Does the kaiseki meal on the Tokyo flight need to be ordered in advance? Is it available on the morning flight to Tokyo, or only the afternoon flight return?

No it doesn't, and I have never seen them run out, although others have reported this, so it may be wise to ask the purser soon after you board to reserve one for you.

They are available in both directions on the non-stop HKG-NRT-HKG flights (CX504/505).

My report on the meals in both directions when I did that in 2003 is here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...hlight=Kaiseki
(I have done the mileage run since then and it was still the same, I just haven't written a report).

There are a number of other reports in the Trip Reports forum - just do a search there on Kaiseki.

I've just read your trip report (and bumped it, so that others can enjoy it). It gave me exactly the information I wanted, and now has me even happier about having chosen CX 504/505 as part of my Asian sectors on my current AONE4 trip.

I flew on CX504 2 months ago in F, and when I went on board the first thing I asked was to reserve a kaiseki meal. The purser looked at me all funny. I later asked the ISM about why they load so few kaiseki meals, and she informed me that they actually load a lot of them ex-HKG due to the demand - enough for 1 for each pax. However, for ex-NRT flights, because of the high cost, they still do not load enough...

When I flew back to HKG on CX505, they had 1 kaiseki meal for the entire F cabin of 8 people... go figures...

The last time that I flew this route in F, the only thing handed out was excellent service, good wine and good food. To me, that's good enough.

I just called Cathay to order kaiseki meals for my upcoming flights, thinking it could be done in advance as allowed by United for its bento boxes. No such luck. The agent had never even heard of the meal, nor was it on the list of meals she could request.

I'll be proactive when I board. :D

Apologies for not making that clear in my earlier post - Kaiseki isn't seen as a "special" meal and is just one of the onboard choices "like beef or chicken?". Don't stress overly - I have heard very few stories of people who wanted a kaiseki meal not getting one.

Also, the quality of the meal has been going downhill for the last few years. If you want good kaiseki on that route, fly JAL or ANA in F.

Pickles has asserted this before. For balance I will reassert that I have not noticed any significant change in the Kaiseki meal over the last 3 or 4 years.

I think it isn't as good as it used to be, but it is still very good. And the JL and AN Kaiseki are not as good (but I've had them on different routes, not HKG-NRT where I stick with the sure thing and only fly CX). However the nature of kaiseki, with the seasonal variations, makes it very hard to compare (I really dislike the winter version and love the spring one). The seasonal variation can easily change the perceived quality of the meal by +/- 50% (for those of us who just want good food and don't care about seasonal harmony).

FWIW, I have had kaiseki meals on the ground costing USD 200 which were comparable to the CX offering, so it really is quite a nice treat (even in its now diminished state).

Indeed. At least 3 friends of mine can vouch this. The tastes is not as good as its concepts and presentations. CX may consider restoring the original taste(2003?) if they're really aiming at Japanese salarymen.

I flew HKG-NRT in Feb'05 and was pretty sure that there were only 3 kaiseki meals on board. They were taken by the pax in 1A, 2A (me) and 2K (my partner) :p
I'm pretty certain I heard the FA tell the pax behind me in 3A that they had run out, but I could have heard incorrectly.

If you want to be certain you have the Kaiseki meal, then preorder it in advance as a Special Meal.

GB, I called Cathay yesterday and they told me it wasn't on their list of special meals. Thus, no preordering is allowed.

Kaiseki has never, to my knowledge, been orderable as a special meal on CX.