Aviating

MMB refused to show the available menus, so I asked in the Chat what the menu will be for my flight next week.

They provided me with a link where you can look up the menus for upcoming flights:
https://www.finnair.com/fi/gb/business-class-menus

Should this link be added to the Finnair Forum Dashboard?

sulkkis

On my way to PVG and this time with a paid J ticket. The food menu is absolute rubbish in my opinion! Luckily had time to eat something at lounge so I can happily skip what they offer. Seriously Finnair, you think it is ok that "läjä perunamuusia ja kaalikääryle" is served as Chef's Special in BC? The Finnish translation of the menu has even spelling mistakes which in my opinion is unforgivable! Or maybe they are typingvmenus with iPhones like me complaining here!

-sulkkis

ffay005

But surely your cabbage roll and mash were created by world-famous Tommy Myllymäki? How can you not be satisfied? How ungrateful of you! And before you start wondering whether I'm serious; no, I'm certainly not.

I've been reading Lucky's blog One Mile at a Time a lot lately, and he's got lots of reviews from longhaul J flights. Reading those and looking at the photos make AY J feel like a joke. Or more like a good Premium Economy product. As much as I like "my" airline, and find most FAs very nice, if not especially attentive, the longhaul J product starts to feel less and less like a true business class. Starting with very cramped seats literally falling apart if it wasn't for duct tape, ending with the "okay children, now it's time to eat so sit down, shut up and here's your tray" type of meal service, where they decide when I'm hungry and what time zone my body clock is on, and where they've used the cheapest ingredients possible when their competitors manage to offer good restaurant style meals at best. Not to mention the IFE where the selection is great for a first time flyer and probably still okay for a second time flyer, but for someone who flies AY J only a couple of times a year (which isn't much, considering how frequently people travelling for business purposes may fly these routes) it starts to feel that you've seen everything of interest, and they hardly ever change the programme.

Since this is the food topic, my bottom line here is
- introduce dine-on-demand NOW
- serve full meals on all flights regardless of what the local time at the point of departure might be; your pax couldn't care less about what local time at HEL happens to be – some may already be on Asian time, some on American time and some somewhere in between or what not
- stop using the cheapest possible ingredients; look at what your competitors serve and try to imitate what would be a mid-range restaurant; no, kaalikääryle is not on the menu (and I do like cabbage rolls, but this is not the place to have them)
- include desserts, not just ice-cream (which I do like, but there need to be options)
- stop distinguishing service between destinations; if you have J to HKT, then it's J and not some cheapo-leisure-J that pax only find out once on board (actually, looking at the menus, they might have made an attempt at this) (and this doesn't mean that you can't have region-specific meals; yes, you can, but not as a cost-cutting measure)
- forget Pirkka crisps and Fazer candy bags poured into glasses – you need proper midflight snacks

FFlash

nuff said! ��

OhDoctor

Thanks for the link. After checking out the menu for an upcoming TATL on AY006, I agree with ffay005 that the menu is a little underwhelming. I guess as a pescatarian, my appetizer will be salmon, my entree will be salmon, and I'll have ice cream for desert (hopefully not salmon).

aama

Well at least it seems that the AY5 menu's first light meal is very seasoned traveler since it's GOLD

ffay005

Lumos probably receive a completely different menu with Caviar LUMO

ffay005

I believe it's still possible to order a seafood meal as a special meal. However, I'm not sure it will be anything different from the options you listed. (Ice cream ex-JFK is Häagen Dazs Vanilla.)

intuition

Looking through a selection of menus it strikes me as very limited variation across routes. Also, I recognize several of the dishes from before and I haven't been flying for ages.

Interesting to know that they have asigned a menu for NKG AY105 (which starts 15 MAY despite menu change is supposed to happen 8 MAY) but not for the return AY106. Should I bring baguette from Helsinki deli?


--Added
At least on HKG menu there is wine recommendation for some of the meal options. ^

OhDoctor

This reminds me of the Seinfeld exchange in which they discuss how Haagen Dazs isn't as fancy as it sounds, and is really made in New Jersey. "They fooled me, Jerry!"

Aviating

According to my booking it starts already 13 MAY

The file name seems to contain systematically the destination. The file for NKG contains HEL-CKG-CAN, so I expect that it is wrong and will change on 8 MAY. But maybe you can expect that Chongqing, Guangzhou and Nanjing will have the same menu.

Interesting that they are likely having the same food to NKG as CKG and CAN. Sharing the menu with PVG would make more sense, as Jiangsu province is food-wise close to Shanghai.

Steve_Hun

I really liked that on the HEL-BKK route, too! The wine recommended actually worked very well with the dishes. Funny enough, there were no recommendations on the BKK-HEL menu card. Go figure...

Guillou

I had the bagel (GOLD) a couple days ago on AY5. I was already getting excited about getting a bagel topped with gold flakes



AY5 bagel

intuition

HEHE, on my reservation too.

Yes, pretty much same menu all destinations. Japan seem to differ, but the others look like 'theme with minor viration'.

intuition

What a disapointment!


Apparently the GOLD bagel made #7 on some top-10: