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New Business class service - from July 2018 - Experiences and Discussion

New Business class service - from July 2018 - Experiences and Discussion

Old Dec 6, 2018, 3:51 am
  #196  
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Beijing
Posts: 349
Originally Posted by sxc
Personally I wouldn’t risk ordering a special meal if you really want to experience the new service. You risk getting what would have been served in the old service tipped onto a plate.
I hear you and would generally agree, however on this trip I be with an lap infant. So there will be not much 'enjoyment' over the food service, unless its quick and efficient - which the new arrangements seem to be lacking from what I read here ;-o
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Old Dec 6, 2018, 8:36 am
  #197  
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
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Flew CX257 on Dec 1 and CX250 on Dec 4. Didn't take pictures of the menu but here's my general feedback. Both of these flights were operated with the new service.

CX257: By far the best CX J meals I've had. Since it was a day time flight, there wasn't really a rush to serve all the food. Service wasn't that fast, but not noticeably slow either. Flight started off with breakfast, so I got the Chinese option (Pork & scallop congee w/ assorted dim sum) with a Cathay Delight. The congee was pretty flavorful with the marinated pork and ginger, but I found no scallop at all. I have pretty good eyesight, so unless they were baby scallops that were shredded completely, I can pretty confidently say there wasn't any. No real complaints there though; scallop wouldn't really add much to the dish for me. However, that was also the best Cathay Delight I ever had. It was especially minty which made it lighter and more refreshing. Was disappointed that I supposedly missed the Oriental Breeze (my preferred drink) by a day and that they didn't have cranberry juice on board. Drink selection in general was very limited.

Lunch was very impressive. The pork starter (garlic-marinated strips of pork thinly sliced served cold with cucumber slices) didn't come with much sauce on the plate, but it came with chili sauce (辣椒酱). I added a ton of chili sauce to it before I got much flavor out of it... I'm not sure if my taste buds were that badly affected by the altitude or if the sauce was weak, but it ended up being a really nice appetizer once I knew how much sauce to add. I ordered the beef tenderloin with polenta (and some veg, I forget) for my main course. The beef was cooked to a perfect medium rare (biggest wow factor) and there was ample sauce. The polenta was delicious too. My dessert was the most memorable part of my dining experience though. I had a bubble tea inspired pudding (珍珠奶茶布丁) and it tasted just like the real thing. The tapioca balls were made out of sago instead so they weren't really hard at that cold temperature, so it was well thought out. Great job CX!

CX250: I was quite excited for this flight knowing that I would be getting the new service again. However, London catering was very disappointing. Before I get into that though, there was a massive line for check-in when I arrived. 4 counters working in total: 2 economy, 1 business, 1 first. The economy line was absolutely massive – at least 50 people. I felt quite bad for them. Anyways, as for the food. The flight started with dinner. The starter was a dish of prawns and sweet chili sauce served with some kind of tofu-like bread. I just ate the prawns and sweet chili sauce. I chose the pan-fried chicken breast with carrots and spinach. Chicken was dry (I should've known, but my experience on 257 convinced me to stick with the chicken which sounded like the better option on the menu). Carrots and spinach were unappetizing too. I usually like both of those veg but it just didn't taste good. I didn't try dessert because I wasn't hungry after spending hours in the lounge before the flight anyway, but my neighbor got a chocolate mousse that looked pretty good.

Breakfast was also mediocre at best. Again, I got the chinese option, but the congee was really quite bland (still finished it) and the stir-fried egg noodles was strangely dry. I tried a cold-pressed melon juice since the Cathay Delight on this flight was really inferior to the outbound flight, and that also disappointed. However, I think that was more about my personal opinion than the quality being poor.

In essence, great HKG catering on the outbound flight, but poor LHR catering. Considering how important of a destination LHR is for CX, I hope they get it right soon.
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Old Dec 7, 2018, 7:08 am
  #198  
sxc
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Puff piece article interviewing CX about the new service. Doesn’t show any pictures of the new service.

https://runwaygirlnetwork.com/2018/1...meal-redesign/
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Old Dec 7, 2018, 12:37 pm
  #199  
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
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Originally Posted by nathjean
Flying CX J Class MEL-HKG mid April, then returning in early May.

can I expect the new service on my way back? The table says the rollout is May 2019, does it mean from 1st of May?

Thanks.
Wondering the same thing as I'm flying HKG-EWR one of the first days in Jan - I'll let you know then.
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Old Jan 2, 2019, 1:55 am
  #200  
 
Join Date: Jan 2019
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Hi All,

1st time posting after benefitting from reading so many feedback and posts!

I flew from HKG - ORD in Dec 2018 and honestly, i actually liked the new way of how the meals were presented. They tasted really nice and to me, its a departure from the usual food options dished out on the trolley. What i liked was that what used to be the snacks food items and local favorites dishes were part of the main menu. The food presentation was nice- there was no "big plate" presentation as per previous postings. And even tho there was no garlic bread, the bread they served was surprisingly nice! The bread was more than warm (not hot but warmer than warm) and the inside of the bread was filled with something (i think a bit of small nuts?). This bread seem to be standard (bread was served without choice) but i'm happy with it.

