Airline catering logistics are incredibly complex. After all, in premium cabins the goal is to serve restaurant quality meals, even though airlines are reheating food that was prepared in a catering facility many hours earlier. On top of that, the goal is to minimize waste, while still maximizing the odds of as many people as possible getting their first meal choice.
Nowadays many airlines let you pre-order your meal prior to your flight. On the most basic level, this is great because it ensures you get your first choice. Beyond that, airlines also sometimes offer expanded meal choices when reserving in advance, compared to what you’d find onboard.
However, no airline offers quite as much flexibility with catering choices as Singapore Airlines, with its Book the Cook program. In this post, I’d like to take a closer look at that.
In this post:
What is Singapore Airlines Book The Cook?
With Singapore Airlines Book the Cook, passengers traveling in premium cabins on select flights can pre-order their meals, with a huge selection of dishes that wouldn’t otherwise be available onboard. For example, for flights originating in Singapore, you have your choice of dozens of different options, which is flexibility you won’t find at any other airline.
Singapore Airlines actually has three different kinds of meal pre-order options:
- There’s the Book the Cook feature, allowing you to choose from a wide selection of options that wouldn’t be available onboard
- There’s the inflight menu, with the choice to reserve your preferred option from what’s on the menu prior to your flight
- There’s the special meals menu, for those who have special dietary needs and want to place an order based on that
With the basics out of the way, let’s talk about the logistics of Book the Cook.
Which passengers are eligible for Book the Cook?
Book the Cook is available to passengers traveling in Suites, first class, business class, and premium economy, in select markets. As you can see, this is valid for all premium cabins, and it’s just economy passengers who aren’t eligible for the program. It doesn’t matter how your ticket was booked, so even those who redeemed miles can take advantage of this.
Which routes have Book the Cook?
The availability of Book the Cook is based on which airport you’re traveling out of, with each airport having a different menu. Interestingly the number of airports offering Book the Cook differs significantly based on the cabin you’re traveling in:
- Book the Cook is available in Suites and first class out of 17 airports
- Book the Cook is available in business class out of 33 airports
- Book the Cook is available in premium economy out of 27 airports
You can find all the available airports and menus at this link. Why isn’t this available out of all airports? Keep in mind airlines often use third party airport catering companies, and I imagine some catering companies just aren’t able to offer customized meals in an economical way.
How do you reserve Book the Cook?
Book the Cook selections can be made at most six weeks before departure, and need to be finalized at least 24 hours before departure.
After you make your booking, just go to the part of Singapore Airlines’ website where you can manage your booking. Then go to the section about meal preferences, and there you’ll see the option to pre-reserve your meal. You’ll see the option for Book the Cook, the option to select something from the standard menu, and the option to select special meals.
Note that when you use Book the Cook, you’ll still get the standard starters, desserts, etc., as it’s just the main course you’re reserving. So if you have dietary restrictions, you might want to select a special meal, so that you can be sure that you can consume the entire meal.
For longer flights with multiple meal services, you can often select multiple Book the Cook options. This is usually available for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, it’s just not available when the meal is described as a refreshment or continental breakfast, and it’s also not available on flights of under 1.5 hours.
How does Book the Cook work once onboard?
Once onboard your flight, the crew should confirm that you pre-reserved your meal at the same time that meal orders are taken. One common question is whether you can change your mind, and order something from the main menu. The answer is yes and no.
If you use Book the Cook, you should expect that you’re going to be served what you ordered. After all, the airline is catering your special dish in lieu of at least one dish that would otherwise be on the menu. That being said, Singapore Airlines isn’t like US airlines, and generally loads more food than needed.
So if there are enough dishes left, you should be able to swap to something else on the menu. However, expect that you’ll get last choice, after everyone else has made their selection.
Singapore Airlines’ Book the Cook program is amazing
I love the concept of Singapore Airlines’ Book the Cook program, and I like the execution even more. While the selection varies based on where you’re originating, it’s really impressive, especially if traveling out of Singapore Changi Airport.
There are dozens of menu choices, including Western, Singaporean, Malay, Indian, and more. Whether you want lobster thermidor, or a grilled angus beef burger, or laksa, or beef rendang, or roti prata, or bibimbap, or nasu dengaku, the selection is never ending.
I also appreciate all the dishes with local flair, whether you want tonkotsu ramen when flying out of Tokyo, or a tandoori grill when traveling out of Dubai, or wok fried black pepper beef when flying out of Hong Kong.
Personally I’m often conflicted about whether to actually order from the menu, though. I find Singapore Airlines’ onboard options to be interesting as well, and sometimes I just don’t know what I’d like to eat in advance. Furthermore, the sheer the number of options you have almost leads to decision paralysis, in my opinion.
Bottom line
Singapore Airlines’ Book the Cook program is the best meal pre-order program you’ll find from any airline. Not only can you make sure you get your first choice, but you can also select from a much larger selection than you’d have onboard.
If you’re flying in a premium cabin on Singapore Airlines out of an eligible airport, I’d highly recommend taking advantage of this.
What’s your take on Singapore Airlines’ Book the Cook program? Do you usually use it, and if so, what’s your favorite dish?
The best thing about Book the cook is that in 90% meals really taste like proper meals one would have on the ground.
Even my recent Japanese menu from Tokyo was surprisingly good.
Of course, the best choice is on flights departing from SIN.
From ZRH, meh.
First class is available from 17 stations. It is more likely only these stations are operated by aircraft with first class seats, which is available only on 777-300ER and A380. I flew first class once with a pre booked BTC meal but requested for a change to onboard meal, and was granted immediately, business class probably have to wait for the crew to confirm availability.
The most ridiculous thing about US airlines "preorder" meal service (for C/J/F for example) is that all it does it pre-reserve your choice of the exact same meals you might get on board. To the point of ridiculousness that if people have already taken the flight's designated number of a certain option, that's it, no more.
The whole point of preorder would be to give you more and higher quality choices than what you...
The most ridiculous thing about US airlines "preorder" meal service (for C/J/F for example) is that all it does it pre-reserve your choice of the exact same meals you might get on board. To the point of ridiculousness that if people have already taken the flight's designated number of a certain option, that's it, no more.
The whole point of preorder would be to give you more and higher quality choices than what you could get on board if you hadn't planned ahead. How stupid are US airlines.
I checked my business class Singapore-Newark June (miles) Book the Cook menu and it appears the much loved favorite, lobster thermidor, is no longer a choice. Bummer!
I wish there is an option to choose “No Meal”. On a red eye flight departing after dinner time, I don’t want to eat onboard and just want to go to sleep. I have had a good dinner already in the lounge and this would reduce food waste.
There is definitely an option to forgo the meal. I've skipped the supper service many times before on the red-eye from SIN to HND.
I just like whenever things rhyme. I fly SQ in J on NYC-SIN at least once a year, and I don’t bother with ‘book the cook,’ but I like their branding of it. Bah!
Very few of the book the cook options are vegetarian meals. Not sure why. And unlike most airlines the 4 or 5 choices for mains in business class in SQ don’t always have a vegetarian meals. Seats in business class are now outdated with no suites like Qatar or BA for that matter
I would do anything for other airlines (such as Qantas) to introduce an in-app, pre-flight business meal booking service. It would be so much more time and logistics efficient.
Eh, QF already has decent options on-board anyway, so it’s not that big of a deal for them. Like, domestic Business class on a 2-hour ADL-SYD, you get a meat pie or a cheese plate, and they pack enough so everyone gets their pick. Don’t really need an app feature for that. Meanwhile SQ offers like 30 things, so… yeah, app for that, please.
Seriously. You must be a very important person. Get someone to fly for you.
When you challenge or criticize Ben in airlines, hotels and lounges reviews, you are not in the same league as his. If you want to correct or enlighten him, it is a different matter. Nothing about Singapore is mediocre. Educate yourself about the country, its history, culture, cuisine and leaders plus its human resources. When I booked SQ tickets two years ago for last year's itinerary, all recommendations advise book the departure leg from Singapore....
When you challenge or criticize Ben in airlines, hotels and lounges reviews, you are not in the same league as his. If you want to correct or enlighten him, it is a different matter. Nothing about Singapore is mediocre. Educate yourself about the country, its history, culture, cuisine and leaders plus its human resources. When I booked SQ tickets two years ago for last year's itinerary, all recommendations advise book the departure leg from Singapore. I used it and was impressed. The comment should stick to facts, which is foreign to today's Americans, not preference, bias or personal attack.
Excellent post, and really useful. Thank you. Bookmarking this post for later reference.
I have a couple regional legs on SQ in biz coming up in a few months (MNL-SIN, SIN-BKK) and will be taking advantage of this. Looks like they don't do BtC ex-Manila, but our second leg is out of SIN, so hopefully that will work. That leg is 2.5 hours, and it's an evening flight, so I assume that's long enough to qualify for a nice dinner. The menu options look amazing.
Trust me Dick …. I am confident that you will not be disappointed with you choices.
Definitely take advantage of it!
I often take the chicken rice rice option on my way to BKK out of SIN.
Because one can see the menu several weeks out, it's a good idea to check it out before or after you book the cook, so you can minimize food waste. In chatting with SQ FC FAs a couple of times, if one books the cook and then orders off the menu instead, the BtC order almost always goes into the trash.
In my experience, the best BtC FC dishes are to be had out...
Because one can see the menu several weeks out, it's a good idea to check it out before or after you book the cook, so you can minimize food waste. In chatting with SQ FC FAs a couple of times, if one books the cook and then orders off the menu instead, the BtC order almost always goes into the trash.
In my experience, the best BtC FC dishes are to be had out of Tokyo (the Japanese dishes are phenomenal, natch) and Singapore (which has a seemingly endless array of different cuisines and options). The most disappointing ones are usually out of JFK, FRA, and MEL - they are still REALLY GOOD, but not phenomenal.
SQ's food is mid at best, to say nothing of its outdated seat and cold service. I have no idea why u hype up so many mediocre airlines (see also Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa "first class") on this blog.
What airlines *do* you like?
@ Jessica -- I'll second TravelinWilly's question. Which airlines have non-mid food, not outdated seats, and not cold service? And could you please point me to where I hype Lufthansa first class?
Almost all your "hero" images from blog posts about points deals or credit cards feature Lufthansa's terrible first class cabin.
I like JAL, Starlux, Turkish Airlines, Air France, Qantas and ITA Airways, to give a few examples. All these airlines have better food (and most have better seats) than SQ.
@ Jessica -- Right, I often feature Lufthansa first class because it's actually bookable with points and without fuel surcharges (admittedly last minute), and not because I "hype it" so much. Would you like me to put Air France La Premiere pictures in the header, when that requires 350K points one-way, plus Platinum status?
I mean you could put JAL F, as a start. It's relatively attainable if you're flexible, and isn't total crap.
"I have no idea why u hype up so many mediocre airlines (see also Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa "first class") on this blog."
Your rhetoric of accusing Ben sounds a lot like Aerob13a. If Ben posts something they doesn't like, then it's a downright clickbait or unnecessary "hype".
N17017, please do not lump me in with the ridiculous posts above from Jessica.
SQ suites are one of my favourites.
Turkish has the most overrated food ever.
Jessica’s not wrong about the good food on JL, AF, TK, and QF; though, I like SQ food, and would add ANA may be even better than JAL for Japanese carrier food. In the US, jetBlue Mint, ironically, has the best food, in my opinion. In southern African, I cannot say enough good things about Airlink, even on +1 hour flights in Economy, the feed everyone; in their Business class they sometimes serve ostrich! Yum.
Jessica, your post is, in my opinion and after 100+ SQ flights, most LHR-SIN & SIN-SYD, absolutely wrong! I do not recognise to what you are inferring.
It all comes down to personal preference, doesn’t it? I flew JAL First Class last month & found the catering very disappointing. I spend a lot of time in Japan and know great Japanese food, and they could have done so much better.
You make a very valid point there THD, every ‘dog’ has its day and we all have our off-days.
Given that SQ also lets you preview inflight menus a week or so before departure, that makes BtC an even more valuable option. And sometimes whats offered on board does sound more appealing than the BtC options.
I read somewhere that BtC cities where chosen based on distance, which is why closer airports like Jakarta don’t have that option.
Agreed that SQ's BTC is pretty unique, especially the extensive array of options. My only complaint is that they have so little that's vegetarian. SQ has lots of flights to destinations where vegetarianism is very common, such as India, so it's surprising that they don't have more than 2 or 3 options. It's pretty easy to get tired of them on a multi-leg round trip journey. Also, like most airlines, they seem to be unclear...
Agreed that SQ's BTC is pretty unique, especially the extensive array of options. My only complaint is that they have so little that's vegetarian. SQ has lots of flights to destinations where vegetarianism is very common, such as India, so it's surprising that they don't have more than 2 or 3 options. It's pretty easy to get tired of them on a multi-leg round trip journey. Also, like most airlines, they seem to be unclear on the concept that even if you want a vegetarian main course, that doesn't mean you want a dry buckwheat cookie (or something similarly tasteless) for dessert - you want whatever everyone else is having.
That said, SQ's nasu dengaku BTC meal is probably the best vegetarian main course in the sky. Or one of the best.
Some destinations like Japan and China they have their speciality meals which are great and I’d choose over Book the Cook and most people are not aware of this.
Should write an article on airlines destination speciality meals which some airlines offer and do well