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Plastic knives & forks are used on all flights to LHR. Elsewhere they are metal. You can tell how up to date the catering is by the colour of the salt packets. Until recently all Singapore salt packets were red. They are now white, but many locations are still using up red supplies.
Smokey turkey with caesar salad. A packet of caesar dressing.
A small slab of tub of Beqa "tasty" cheese and two Arnott's crackers biscuits. A roll, and butter. A tub of Summit water on the tray.
This is fantastic: a really good meal served the classic Singapore way (that is, you wait a long time for it, but when it comes it's great). The chicken is nice and tender, without the slightest hint of birdflu, and goes well with the veggies.
The Caesar salad is a disapointment however. The green bits are all fine, and the crutons are great, but the turkey is fowl.
A single TimTam chocolate biscuit. A can of VB (Victoria Bitter lager).
Strewth mate. When this lot rocks up it looks like an Awesome Feed. The meat pie is fair dinkum, not crook at all. When I first cracked an eye over this I though it was just Ocker grub, but its a beaut with a delicate wooly flavour.
Mind you all the Aussies around me had a winge about the lack of a schooner for the tinny.
Marinated scallop appertiser with pasta and vegitable salad, including a lemon and tomato.
Mable cheese cake.
A small slab of tub of Beqa "tasty" cheese and two Jacobs crackers biscuits. A roll, and butter. A tub of SQ water on the tray.
There's no danger of going unfed on a Singapore Airlines flight. This is a full, proper, dinner, and very much worthwhile. The steak is well done, so a little on the tough side, and trying to cut it with the plastic knives is dangerous - the knife shatters, showering you with bits of plastic, hence the rather strange sight of half of the cabin biting mouthfuls of steak off, holding it up on the end of the fork, and then spitting out the bits of plastic from the shattered knife. Still, it had lots of flavour.
The salad is good too: indeed on some airlines this would be all you would get. With all of this lot, I scaresly had room for the cheesecake. It would have been a shame to have left it however, as it had a great, intense, lemony flavour.
Stirfry beef and vegitables (carrots, peppers and baby sweetcorn) in oriental black pepper sauce with steamed rice.
Spiral pasta salad with shrimps.
A small tub of Pave Frais cheese and two Jacobs crackers biscuits. A roll, and butter. A tub of water on the tray.
A great airline meal thanks to Singapore Airlines, and shows how it should be done. The beef is done just right, with plenty of flavour and a delicate pepper aroma. The vegetables are done faily crunchy, and the rice totally un-sticky. Lovely.
The pasta salad with shrimp isn't to my liking, but many people on the flight liked theirs. The cheese and biscuits are a bit disapointing, but there is hardly room for them.
Prawn salad with one letuce leaf.
A small tub of Pave Frais cheese and two Jacobs crackers biscuits. A roll, and butter. A tub of water on the tray.
This is a great introduction of food on Singapore Airlines. There is the most incredible flavour in the pork, brought out by the cherry flavouring. The vegetables are done just right, with a little bit of crunchyness.
There is a good salad to start off with, and the roll is lovely and light. It would have been nice to have had some better desert than just cheese and biscuits, but there is hardly room for them.
Chicken (Wok fried, no less) in black peppercorn sauce, vegetables (carrots, beans, and baby sweetcorn) with rice.
A small tub of cheese and two biscuits. A roll, and butter. A tub of water on the tray.
This is what you'll sit down to on the flight out of LHR. The portions are large, and the chicken tender. Nice selection of vegetables which aren't overcooked.
The Ricotta cheesecake to start off with is the only disappointment. Its just a bit too weird.
Chicken (Wok fried) in mushroom sauce with pasta shells.
A small tub of cheese and two biscuits. A roll, and butter. A tub of water on the tray.
The salad to start off with is lovely, a real treat. The cottage cheese has vegitables in it, adding to the flavour.
Nice chicken, but rock hard pasta. It takes a lot to bite through it.
Chicken (with skin) in herb jus with stewed vegetables and potatoes.
Cheese ("Gonlas Tasty" brand) and two square biscuits. A roll and butter. And a pot of water.
