SQ32 SIN-SFO Non-stop on SIA's A350-900WXB, Comparing 1-stop vs Non-stop, & SF Dining

[yflyer]

Glasses of Col Bel Casa Nova Frizzante, a kind of sparklng prosecco, to start…





First up, avocado balls stuffed with crab…



Quite delicious! Melt-in-the mouth avocado and crab, with a crisp crunch from the sprinkling of toasted pine nuts…

The next wine was a La Baia del Sole Vermentino Colli di Luni “Oro d’Isee”, from Liguria in Italy…

“This is Arepa, white corn bread from my home country…” Manny said, as he explained the next dish...this had heirloom tomatos, avocado, cilantro and a very generous stuffing of burrata cheese…



This was a dish unlike anything I had encountered. The corn bread had wonderful texture, and the avocado and burrata filling had a rich, yet subtle, creamy flavour…

My one regret with this dish was that, I have a dietary constraint that, while I enjoy creamy dishes, and soft cheese like burrata, I could only eat tiny quantites (And I mean tiny)...the creaminess was too much for my digestive system, and I could not finish the whole Arepa, which was quite large…how I wish I could have packed it and eaten it later in the hotel room…

And this was just the second course, there was a lot more to come…

[yflyer]

The next course of mussels was paired with Ciro Rosato from Cantina Francesco Malena…



…this was a rosé wine, made with Gaglioppo grapes, with a very distinctive taste…



…which went very well with the PEI mussels with peruvian potato puree and Colombian ground coffee.



This dish was a great example of Manny’s cooking flair: The PEI mussels were fresh and delicate (PEI? I Googled this later…this stood for Prince Edward Island, where you could get great mussels). When conceiving this dish, Manny felt it that the rich flavour of the mussels needed something sharp or even bitter to counterbalance it, hence the Colombian ground coffee grains, which was a brilliant touch that added complexity and an edge to the dish.

With each course, Manny came over to the counter to introduce each dish, and in between running the kitchen, had time to come by to chat with us, to catch up with HUGE AL, and to regale us with stories of his recent, extended, trip to Europe and Italy with his wife Katerina, and how they had tasted outstanding cuisine in top restaurants Italy and elsewhere, mostly without prior reservations…at these restaurants, if you were a fellow chef, you might just find yourself sampling the cuisine, not as a customer per se, but as a fellow colleague, maybe sharing a table in the kitchen if the main dining room was all booked out, but indulging in the most incredible cuisine…

HUGE AL had been a fan and a friend of Manny for a long time, and related how Manny’s previous restaurant, The Palace, had been severely damaged in a fire in 2015. After over a year closed, and after renovations, Francisca’s opened. If anything, this seems to have inspired the incredibly energetic Manny to even greater heights.

[yflyer]

Manny came up to us with an ice-filled metal bowl, and in it were several fresh sea urchins (If I recall correctly, these were from Santa Barbara)…



…which he proceeded to cut open with scissors (Exactly the same way I had seen done by a Japanese seafood seller in a market in Osaka).

The urchin roe inside looked so fresh and appetizing, I could have reached over and eaten it straight off the spoon if Manny had offered it to me…



But no, Manny had other plans, the sea urchin came atop a dish of pasta…



…accompanied with a crisp Sauvignon Blanc, Le Grande Ballon, from Loire in France…



Mmmm…delicious…I could have devoured a huge helping of this sea urchin pasta, with the intense flavour of the uni transforming this pasta dish to something quite special…

[yflyer]

And next, a tasting portion of lasagna…in most normal situations, a lasagna is a heavy dish, a meal in itself, but here, in this context, this was a few heavenly bites of rich comfort food, prepared in ultra-refined fashion…



..to go with it, Beaujolais Villages red from Laurent Perrachon…



At this point I was starting to lose track of how many wines (and how many courses) had gone by…

A beautiful venison carpaccio was next..



This was the perfect complement to the lasagna that had gone before…heavenly, and ultra tender, raw slices of veal slices, enlivened with small chunks of aged 20 month old parmigiano cheese...

“Eat it with the cheese…” Manny suggested…”the flavour of the cheese just pops in your mouth…”…he said, as he watched me intently, as I savoured each bite…

[yflyer]

And then, a heavy-hitting red wine, a Barbera d’Asti…



…to go with our main course, which was really a whopping three courses in one…



What could I say? An amazing tasting selection of meat courses, meat on the bone, burger and pasta, a three-in-one platter that appealed to both the flesh and the spirit…

HUGE AL and I were probably ready to surrender at that point, but Manny had other ideas…



…glasses of Oro en Pax, a pinot noir from Anderson Valley, to go with a final savoury dish…



With the endless flow of exceedingly generous wine pours, all I recall at this point, was that the meat dish pictured above was absolutely delicious, and I would have to rely on HUGE AL to remind me what this dish was…

After a suitable pause, Manny served dessert…a delicate creation topped with a macaroon…



…and with it, a sweet wine, Brachetto d'Acqui, from Italy…



What a satisfying selection of wines this evening…some very unusual choices and grape varietals, but each going perfectly with Manny’s inspired cuisine…

And just when we were wiping our lips with our napkins, out came another dessert platter…



…which we somehow managed to do a decent job of gobbling up…

[yflyer]

What an amazing dinner…we had started at 6…it was now 9.30pm…three and a half hours seemed to have gone by in a flash, and apart from the mindblowing succession of courses and wine, and it was also great to learn more about Manny too, both from him relating his experiences, as well as from the food itself, which was the product of these experiences.

