I recently shared my experience flying Emirates first class with my dad from New York (JFK) to Milan (MXP), as part of our Good Morning Milan, Goodnight Moon trip. I’m not writing a traditional review of the flight, but instead, want to focus on a few specific aspects of the experience.
Continue reading: Emirates First Class Menu & Food: Fine Dining, Or Just Fine?
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Looking forward to trying this out for myself in February. I just browsed the wine and whisky selection for my flight and I get a feeling I’ll be very buzzed by the time my flight lands.
Once again, I appreciate the creativity. It's not often you would find some sushi or kimbap as a snack on any airline. The popcorn is pretty creative compared to your typical nuts one would get. The sliders seem like a perfect size if you're feeling peckish, so I don't understand why airlines offer a full-blown burger as a "snack".
As far as cake, there are a plethora of options for a cake, so why stick to the traditional chocolate cake?
I've flown Air France La Premiere a couple of times in the past year, and I've flown all of the major business class cabins, including Qatar, ANA, Emirates, and Singapore (and a handful of first—though not Emirates).
There is a bottom line when it comes to airplane food. It must be prepared hours before it is eaten. It cannot be cooked to order, but merely reheated. You can have the best ingredients and the best recipes (which is not to suggest that any airline achieves even this), but the inability to prepare and cook to order means you are always eating premade and reheated food.
To say any airline serves Michelin-quality food is absurd. To say any airline serves food on par with a good, non-Michelin restaurant is equally absurd.
And while I appreciate a good wine list, research (and my own personal experience) confirms that the effective altitude of the pressurized cabin significantly affects ones taste—which would also, of course, apply to the food.
All of which is to say, when I pay for a premium cabin, I'm paying essentially for comfort and privacy. I appreciate fine food and wine too much to give significant thought to either when I'm at 35,000 feet.
Ben I am not sure you have covered this before (please point me to it if so!) but can you share a bit about how you recommend approaching vegetarianism with business class or first class on Emirates (or maybe more broadly)? Do you recommend requesting a special meal or are there usually enough vegetarian options among all the different meal occasions you mention? With a special meal would you be forgoing the amuse bouche etc or do they create a vegetarian one? Beyond Emirates, does this approach vary by carrier?
I can imagine for some more restrictive dietary requirements a special meal is a must. But I am not sure about vegetarian which is more common these days (at least for global carriers).
Didn’t Virgin (Atlantic or Australia?) offer a proper burger as an inflight snack in Upper Class for a spell?
The Emirates first class Japanese food on flights to and from Japan is very delicious though. Not quite the ANA Washoku dinner but great for a non Japanese airline.
From what I've seen and experienced, Emirates catering isn't that impressive in terms of the entrees and appetizer quality, especially in business class.
I'd say Asian airlines tend to do a better job for Asian meals in business/first. Air France leads the pack for catering in business/first for Europe.
Beats me! But why not a smaller burger for a snack?! Those burgers are equivalent to a full-sized meal. You would only want something that would keep your hunger down until the next meal.
Catering tends to be better from its homeport along with certain outstations such as BKK as well as type of cuisine and meal. I remember having a delicious chicken curry on CX from BKK-SIN roughly 15 years ago. I should've asked for seconds! 😀
I've had flight attendants on Qatar Airways offer me a choice of movie snacks in Qsuites a few times the past few years. I haven't seen it on the menu, but they typically recite it verbally to me. It's typically packaged snacks, but they are very good and intended as movie snacks (popcorn, chocolate, candy, etc.).
I have seen a similar concept in Economy on QR with a different selection of snacks (though again, dedicated as movie snacks). I remember Emirates used to offer brand name snacks (doritos, lays) along with drinks in Economy in between meal services as a dedicated movie snack. I haven't flown long-haul with them in around a decade though.
Even ANA’s business class Japanese food is better than most airlines meals. Period.
The wine and caviar offerings are exceptional on Emirates. The stuffed dates were good during boarding. The main course meals on my 3 flights in Emirates First weren’t memorable while my mains on both Lufthansa and Q Suites certainly were. I had the schnitzel on Lufthansa and Qatari Chicken of some sorts on Qatar. BA F lol nothing to report. The box of chocolates they gave me at the end of the meal service I suppose.
Ah I misread the original comment! Our former CEO dictated anything designated an hor’s’doeurve or snack should be able to be eaten in two bites. (I’m a corporate chef) Our new CEO doesn’t care what we make but I’ve noticed we are making bigger and bigger hor’s’doeurves like sliders and I think it’s largely to our detriment, lol.
Something like that in and of itself wouldn’t make a good sky snack but 4 or 5 nice small bites would.
Since I'm not a caviar guy, that never impresses me. As a wine lover, I rarely drink it on planes, as it's rarely "special" enough (and I generally don't drink on planes). I looked at their wine list on an upcoming flight out of JFK and found Château Léoville Poyferré 2005. I haven't had that vintage, but I am impressed. A 20yo bdx of a very good estate? I'd drink more of that than I have consumed on a plane during the last 5 years.
All in all, the wine and food is not what draws me to a more expensive cabin. But, I recognize many of the folks who pay for this, expect it to be "showy." It may be more important these folks look at the menu and go "wow," even if the food is just "solid," rather than have a menu that looks good but is spectacular. Invite Marikyn Monroe to your dinner party over Katherine Hepburn if your guests are Kardasians or Trumps.
Shoutout about the cake at the bar, I always skip the catered dessert for that simple but absolutely fantastic cake (with a cheeky glass of port wine :D)
As an FA I can remember pre 9/11 we used to carry a whole chefs set in F and more or less cook a lot of the items from near scratch.
Now, I basically avoid anything that needs to be reheated on a plane.
Different airlines have different requirements for reheating food too. For example, at BA the crew have no choice but to cook that beef fillet until it reached a temperature (checked by a disposal thermometer) that is acceptable for the airline to serve (which essentially is overcooked). Other airlines, like Qantas for example, are happy to serve your beef medium rare.
Starters, appetisers, cheese, salads, caviar etc are my faves.
When I have flown EK or LH F I have just had caviar, starters, salads and cheese and skipped the mains.
So much food waste :(, in keeping with Arab tradition to over order and throw it all in the bin.
QF (and Australia, generally) has better food than BA (and the UK, specifically).
Australia generally, 100% agree.
QF First vs BA First - I am not so sure. I find it one of the most underwhelming aspects of QF F.
Cook the items from near scratch pre 9/11? Didn’t that end long before that in the early 1980s?
Anyone who is expecting freshly prepared, restaurant quality food from any onboard airline catering facility is going to be thoroughly disappointed. Even the average airport lounge catering can leave much to be desired.
Common sense ought to indicate that a ground experience should be better than inflight catering. Passengers who adjust their expectations to the practicalities of each situation are unlikely to be disappointed.
The area of Spain known as Mercia, is not known for its “Starving kids” actually. Furthermore, any place known as Mercia would always be spelt with a capital M, yes?
1990/Ben …. ridiculous generalisation post only to obtain a click and response, yes?
I didnt read the entire article, but agree what what I have read.
Two points to highlight:
1. Late night/morning flights (often when I travel from Asia to Europe via Dubai I get two of those: a late night flight, fllowed by an early morning flight) offer a significantly reduced menu, and at least to me - disappointing in terms of flavour and freshness.
2. If you have the time (you don't need a booking) - pick a flight and compare the menu for First, Business and Premium Economy online. All you need is to pick a route and a date. You will see multiple similarities, with First often offering similar dishes to Business, with a modified side or sauce.
What does this mean? Not much. The main reason I choose to fly Emirates First is to burn points and enjoy the Disney nature of the experience (the popcorn Ben mentioned is a good example). I most definitely do not do it for the food - it is still the weakest link, despite the caviar (and advice to whoever needs it - do not mix raw onion with too much wine and coffee or you will find yourself with the worst heartburn known to man)