Steve_Hun

LOL So either I have a poor taste or just simply got lucky with my reindeer

remymartin

I also find it exactly like described by JoWa.

DALtoAAL

I had the Wellness and Energy-meal on my HEL-SIN flight last week and I have to say that there wasn't much of either wellness or energy in it.....three tiny shrimps and few cashew pieces next to a huge pile of rice...seriously?! What I let down! Luckily, the breakfast was much better, so that helped. Also, the service by the whole Singaporean/Chinese crew was really good, the first time ever on AY that the Purser tucked me under the blanket after the dinner...Never before has this happened to me on AY, other carriers yes.

ORD Finn

I have to agree with this. What a waste of an excellent piece of meat. Reindeer filet is a very delicate one to cook. It should be left very rare, IMO. I'd say quite the impossible dish for inflight catering purposes. The reindeer entrecôte they have now on the regular menu could work better (haven't tried yet).

The wellness and energy prawn dish is a joke, as has been pointed out. Three smallish prawns and rice.

I don't bother preordering. You can usually find better options on the regular menu. Actually quite often I don't eat any main course inflight. I find it better to eat well at home or at some restaurant before the flight.

JoWa

Well, the strange thing is that the rein deer w some ravioli they had 1 or 2 years ago was excellent. And still they ditched it after just a few months.
While the poor old preorder rein deer have been serving for 6 years or so now.
I just cant understand how they think, they must have heard these reactions hundreds of times...

remymartin

Maybe the ravioli reindeer was of proper Rudolph quality and not the horse shank they claim to be reindeer?

Rivarix

Has anyone tried the entrecôte and if so, how was it vs. the chef's reindeer? Have another flight in a couple of days and trying to decide whether to give the entrecôte a try. I tried the chef's gourmet two weeks ago ... and already decided to give it a pass for my upcoming flight.

intuition

Yes, I have as reported in the A350 thread. Assuming of course we got the same dish as now is on the signature menu.

It was excellent, better than the Chef's gourmet (which can be good on a good day, but as a number of flyers reported also bad on a bad day)

Rivarix

ok thx. Hopefully they won't mess up my reindeer entrecôte this afternoon.

wkndtraveler

My next LH flight in J is in three weeks but the link for dining options on MMB site only shows the special meals for Y. I contacted AY CS and asked about the menu. Answer? "Unfortunately, at the moment, we don't have any information on business class menus on your flight. We will inform you as soon as we know something." Last year the christmas menu by chef Pekka Terävä was published and served onboard on November already.

wkndtraveler

Oh, and now I just red on the newest, December issue of Blue Wings that AY serves A350 signature menu on all its LH flights until January 21, 2016. AY's internal comms is working well!

nordic

I recently flew to a former leisure (now schedulded) destination in C. Otherwise the service was normal long-haul service but with fewer options (2 main courses). The help desk was kind enough to give a choice of six main courses from Hesinki although three of them were not the choices offered on board (probably the food lover's choice and the reindeer and the three shrimp-course Would have been available). Naturally my choice was not among the meals offered. The blueberry liquor + champagne cocktail was available. I might have that also in the future.

wkndtraveler

Complaining continues.

I finally received an official reply from AY after I contacted the head of F&B department since no-one in CS had any clue what the menu will be like and they weren't able to find it out.

So, there won't be any signature menu – or not even a normal full business class menu – on my flight to SGN but a customized menu that might still change any time. At the moment, they have planned to serve us this during Christmas:

Garden salad

*

Starter:
Reindeer cake

*

Main course choices:
Warm smoked arctic char, potato terrine and Granny´s traditional sour cream sauce, or
Chicken with honey and mustard

*

Cheeses from Finnish small producers:
Peltolan Blue cheese and Viinitarhuri, strong matured milk cheese, rhubarb jam

*

Dessert:
Häagen-Dazs vanilla or strawberry cheese cake ice cream

To sum it up:

- No amuse bouche
- No soup
- Only two main course options instead of typical three
- No proper dessert, only ice cream
- No pre-order meals either

I must say I feel a little bit cheated. If I pay 3200 euros for two, I would expect to receive some value for money: full business class service, not reduced.

intuition

It seems quite odd. Are they going out of their way to treat this flight differently?! I mean, this is sold as any other longhaul and is catered from HEL. So they are actively planning for a separate inferior service?

I just had to have a look at upcoming flights. For my december flight to SIN there are 4 options, and it still is a "Midnight menu", which is their name for the reduced service on late departrues.

Midnight menu

Option 1
Warm smoked arctic char, potato terrine and Granny’s traditional sour cream sauce

Option 2
Slow cooked reindeer entrecote, Jerusalem artichoke puree and dark sea buckthorn sauce

Option 3
Caesar salad with prawns

Option 4
Creamy crayfish soup and crayfish salad seasoned with lovage-pistou

wkndtraveler

I don't know is it because of Christmas or because SGN is leisurish destination. They could have served that slowly cooked reindeer by chef Aihinen instead of some random chicken. At least arctic char is from Aihinen's signature menu.