Shrinking Meal Portions in Business Class?

[benlee]

Is it just me or the meal portions in business class flights are getting smaller and smaller over the years? It seems most of the time, there are more condiments than actual food served on the plate.

Was on an afternoon flight yesterday from Shanghai to Singapore and the main course I ordered, the seared chicken's portion was so tiny, I actually for the first time asked for a second meal. The air stewardess looked genuinely bewildered when I made the unconventional request. To her credit, she managed to conjure up a second serving despite a full flight. But again a tiny piece of lamb loin. I thought of asking for a third serving but decided not to. Think I will bring packeted food up next time or eat before I board.

Just an observation.

[Kyo]

PVG airport food is woeful (PEK international airside also)

[CarbonMan]

This is odd, that post was in reply to another thread...

(which I'm now searching for.... edit#2: and now found - this one, but the post this is replying to isn't there, all rather strange)

Oh dear, SQ website virus proven that it can now spread site to site.

[RHG]

How fresh is the food on SQ

Pardon if this post should go to another thread as i cant seem to find one.

The other day, i was talking to other SQ flyers who fly mainly to europe in Business. I was surprised to hear that satay served from destinations outside SIN is actually loaded onto cargo then heated up and served thereafter.

Ie, that satay or steak may actually be food brought over by cargo then served. which means its not fresh.

I wonder what the opinions are if you spend over 6k in airfares to eat stale food or food that is brought over as cargo, then prepared and kept in cargo for 24 hours.

[kapitan]

Pardon if this post should go to another thread as i cant seem to find one.

The other day, i was talking to other SQ flyers who fly mainly to europe in Business. I was surprised to hear that satay served from destinations outside SIN is actually loaded onto cargo then heated up and served thereafter.

Ie, that satay or steak may actually be food brought over by cargo then served. which means its not fresh.

I wonder what the opinions are if you spend over 6k in airfares to eat stale food or food that is brought over as cargo, then prepared and kept in cargo for 24 hours.

How fresh can meals onboard a plane be even if they were loaded at the point of departure? These would have been prepared in the factory kitchen some hours back, stored in freezers, then loaded at least 1 hour, if not longer, before departure, served 1 hour after departure and on long flights to EU, some 10 hours after take off ........ I guestimate of at least 6 hours of storage before the first meal is served at your table, whether Y, J or F and the second meal, at least 12 hours in storage before serving.

On long flights, especially those that takes off in the night, I rather eat before boarding, have a drink and go to sleep.

[CarbonMan]

Pardon if this post should go to another thread as i cant seem to find one.

The other day, i was talking to other SQ flyers who fly mainly to europe in Business. I was surprised to hear that satay served from destinations outside SIN is actually loaded onto cargo then heated up and served thereafter.

Ie, that satay or steak may actually be food brought over by cargo then served. which means its not fresh.

I wonder what the opinions are if you spend over 6k in airfares to eat stale food or food that is brought over as cargo, then prepared and kept in cargo for 24 hours.

I would suspect so, as the taste has been quite consistent every time I've had it served. Presumably it is frozen or chilled somewhere on the plane. Since it is already cooked, it can be kept for a long period of time in the right conditions.

[SQueeze]

Pardon if this post should go to another thread as i cant seem to find one.

The other day, i was talking to other SQ flyers who fly mainly to europe in Business. I was surprised to hear that satay served from destinations outside SIN is actually loaded onto cargo then heated up and served thereafter.

Hmm, now this sets me thinking about SQ67 GRU-BCN-SIN
I browsed through my pics again and there was satay ex-GRU (dinner) and ex-BCN (lunch).

At the time, i thought wow - nice tender satay and it was so good (shook) to feel authentic flavouurs from home after a central/south american vacation. I was amazed that remote catering stations could get the satay so authentically flavoured and textured.

Now it looks like the satay has actually flown SIN-BCN-GRU-BCN for almost 2 days before it gets served for lunch over Romania?


And on the topic of shrinking portion in business class, I didnt notice it as recent as September (BLR and BKK routes). I thought portions were just right, and i could go all the way to dessert course.

But I flew economy class again recently 2 weeks ago after a long absence and I was shocked at the amount of protein served: 2 bite-sized morsels of fish and a pile of rice that occupies more than half of the casserole. SQ has gone budget except for its fares

[yflyer]

Pardon if this post should go to another thread as i cant seem to find one.

The other day, i was talking to other SQ flyers who fly mainly to europe in Business. I was surprised to hear that satay served from destinations outside SIN is actually loaded onto cargo then heated up and served thereafter.

Ie, that satay or steak may actually be food brought over by cargo then served. which means its not fresh.

I wonder what the opinions are if you spend over 6k in airfares to eat stale food or food that is brought over as cargo, then prepared and kept in cargo for 24 hours.

I'm not from the airline industry, but my assumption would be that most hot dishes served inflight would be cooked, frozen and then stored for a long time before being reheated for serving. Once frozen after cooking, it seems that the food can be stored for a surprisingly long time while retaining its taste/texture.

So I would not be surprised if the satay was cooked and frozen well in advance, before thawing and heating onboard prior to service. It would be the same for most other airline food.

Besides, SQ has installed this at Changi Airport to prepare satay the traditional way...

[RHG]

Now it looks like the satay has actually flown SIN-BCN-GRU-BCN for almost 2 days before it gets served for lunch over Romania?

Exactly my point, not tongue in check but wonder how true this is and opinions.

[bent]

i am pretty sure satay is always catered ex-SIN even for ex-GRU routes (to maintain taste and authenticity); hence as you rightly pointed out, it may have been sitting in the chiller for closed to 48hrs before being served; but i guess with the right freezing and chilling procedure, food can be kept that long! after all, no one has gotten ill eating satay on board right?