The FA started taking lunch orders after the flight took off, and what i did was to also place my meals orders in advance for my snack meal and the 2nd meal as well (the meal before landing). FA seemed fine with it. I had the fishball flat noodles for my lunch as a main meal and reserved the beef burger for my snack to be served later. The fishball flat noodles soup tasted great and the beef burger tasted really delicious. The fries came out hot and crispy and well-salted much to my surprise. I had the beef burger a year ago on another US long flight before this new biz class service and the taste was lacking. So, thumbs up to this crew who actually made my day by putting in efforts for my food!

The newspaper menu was well placed in my seat before my boarding and passengers could peruse the menu right after they board, i tot this was good as it gave us more time to browse thru the menu for our choices.

There were indeed more FA serving the biz class cabin vs the previous old biz class meal service. however, this crew seem to be composed during mealtime and didn't seem flustered. they seem to share the workload well or , either that they have got used to the new style of the meal service. Note that it is almost a full biz class cabin on this flight.

However, for my flight out from ORD to HKG , the food taste seems to be lacking. there's no beef burger on offer and i was disappointed. The food just cannot be compared to the 1st flight.

So, final words out there taking the flights serving the new meal service - all is not lost! I rather think its an experience to look forward to. and oh - please do try the beef burger!

I'm sorry i cannot post photos because I'm new ...
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Old Jan 2, 2019, 5:52 am
  #201  
 
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FYI EWR launch pushed to March due to EWR caterer problem.

Btw, anybody knows who the EWR caterer is? It is not DO&CO (JFK). I got a name but never heard of so prob wrong. FA seems to like them but as a customer I prefer DO&CO food quality tbh.
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Old Jan 5, 2019, 8:31 am
  #202  
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Philadelphia
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Flying BOS to HKG in about a week and the route is supposed to get a new style menu this month. Anyone know when in the month it is expected to switch over?
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Old Jan 5, 2019, 8:37 am
  #203  
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Just a quick note there hasn't been any manpower adjustment wrt the new service. Or at least there should not have been. Any extra hands means that it was at the cost of service delivery to pax in other cabins.
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Old Jan 5, 2019, 7:42 pm
  #204  
 
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Someone also posted CX253 LHR new J menu this month with the second meal served being brunch. I mean....seriously, how much cost can you save by serving breakfast/brunch vs. dinner. It's so odd with the timing of the flight (landing at 8pm in LHR and you serve breakfast before landing!) and I cannot think of any reasons other than cost cutting that they decided to switch the second meal from dinner to breakfast/brunch. Further 'enhancement'....
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Old Jan 5, 2019, 10:08 pm
  #205  
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Originally Posted by HKGglobaltrotter
Someone also posted CX253 LHR new J menu this month with the second meal served being brunch. I mean....seriously, how much cost can you save by serving breakfast/brunch vs. dinner. It's so odd with the timing of the flight (landing at 8pm in LHR and you serve breakfast before landing!) and I cannot think of any reasons other than cost cutting that they decided to switch the second meal from dinner to breakfast/brunch. Further 'enhancement'....
Same as the CX888 routine then
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Old Jan 5, 2019, 11:38 pm
  #206  
 
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Contrary to common belief possibly from complains on that one FB page, I have heard some crew preferring new J service citing less steps in the procedure.
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Old Jan 6, 2019, 9:48 am
  #207  
 
Join Date: Oct 2018
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Originally Posted by percysmith


Same as the CX888 routine then
completely different.
888 has always been a supper/breakfast flight

but the day time flight to LHR have always been lunch and dinner and it makes sense for the body clock.
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Old Jan 10, 2019, 11:39 pm
  #208  
 
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As part of my "Be the data point" initiqtive of 2019, I am on BOS-HKG and they have the new newspaper-style menu on board. Was supposed to start this month, so it looks like it started on/before the 11th. Pics to follow after the flight in the J 2019 meal thread.
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Old Jan 31, 2019, 3:48 am
  #209  
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
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Not to take this thread off-topic, but why was the entree on my regional SIN-HKG flight vastly better than on my HKG-IAD flight? I would think the transcon flight would have a bigger budget. Also disappointed the transcon flight only loaded 3 congees!

Separately, why is it that QR can successfully implement dine-on-demand with a greater number of (superior) catering options? I've always been able to order several different meal options on QR at any time during the flight.

Beef cheeks, SIN-HKG

Prawns, HKG-IAD

Last edited by iluvdoco; Jan 31, 2019 at 5:51 am
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Old Jan 31, 2019, 2:51 pm
  #210  
 
Join Date: Oct 2018
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Originally Posted by iluvdoco
Not to take this thread off-topic, but why was the entree on my regional SIN-HKG flight vastly better than on my HKG-IAD flight? I would think the transcon flight would have a bigger budget. Also disappointed the transcon flight only loaded 3 congees!

Separately, why is it that QR can successfully implement dine-on-demand with a greater number of (superior) catering options? I've always been able to order several different meal options on QR at any time during the flight.

Beef cheeks, SIN-HKG

Prawns, HKG-IAD
the meals look pretty good what was wrong with it?
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