The salad is a real delight, with lots of ham and great flavour in the pasta.
Alas the chicken is really quite poor, and all the flavour of the herbs is soaked up by the skin. Underneath its really not worth it, and comes with some really bad vegetables that have been stewed to death.
Good cheese though.
Chicken (with skin) in a red wine and herb sauce, vegetables (carrots, beans and cauliflower).
Cheese ("tasty" brand) and two square biscuits. A roll. And a pot of water.
A bit of a disappointment. It looked good, and the metal knife and fork really made it seem better. Alas I was quite disappointed with the rubbery chicken which had seen better days and died in vain. The vegetables were stringy, and even the roll had a huge thumbprint in the middle of it.
Thankfully the salad was good, and the dressing a delight.
Pork in clam sauce with deluxe vegitables and three treasure fried rice.
Cheese ("tasty" brand) and two square biscuits. A roll and Anchor butter. And a pot of water.
A specialty for Chinese new year, the salad is a bit weird, with a strong fish taste.
The pork and clam sauce is amazing, a real taste explosion, and one that doesn't last long enough. There are vast heaps of pork here, and the rice itself is equally good.
Chicken stir fry with shittake mushrooms and spinach.
Strawberry yoghurt, and a fairy cake. A roll with Anchor butter and strawberry jam. Orange juice and coffee.
A strange combination of breakfast and lunch for those who can't decide what time it is.
The stir fry is really good, and there is plenty of it. The strange fair cake combination doesn't go all that well with it however.
Thai style red curry chicken with spiced vegitables (spinach and carrots) and steamed rice.
A hot roll with Anchor butter. Cheese and biscuits.
This is a really good feed, with lots of flavour - although it was very hot, and quite unusual for airline food in containing more curry than you'd normally get on the ground.
I'm not sure what the follow up salad (or starter, if you are American) was meant to be, but it tasted great, with strong tender lamb and great potato salad.
Chicken in coconut-coriander curry sauce with vegetables (mainly carrots although there were a few beans in there) and rice.
Cheese (Cracker Barrel tasty brand) two biscuits (Arnolds round).
A very small roll, and a tub of water.
The curried goo looked disgusting, but was actually great - a really good feed. As on most flights there was plenty of food - a whole mound of rice in fact.
The salad was just right, although I wasn't sure about the industrial "Italian style" dressing, made in a factory in Wagga Wagga.
Nice cheese as well. Definitely one to recommend.
Diced goat in brown bean sauce, with asparagus, pasta and cheese.
Cheese (Cracker Barrel tasty brand) two biscuits (Arnolds round). A roll, and a tub of water.
Diced goat sounds terrible, and indeed it is. The pasta has also congealed, so is just not worth looking at.
The salad should be good - unless you don't like prawns, in which case it's time to write off the entire meal.
Nice cheese though.
Eight hours into the flight, late in the evening, and Singapore hand out a sandwich. And that's it.
It's true - you can hear your tummy rumble throughout the plane.
Whip chocolate bar.
In the reverse direction, the late evening flight from Brisbane starts off with just a snack, this small crossant. It does however taste very good, with lots of flavour in the ham.
The whip bar (a Singapore speciality) is also very good.
TimTam chocolate bar.
The late evening flight from Melbourne also starts off with just a snack, with Turkish Bread (perhaps reflecting the large Turkish community in Melbourne). It is very good, with lots of flavour, however unless you've stuffed yourself with the meat pies in the SilverKris lounge, there isn't much there.
The TimTam bar (an Australian speciality) is a unique way of ending your time in Oz.
Cereal (Rumblers, with milk and spoon in the lid).
Omelette with mushrooms, tomato, and potatoes, a roll with butter and marmalade, orange juice, coffee, and Tiger beer.
This is a great end to the midday flight from Heathrow to Singapore.
A real cooked breakfast with some healthy fruit as well. Its very fresh and tasty, and the mushrooms are lovely and tender. The bowl of cereal is a rare treat in economy, and even though its just a cheap UK one, is very welcome after a 12 hour flight.
Cereal (Rumblers, with milk and spoon in the lid).
Omelette with ham and cheese, beans, mushrooms, and potatoes, a roll with butter and marmalade, orange juice, and coffee.