If I were asked to describe Manny’s style based on this one dinner, my impression is that the this is a chef with a passion, and a perfectionist streak, and someone who takes very personally the responsibility of preparing very fine cuisine for his guests. Manny’s blend of modern American/Italian cuisine with Venezuelan influences also brings something unique to the mix.

In SF’s saturated restaurant scene, is this the fanciest, most stylish, and trendiest place around? No, but I don’t think that was Chef Manny’s objective in the first place. The ambience and setting are fine, but here I get the sense that it is all about tickling the senses and tastebuds with an amazing range of flavours and cuisine.

While there are many wonderful restaurants in SF, I would return to Francisca’s because of its refreshing intimacy – a sense that this was one man’s vision of what a fine meal should be. We were taken on a culinary journey with Manny as personal guide. What a delicious journey it was!

In terms of dinner at a TR-worthy restaurant, HUGE AL scored a bull’s eye here. I am glad that dates and calendars matched up for dinner at Francisca’s with HUGE AL...the most memorable dinner of my trip…

[yflyer]

The next day I headed to SFO in the late evening for my flight home on SQ1. By the time I got there, at close to midnight, the check-in area was fairly quiet.



Security lines were also mercifully short at that hour – a lot less busy than other flights I had been on, which departed lin the morning or afternoon.

The old United Club and the old SilverKris lounge in the international airside area have both closed. In it’s place: a new United Polaris Lounge, which was only open to Business and First Class passengers, not Star Gold.



I headed, instead, to the new United Club (Covered here), which was the previous United Global First Lounge.



The lounge has not been renovated – it has been converted, as-is, to a United Club.

In fact, some of the facilities that were previously available as an F lounge, such as showers, are no longer available, probably to keep it consistent with United Clubs elsewhere, which generally don’t offer showers.



I had just enough time for a short lounge visit before heading to the gate...



…where 9V-SWZ, a very new 77WR, with the new 2013 cabin products, was being prepped for departure.



The large gate holding area…



On time boarding…



Economy earbuds and newpapers on the aerobridge…

[yflyer]

The business class cabin, which has a similar J cabin product on this 77WR as on the A350-900XWB that brought me here on the SIN-SFO non-stop.



Of course, this seat is slightly larger on the 77WR than it is on the A350, on account of the wider 777 fuselage.



I’ve not tried this A350 J seat yet, so I won’t comment on how it compares to 77WR, which I have tried, and found to be very comfortable.

Next, the premium economy cabin, with the same PEY seat as on the A380. This is a noticeably larger PEY seat than on the A350. PEY on the 77WR (and A380) is clearly more spacious to PEY on the A350.

[yflyer]

The Economy cabin, with the superb 2013 Y seats.



Spacious row 41 Bulkhead seats…



The 2nd Y cabin is done in cream and brown…



No issue with recline in the last row of each section…



A very spacious and airy cabin, laid out in 9-abreast 3-3-3. SQ should be commended for retaining this 3-3-3 Y layout on their 777’s, as some other airlines cave into commercial pressures to pack their 777’s 10-abreast, in an awful 3-4-3 layout that I avoid whenever possible.

[yflyer]

This seat has a very well padded and contoured seat frame, with a solid back (No way you will be able to feel the knees of the person behind you in this seat, unlike the new CX A350 Y seat).



The armrests are slimline, with a dark grey top.



Decent seat pich, with no underseat obstructions.



Oval shaped footrests, which have been removed from SQ’s short/medium haul aircraft, but which have been retained on long haul aircraft.



Large widescreen HD in-flight entertainment, with the excellent new Krisworld system. Note the USB port for charging portable devices.



Seats have A/C power.



Seat width is great…



Recline is superb as well…



Overall, an excellent Y seat, that even later generations of SQ Y seats, including the A350 Y seat, and maybe even the new 2017 A380 Y seat, have not managed to top...

[yflyer]

Hot towels before take-off...exactly what one needs after a long day, prior to a red-eye flight...



Amenity kits…

[yflyer]

Supper was served...



Today's menu...





Supper after take-off...





Mid-flight snacks...



...and breakfast before arrival in HKG.



The menu for the HKG-SIN segment...

[yflyer]

I chose the Stir fried Kong Pau chicken, which was quite delicious…



Dessert was Ice cream…



Which also hit the spot…

[yflyer]

And then the cabin was dimmed for the long overwater segment over the Pacific ocean...

I slept well...

10 hours into the flight, I work up and found myself over Japan...



My throat felt a little dry…a familiar feeling, but at that moment I realised that after the non-stop SIN-SFO leg on the A350 – I didn’t have that dryness. Perhaps the lower cabin pressure on the A350 (And also 787), where the cabin is pressurised to an altitide to 6000 feet, rather than the 8000 feet of older jets such as the 777, did make a difference.

I headed to the galley, where snacks were laid out on the counter...

[yflyer]

Eventually it was time for breakfast…

The tray as served…



With covers off…



Tasty dim sum…



...and a breadroll with a very light, almost crumbly texture...



The sun was rising…





The restrooms had obviously been refreshed at regular intervals during the flight…





Excellent cabin ambience in both Y...





...and PEY cabins...





Looking at the PEY cabin on the 77WR just highlighted once again the difference between PEY on the 77WR and the A350. In the wider 777 cabin, the 2-4-2 layout allows for wider PEY seats and a greater sense of spaciousness than A350 PEY, which is also 2-4-2.