Kaiseki delight
 

This isn't very original, but I feel I just have to write about the best meal I have ever had on a plane (by a long way), namely the Kaiseki meal served this morning as brunch in Cathay Pacific First Class from HKG to NRT.

For those of you who have not felt adventurous enough to try this previously, you really should summon up the "courage" - there is nothing too "distressing" for a reasonably cosmopolitan western palate, and while I am by no means an expert on Japanese cuisine, if I had had this meal in a restaurant I would not have blinked at a bill of, say, US$100+.

And for those of you who have only ever experienced US airline meals then I guess it's hard even to imagine what you are missing!

Here, in all its glory, is the menu from today's flight:

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Canapes
Fried Ginkgo Nut ... Fish Cake with Chestnut ... Deep-fried Persimmon Slice
Shaped Fish Paste in Maple Leaf ... Sea Tangle Roll with Fish
Skewered Gingko Nut and Cheese Ball ... Shiitake Mushroom Cake

Liquer
Plum Wine with Soda

Appetizer
Salmon Tataki Style ... Egg Sheet Roll with Cuttlefish
Sushi Roll with Toro Paste

Clear Soup
Fish Cake with Autumn Vegetable ... Purple Chrysanthemum

Braised Dish
Yam Paste Ball with Chrysanthemum ... Sticky Sauce with Buckwheat Seed

Hot Dish
Broiled Snapper with Chestnut Slice ... Broiled Scallop

Vinegared Dish
Braised Vegetable with Bean Curd Skin

Noodle
Yuzu Orange Noodle and Green Tea Noodle

Rice Dish
Steamed Rice or Congee ... Miso Soup

Assorted Pickles

Fruit
Fresh Seasonal Fruits

Beverages
Ginjyo-sake ... Green Tea ... Mineral Water

*****************************************

I suspect some people find it daunting because they think they have to choose items from this menu, but, no, you get all of it. The only choice is "rice or congee"? (I would take rice unless you have acquired the taste for congee)

The canapes are served first, before they set the table.

Then after laying up, the liquer and appetizers together: I could drink a lot of that plum wine - it goes very well with the food.

The third tray is the Soup and braised dish together.

The fourth contains all the other dishes except the fruit.

Two different types of soy sauce are served as appropriate for the different courses.

All of this is impeccably presented, and the quality of the food is very high (as, of course, is the usual superb Cathay service). I particularly liked the Orange Noodle which was a very nice taste I hadn't experience before.

Of course one of the great things about Japanese food is although you seem to be eating a lot it all sits very lightly on the stomach.

And although this was the morning flight, I reckoned the sun was over the yardarm by the time we were an hour out of Tokyo, so I couldn't resist having my arm twisted by the lovely Stella to take a glass (or two) of the excellent Chateau Lynch Bages 1997. (I find it easier to drink on its own than the 1994, which they also have onboard and which would go well with something like roast lamb since it has much stronger tannins.)

So here I am sitting in the lounge in Tokyo waiting for my return flight this evening (free mileage run on a OW RTW ticket). And guess what I'm going to have for dinner? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif


[This message has been edited by christep (edited 09-21-2003).]

I am doing the EXACT same MR next month and cannot wait to try your suggestions. THANKS so much

Well, surprise, surprise, coming back I had the Kaiseki meal also. To be honest this one was a little bit more "Japanese", but still excellent. Here is the menu:

Canapes
Beff Jelly ... Boiled Shrimp [whole, head and shell included]
Grilled Sprats [well one actually - whole again]... Stewed Baby Abalone
Stewed Octopus ... Pickled Jellyfish with Seaweed Salad

Liqueur
Green Apple Wine with Soda

Appetizer
Red Tuna ... White Shrimp Roll ... Ayu Fish and Crab Meat Skewer

Clear Soup
Boiled Cuttlefish Slice ... Seaweed ... Sliced Baby Bamboo Shoot

Braised Dish
Sea Urchin Curd with Wasabi Sauce
Braised Pumpkin ... Baby Eggplant and Okra

Hot Dish
Grilled Snapper and Scallop in Bamboo Leaf with Miso Sauce

Vinegar Dish
Water Shield with Scallop and Shell

Noodles
Yellow and Green Tea Soba Noodle

Rice Dish
Steamed Rice ... Miso Soup

Assorted Pickles

Fruit
Fresh Seasonal Fruits

Beverages
Ginjyo-sake ... Green Tea ... Mineral Water

Nice; impressed with the prompt reporting.

Does this mean that you're probably not going out for a kaiseki lunch Monday?

Chrstep,
This is amazing
Would you happen to have picturesƒ

For those planning to repeat this Kaiseki meal, it is offered by CX only in F on the non-stop HKG-NRT-HKG service. The HKG-NRT flights that stop in TPE do not have it, nor is the japanese meal in J comparable (it is maybe 25% as good). Also the Kaiseki menu varies seasonally (as it should); I find the April one to be best. CX serves about 20 of these meals a day -- that is all! I'm guessing on the number, but it is very close to that; and they do it principally to compete with JAL.

I don't have pictures of mine - taking snapshots isn't quite in accordance with the ambience in CX First - but Guy Betsy has no such qualms, so you can see some pics he took on a flight in July 2001 here:
http://www.airlinemeals.net/meals/CathayPacific.html

It may take a while to load - the relevant pics are the last six on the page.

They give you an idea of the style of presentation. (And remind you of the days when we could have real knives on a plane http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif )

[This message has been edited by christep (edited 09-21-2003).]

It's been over a year and could have changed, but the Kaiseki meal was also offered on the three-class HKG-KIX-KIX flight (CX 506/507, I beleive).

I didn't try it as it looked too exotic for my hopelessly western palate, but it did look elaborate.

Still there when we took CX506 last Thursday (30/10). We had the first class cabin to ourselves. Unfortunately, although the CX team were up to their usual standard of customer friendliness, they didn't seemed to be properly trained in the kaiseki meal, so bits were missing and in the wrong place. But it was still a good meal (and my gf is hooked on plum wine now http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif )


[This message has been edited by christep (edited 11-03-2003).]

I used to make that roundtrip at least once every three weeks and the kaiseki meal was definitely the highlight. Sometimes, I was the only pax in F to order it... but it is truly outstanding!!

It seems to take a fair amount of inflight preparation... on one flight when several other F pax chose it, I noticed that it took quite a bit of time for the service to commence. Unlike Christep, I never noticed any probs with the presentation.

I had this meal on NRT-HKG and found it delicious as expected. However, I'm a big eater -- young, get lots of exercise, etc. -- and found it actually not quite enough food for my tastes. Had to ask for more, much to the surprise of the cabin crew!

The HKG-NRT CX F Kaiseki meal is the best single meal I've ever eaten on a plane, ever. It gives land-based kaiseki a good run for its money.

Now, strangely and paradoxically, I found the HKG-NRT meal noticeably better than the reverse NRT-HKG one. You'd expect the opposite!

It's great to have this in the archives, as here I am today wondering what is kaiseki, and should I order it on my upcoming CX F HKG-NRT-HKG flights. I've now read/savored this report, and my appetite has been whetted. The menu reminds me of an amazing meal I had at a ryokan in Kyoto. I'm definitely going to be trying kaiseki on CX in a few weeks.

Thanks for the great report.

Doesnt the contents change with the season? At least it does for SQ.

Yes it does - if you do a search in this forum using "Kaiseki" you will see other people's reports with the menus from other seasons.