Having been stuck in HK for the last few months for a combination of business reasons and SARS restrictions, here I am sitting in The Wing waiting for my flight to Sydney.

And it's great to be back on the road.

The Wing is at least 80%+ full at 11pm tonight with everyone waiting for the London (*2), Sydney, Melbourne, Frankfurt and Jo'burg flights. (That's the First Class section - I haven't poked my head in the other part.)

As always I started in The Haven where the usual excellent spread was laid out.

To start, a salad of mixed leaves, with smoked salmon, some excellent crab in cucumber with roe, a roast pepper salad and some smoked ham. (I passed on the liver terrine, the smoked eel, and the Japanese cold noodles.) I took a glass of the champagne (which was Lanson).

For "main course" I took a mixture: the weal chops in a lightly curried mango sauce, and one of the crab cake on mashed potato. With an accompanimeent of wild rice, a little fussili and some nicely steamed vegetables.

The Cotes du RHone went well with this.

Feeling continental I had a plate of cheese (emmenthal, brie & roquefort).

And finished with some cheesecake accompanied with a decaf cappucino.

What more could you ask for from a lounge?

Now I'm off to sleep well on the plane (or as well as I can down the back).

Not only am I impressed by the continuing changing menu of the Wing, but your description of the food actually made me envious that I was not at the WING as well.

Those veal chops must have been double chops (were they wery, wery good?). I wish they would carry a better champagne (Lanson Black label gives me heartburn, as do most cheap champagnes), Veuve Clicquot isn't much more money. Rather ironic that the on-board wines are over 5 times the price of those in the lounge (I suppose that reflects all the non-F passengers using the F lounge). Usually I wind up drinking Perrier and cappucino at the Wing because of the wine quality.