imt24

Just wondering if there is any current experiences of which of these options (HEL-SIN) are the best for dinner...

MAIN COURSES

Midnight menu
Option 1
Bengtskär rye bread with cold smoked salmon
Option 2
Oven baked lamb with mixed beans and potato-celery gratin
Option 3
Risotto with mushroom ragout, manchego cheese and pine nuts

WHEN DEPARTING FROM HELSINKI, YOU CAN ALSO ORDER ONE OF THE FOLLOWING MAIN COURSES:

Food Lover´s Treat
Herb seasoned bratwurst sausages
- Roasted potatoes and onions with fresh tomatoes

Chef´s Gourmet
Roasted fillet of reindeer with ale-cranberry sauce
- Potato gratin
- Grilled vegetables

Wellness and Energy
Grilled chili marinated prawns with cashew nuts
- Jasmine rice
- Fresh vegetables

THE MENUS AVAILABLE ON YOUR FLIGHT

Midnight menu

• Purée St. Germain
• Creamy green pea soup
• Cheeses
• Winemaker’s cheese, Brie
• Cheese cake with berries
• Coffee, tea and avec
• Cappuccino, espresso and a selection of Sirocco teas are also available.

Breakfast

• Scrambled eggs with chicken, hash brown patties, spinach and hollandaise sauce
  or
• Belgian waffles with warm rasperries
• Fresh fruit, breakfast muesli, yoghurt
• Coffee or tea

intuition

I think you can find quite a few comments in different threads here.

IMHO:
If you want dinner, do not go with option 1, as it is just "snack-food". (I think it is very yummy, but it is just to small a dish for me to choose)

Chef's gourmet (the reindeer) is a large meal and tastes well. Some have reported it to be overcooked, which I guess can be the case for any airline beef. I have been lucky I guess, medium cooked for me. (OTOH I had the sauce spilled every single time...)
Reindeer has a bit different texture than beef, just so you know.


I found Food lover's treat surprisingly nice. Sure, it resembles more a street meal than fine dining, but it was very tasty. Not quite as large a meal as the reindeer, but OK.

Benzin

I normally go with the reindeer and so far so good. Wellness & Energy is lighter but I have found it quite tasty too. I have heard the Food Lovers' good but have not tried it so far. Should but I am not that into sausages. Even the gourmet ones. Especially night time.

NoWindowSeat

Having tried all those pre-order meals many times I'd opt for a nice meal in downtown Helsinki before heading to the airport, any decent restaurant serves much better food than anything found onboard AY.

Once on the plane I'd take a small snack and some drinks and get a good night of sleep.

SPBanker

Well, if the OP is transiting in HEL, she/he may not have time to drop in the city center...

If you feel really hungry, order reindeer. Last time I had prawns they were not terribly tasty.

NoWindowSeat

Ah ok

correctioncx

I order the prawn but it turn up being a prawn salad at the end? Still tasty thou but could've had more quantity

imt24

Thanks - I have read some other responses on here, but wondered about more recent experiences. Having learnt from BA - the 'same thing' isn't always the same over time!

You are indeed correct I'm transiting from LHR - HEL - SIN - SYD! So body clock won't be in sync at all.

It's really useful to have the feedback, and I agree that dinner in downtown is always better, especially east coast USA to Europe.

Thanks - I'll be sure to report back from the SIN lounge what I thought if it!

chrisny2

I hope it's ok to tag onto this thread from earlier this year.

Here are my choices for an upcoming HEL-JFK. I wonder which reindeer option is better. :

MAIN COURSES
Lunch
Option 1
Pan seared Arctic char in white wine sauce, roasted black salsify and Lappish almond potatoes*
Option 2
Pan fried reindeer fillet in game sauce, mushroom ravioli and fried ceps*
Option 3
Tortellini filled with mascarpone cheese and sun dried tomatoes

WHEN DEPARTING FROM HELSINKI, YOU CAN ALSO ORDER ONE OF THE FOLLOWING MAIN COURSES:

Food Lover´s Treat
Herb seasoned bratwurst sausages
- Roasted potatoes and onions with fresh tomatoes
Chef´s Gourmet
Roasted fillet of reindeer with ale-cranberry sauce
- Potato gratin
- Grilled vegetables
Wellness and Energy
Grilled chili marinated prawns with cashew nuts
- Jasmine rice
- Fresh vegetables

intuition

If you are hungry, the Chef's gourmet is better (more food).

But I also think the renewed menues (Options 1-2) have been well recieved among the FFs.

ExpatSomchai

Definitely the reindeer

JoWa

Definitely that one!
Probably the best main dish I´ve had in the air.

discoseal

I'm surprised AY hasn't hyped up its reindeer courses to be its signature dish. It's actually really good.

teme

I thought I share with you what happened on my flight to New York last week. I had pre-ordered the reindeer/ravioli meal (option 2). When onboard, I received a pork dish instead. When enquired my reindeer dish, the flight attendant went trough all the owens but no reindeer dish could be found.

What had happened was that the menu had just changed and was now Tomi Björck's Asian style menu instead of Pekka Terävä's scandinavian menu. Strange is that the preorder system still showed the old menu for my flight when I did the preorder 2 days prior the trip. As it was simply named option 2, I got the second meal from the new menu. So, some room for improvement still exists.

By the way, the "Char siew pork, marinated in a dark sweet and spicy sauce, slowly roasted in oven and garnished with cucumber, cashew nuts and sesame, steamed rice" accompanied with the "Salmon sashimi in yuzu truffke sauce" starter was one of the tastiest meals I've had onboard Finnair.

ylefin

The menu available on your flight

I am flying almost middle January long haul from Helsinki and it is full Xmas in business I have really had enough of Xmas and I seriosly think my fellow travelers think the same . Look at this
Christmas lunch
A warm Christmas welcome - mulled wine with ginger bread
Smoked almonds

Green salad, balsamic vinaigrette

An assortment of Finnish Christmas delicacies*
Breast of turkey with foie gras mousse
Matjes herring and créme fraiche
Nordic style cured rainbow trout

Häagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream

Coffee, tea and avec