This is a very good cooked breakfast, and its one of the first I've had with real beans which don't turn into a mass of goo when re-heated. Lots of mushrooms although the omelette was a bit weird. The bowl of cereal is a distinct treat in economy.
Good fruit too, and the roll even came without Singapore's usual trademark thumbprint in it.
Cereal (Rumblers, with milk and spoon in the lid).
Omelette with mushrooms, tomato, and potatoes, a crossant with butter and marmalade, orange juice, and coffee.
The fruit with strawberrys is rare, but very good.
The mushrooms are lovely, but the omelette is woefull - truely poor, with far too many eggs.
Cereal (Twinners, with milk and spoon in the lid).
Parsley omelette with sauteed mushrooms, chicken sausage and potatoes, a roll with butter and blackberry jam, orange juice, and coffee.
A pretty good breakfast, although the Singapore habit of chicken sausages has made another appearance, and the omelette is dreadful.
Good fruit too, and the Singapore version of Rumblers cereal is a good alternative.
Cereal (Twinners, with milk and spoon in the lid).
Parsley flan with sauteed mushrooms, chicken sausage and hash browns, a roll with butter & peach jam, and orange juice.
Lovely, with a chicken sausages that doesn't quite taste of chicken, added to with the wacky flan around it.
Good fruit, and the Singapore Twinners is great.
Cereal (Rumblers, with milk and spoon in the lid).
Ham pancakes with baked beans, three mushrooms, and potatoes, served with thick tomato sauce. A roll with butter & orange marmalade, coffee and orange juice.
A terrible insult to the world of airline catering, this is one of the worst meals I've had on Singapore Airlines. True, the quantity is there, but it had all the flavour of a greasy spoon breakfast, stuck fast to the plate, and only fit to be returned.
Good fruit though, and the standard Singapore Rumblers.
Cereal (Rumblers Cornflakes, with milk and spoon in the lid).
Cheese omlette, with peas and baked tomato sauce. A roll with butter & blackcurrant jam, and orange juice.
A truly dreadful meal, created in a land where meat is the staple diet, and veggie food doesn't really get a look in. This omlette has certainly seen better days, and is baked hard, stuck to the dish. It was however, I'm interested to note, made with Vegan cheese. Which means no flavour what so ever. The peas acompanying it are, to say the least, unusual.
The usual fruit, and the standard Singapore Rumblers, which were both good.
Cereal (Rumblers Rice Crispies, with milk and spoon in the lid).
Braised egg noodles with beef, mushrooms and leafy greens. A tub of hot pepper dressing.
A hot roll, butter and marmalade.
In the Asian tradition, Singapore has the option of noodles for breakfast. On the ground it may feel a bit weird to be tucking into this lot when you wake up, but after a long sleepless flight in the cheap seats this works - really it does - in the context generally of soaking up the booze from the flight. Keep away from the pepper dressing though - it'll take the top of your head off.
Mind you there is SO much here. I often think it's worthwhile going on a diet before getting on a Singapore flight, as they will offer so much food.
The usual fruit, and the standard Singapore Rumblers, which were both good.
Fruit appetiser (watermellon and 3 grapes), D'lite yoghurt, A hot roll with butter and strawberry jam.
Two fairy cakes.
Orange juice. A cup of coffee.
This is good, and after the starvation rations of the first part of the flight from Brisbane is great. The poached eggs are done really well.
The fruit is tasty and refreshing, but the rolls is very hard, and the fairy cakes? In plural? I don't get it... even BA serve fairy cakes on their planes to Australia, and I can't understand why Singapore follow suit.
Fruit appetiser (grapefruit and one slice of watermellon), D'lite yoghurt(peach), A hot cross bun with butter and peach jam.
One fairy cake.
Orange juice. A cup of coffee.
A special for Easter (Singapore does celebrate the Christian holidays) this looks good on the menu, but is actually pretty woeful. The poached egg is the problem - it was poached, boiled, and hard frozen a long time in the past. It is hard and rubbery - in a word, dreadful.
