somebody made a partial solution, so to say.

Today, I did AMS-HKG and the service flow was changed. The tray trolley is no longer hauled through the cabin, though left in the galley and the trays (old style with white cloth), brought to the passengers individually. I considered this to be a positive item. It's less of an assembly line and it does give some more rest in the cabin (ie no flight attendants making a lot of hasty assembly movements in the aisles). The drinks, mains and desert were still done the original way, which felt OK.

Crew was a little more interacting, which I found a positive item, though it was obvious, they did not have enough time to be chatty. On descent, the captain had to request the cabin crew TWICE to prepare the cabin for landing. The first time no action seemed to be taken, crew busy to clean-up the remnants of the breakfast, no announcements made, etc.

I think, CX still has some steps to go, to get the overall picture fitting.

Today’s food was definitely better than before, for both taste and presentation.