Dr. HFH

Data Point: I just bought some individual serving sizes of Haagen Dazs (in my local market in UTH). Take off the cover, and there's a piece of paper/plastic covering the ice cream. On it, it has instructions to wait "5-10 min" after opening before eating. So even HD is aware of the problem and has solved it.

botfly

Totally agree. Let alone ice-cream. we never complain when Starbucks serves you coffee that is too hot to drink.

kaka

I agree - as a premium service serving icecream rock hard is unacceptable - they should serve it at a hardness most ppl can start digging in. no need to be "perfect", but at least scoopable. less than that it shouldnt be served (especially during meal service when most ppl get served at the same time. i give them more leeway mid-flight)

should we all get fed with frozen food then, because its still very much edible?
hot drinks are served hot because they are intended to be hot. people like my mom and I would special request drinks to be hot because we feel sick when its just warm, but i think without such request drinks tends to be reasonably hot (for say my dad, but not for mom) because thats a lil more than what people can stand. they dont have to wait 5-10 minutes after to drink!

Dr. HFH

Because they don't get any hotter while you wait.

If I like my ice cream hard and it's allowed to soften up a little before being served, I can't have it the way I want it. But if they serve it hard, everyone can have it exactly the way that they want it.

kaka

but they do get cold, which we cannot make it any warmer then. so we ask for extra hot.
you can ask for icecream straight out of the freezer too, but most of us cannot dig into that rock.
you dont seem to have read what i wrote very detailed. i said, "they should serve it at a hardness most ppl can start digging in" i dont think anyone can dig into a rock. and at that point to soft it can be an easy 5 minutes at worst. we dont need the icecream served at -44C, do we? and even then, they dont serve all icecream at once, so there are a few kept at the -44 freezer.

same reasoning as above, should tea/coffee be served so hot that one needs to wait 10 minutes to start drinking? or it should be serve at more sane temperatures? i have the impression that at premium locations food/drinks should be served at temperatures as close to optimal as possible. just like sushi and red wines isnt served ice cold.

kaka

the pointy end isnt quite starbucks or mickeyD...
Usually i can start sipping drinks away they serve at Cova.... or teh tea houses brew tea at the right temperature rather than boiling water and let them cool down, otoh.

kaka

at home when u're the server to urself, yah. but clearly someone is to handle the food in the metal tube.

Dr. HFH

No, I did read it; I just disagree. I don't want your (or anyone else's) opinion of how most people eat ice cream to determine how mine is when it's served. I want mine served hard as a rock. Then I (and I, alone) will decide when it's at the appropriate softness for me to eat it. If you prefer yours harder than I prefer mine, then you'll eat yours sooner than I would. If you prefer yours softer than I prefer mine, then you'll wait another couple of minutes after mine is ready. And everyone gets their ice cream exactly the way that they want it. Could life be better???

moondog

That "someone" is we, the passengers, and I prefer it this way.

sscywong

Amazing that this thread go so long... But kaka sorry I need to strongly disagree with you based on my most recent flight from LHR to HKG in PEY...

Situation was probably they heard you and so they warm it a bit before put on tray and serve to me... I'm the first in PEY to get served, but the ice cream (not HD, but that's not the point right? ) was already very dry on the outside of it. No flask, no water droplets. When I try to open it after I finished my main, I found that it's over 50% molten already

Now think about the logistics from the cabin crew's prospect. Ice cream is something very interesting. Before it melt, rock solid, and get warm slowly. Once it starts to melt, the entire cup melt extremely fast. Hot beverage generally gets cool down uniform. Also one jar of tea / coffee won't be able to serve the entire aisle. When it's nearly empty crew goes back to pantry to refill with hot ones. Do you think the crew would be leisure enough to take say 30 cups out from chiller, wait 1 minute, take another 30 out, loop till first 30 cups has been waited for 5 minutes, then serve this 30 cups and get back to pantry to get another 30 to serve and loop?

Also as said once ice cream begins to melt they melt quickly. Warming it first when serving simply = ask the passenger to eat it right away when they get it from the crew. It would be a waste for the passengers who doesn't eat the ice cream right away when they get it from the crew then as by the time they want to eat say 10 minutes later, they only have a cup of milk to drink...

Rivarix

Out of curiosity,
1) what ice cream brand they serve in Y+? I would've thought it would be the same one since it is easier (and probably cheaper) for CX to buy all/in bulk from HD.
2) when do they serve it? Is it the same as in J (i.e. on its own after they take everything away) or is it with the rest of the meal? If it is with the rest of the meal/while you're still eating I can see rock solid like diamond is a better approach for Y+.

I don't know the actual procedure and I only flew it a couple of times but MH was able to do it properly on its A388 which accommodates more J passengers than CX B77W so ...

kaka

1) thats their fault for unable to count on time (if they left it out for 20 minutes) or what, 5-10 minutes is 5-10 minutes.
2) if you want them hard, request. many others do not want them hard. it serves 0 point serving it hard. if you go to an icecream outlet they dont serve the icecream rock hard anyways.

kaka

i doubt it take 5-10 minutes to serve 1 J section. unless they are getting some priorities wrong.

sebastiansw3

Judging from this thread, which just gets more and more ridiculous by the day, CX pax are amongst some of the most spoilt in the sky. If all you can find to complain about is the consistency of the ice cream you're some seriously lucky travellers. I am among the first to complain if things aren't right or I feel like brand standards are being departed from but CX undoubtedly provides one of the most consistently excellent products in the sky and whether or not your ice cream is hard or soft makes not a jot of difference. If you can't remember and be delighted that you're getting the stuff at 35,000ft in the first place accept that it's ice cream it is supposed to be frozen.

frankyguy

^ Absolutely ridiculous but extremely amusing. I don't know what is sadder - the fact that this thread even exists or that I look forward to reading it.