The good news is that the hot cross bun is a delight - the first time I've had one on a plane. And the fruit is tasty and refreshing. There is also the Singapore Airlines traditional fairy cake.
Fruit appetiser (3 slices of mellon), Pauls yoghurt, A hot roll with butter and strawberry jam.
Two fairy cakes.
Orange juice. A cup of coffee.
This is good, apart from the poached eggs, which really have seen better days. And ham and peas is unusual for breakfast.
The fruit is tasty and refreshing, but two fairy cakes? All flights from Brisbane offer two fairy cakes for breakfast, in a madly consistent way.
A hot roll with butter and peach jam.
A fairy cake.
Orange juice.
A cup of coffee.
Hmmm... this is a grim end to a long flight, and definitely not recommended.
The fruit is tasty, but the rolls are baked hard, and the fairy cake? I fail to understand Singapore's habit of serving them.
A hot roll with butter and blackcurrant jam.
A fairy cake.
Orange juice.
A cup of coffee.
This is a suprisingly poor start to a flight with Singapore, with litle quantity and definately no quantity.
At least on this route the rolls were nice and soft, but the grapes had been stored for a long time and had traces of mould on them. And the fairy cake? At breakfast? Why?
Errr... thats it?
That was everyones comment when this came round, 9 hours into the flight from Sydney to Singapore.
People were getting really hungry by this point, and I was amazed that the crew could consider serving a tiny sandwich like this with a straight face.
Sure, it was tasty enough, but where was the delight we were promised?
Pack your own food if you're going to get on a flight where this is served - its just like BA's All Day Deli on internal flight - but this was an intercontinental trip!
Lovely - a huge tub of the stuff which keeps the boredom away and goes down very well with the inflight films (when the screens work that is).
You'll have to keep an eagle eye out when this one comes round - the trolley wizzes up the isle, and will only stop when someone asks for icecream - and the crew really don't like stopping for anyone.
There is a small spoon in the lid of the icecream, but you're better off saving one of the metal ones from the food round, and using that.
Onion and cucumber "things" on the plate.
Your raffles dining experience starts straight after cocktails (this is a Silver Kris sling in the picture) with three chunks of chicken on sticks.
This is pretty spicey, but good for all that.
I just don't get the onion however - thats a weird one.
As soon as you've finished eating this, move your drinks to the centre console, so the crew can put your table-cloth on. You can tell the regular travellers who know this routine, and the flyers on an upgrade who don't!
A pretty chunky starter, even though it looks small, this soon fills you up. It's done asian style, which means the Tandoori chicken is pretty hot, while the duck is stewed, however the small Thai chicken is very good indeed.
Herb vinaigrette.
Served ice cold, this is a decent, but small, starter. Nice and tender, it the dressing is pretty hardcore, and under it its hard to taste the crayfish.
Two chunks of garlic bread.
An alternative starter is this ham salad. Refreshing and tasty, if a little cold - it does after all come straight from the fridge.
Nice garlic bread, oozing with butter.
Infused with shallot oil and sambal lime and honey.
Garlic Bread.
I thought this was the main course, but no, its just another starter.
Lovely garlic bread - the smell of it wafted around the cabin.
The chicken and salad was great, just dressed up in silly names.
Garlic bread.
What a lovely slab of beef this is, on great mashed potatoes, with some veggies done al dente, so they are quite crispy. There is a lot of flavour in these.
A wacky one, these are the meals that tend to be left over at the end of the flight: or worse, if you don't get your first choice, you end up with this.
Acutally it's not too bad: it's certainly edible, but the noodles looks rather like something served up by one of those stalls at the side of the road in Singapore. The flower mushrooms are brilliant, served up on a bamboo leaf, with fantastic flavour.
Garlic bread.
A really good slab of rump steak, but as you'd expect for rump, just a little bit tough.
No matter, the veggies are great, with really good bacon, and some OK mash.
Two chunks of garlic bread.
This is a Gordon Ramsay special, and one the airline are very keen to promote.
It's lovely, and once you get past the weird names you realise it's basically just a normal chunk of chicken, sliced in two, with a dollop of mush mash bunged in the middle, on top of carrots and peas, on a bed of mashed potato.
This looks great but actually it's dreadful, and should be avoided at all costs.
It unbelieveably spicey. We're talking so hot here you can't taste any flavour, just hot hot hot. And not in a good way. Alas there is nothing on the menu to warn you of this. Nor that the sausages are so stewed you can't cut them with the plastic knife. Avoid.
Sauteed savoy cabbage.
Fettuccine pasta.
French bread roll.
This is another Gordon Ramsay special.
I can understand why - the veal is lovely, the mushrooms well done, and the cabbage isn't nearly as bad as you'd expect.
Alas the fettuccine is a disaster. Roasted in one lump, it keeps its square shape for ever, and is impossible to cut with the plastic knives and forks.
The roll is even worse. Don't go near the french bread sticks - they are only meant for people with very strong teeth!
One roll.
This is a signature dish, created by the Aria Restaurant in Sydney.
Its a total disaster, and one that wouldn't go amis in economy. Absolutely no flavour at all - its like eating cardboard. The only real flavour came from the tomatos.
The rolls are good however, and if you ask the crew, they will exchange your butter for olive oil, in a little bottle.
It's getting hard to find a decent desert on Singapore Airlines in business class, but occasionally you get lucky and get a good tart.
The frangipane is very good indeed, and well worth holding out your second tummy for.
This is a rather odd cheesecake: it's made up in a tartlet base, but with normal cheesecake ingredients, and then with cream dumped on top.
All in all, rather weird, and to be avoided.
Four grapes. A dried apricot.
Hmmm... this is a bit of an embarasement. It's sold as a board of Gourmet cheeses with garnishes. But, oh woe, its tiny.
Four grapes.
Two types of biscuits.
This would be fine of there were a few more biscuits.
Other than that it works really well, and the Red Leicester is pretty good to find on a plane, which the french stuff is also nice and tasty.
I was very impressed by the crew who took away my white wine glass, and replaced it with a glass of port, even before I'd noticed. This cheese board is, alas only served on flight to Sydney, not on ones coming from Sydney.
A fruit bowl with a kiwi, two strawberries, two halves of pineapple, and two grapes. A croissant with butter and a tub of jam.
A Cappuccino coffee!
I'm amazed that its possible to get a good cappuccino on the flight - but it is, and its very definitely Starbucks tastic. Well done Singapore airlines.
Alas the croissant came with a big thumb print in the middle of it (a Singapore habit, I'm told.).
The fruit was good - just right to wake me up.
A croissant with butter and a tub of marmalade.
A Cappuccino coffee, orange juice, and water.
This is served at the start of the shorter flight to SIN from SYD, and differs from the longer flights by the fact that alternatives for the jam aren't offered.
Alas the croissant still came with a big thumb print in the middle of it.
Potato waffle. Tomato.
This left me begging to get back to economy.
Far worse than many insults which have been brewed in the name of bad airline food, this was cold, stiff, with no flavour... and a chicken sausage?
What?
I know airlines love chicken... but I ask you! Madness...
Fair cake Knob style, with marmalde.
A chicken sausage again. If anything, this just proves Singapore's obsession with chicken.
However the sausages were actually a delight, soft and tender, with a wonderful bed of potatoes. Admittedly after eating this lot I was so full I couldn't eat anything else, but I was happy.
However that fairy cake worries me. I mean, I know Singapore have another obsession with these, however someone needs to warn them about taste.
A tub of hot green chillies.
A crossant with strawberry jam and butter.
This is a typical Asian breakfast. With the shakeup of your body clock as you fly very long haul, it may feel like dinner time to you - and so this goes down a treat.
The duck is pretty annonymous. However the mushrooms really makes this good. Don't, whatever you, take the chillis. It's hot enough to turn your mouth into a jet engine.
A Cappuccino coffee.
This looks revolting, feels horrible, and tastes great.
A lot of people asked for muesli, and were shocked when served this, and yet its great. Really it is, once you get past the slimey feel of it.
One cheese, and ham, and one a fairly anonymous type of fish.
A delight of Raffles class is that at any point you can request some more food you want.
On flights above 10 hours there are packets of sandwiches. Fairly disgusting they do at least combat the boredom.