Airplane food

Airplane meals. I totally understand why so many people hate them. The bread is cold and hard, the meal is either too bland or too salty, and the random plastic cup of orange juice just cuts your drying lips and then stings them.

But Qantas meals are a whole other story. (I know this probably would sound so exaggerated that it is a borderline advertisement, but, seriously, I mean every word I write.)

I had already spent 12 hours on a plane and was not at all looking forward to another 10. I FaceTimed my sister during my transfer in HKG airport, and she told me that Qantas had good warm bread. However, me being me, I was quite skeptical of how good airplane food could actually be.

As I sat down, I reached for the menu in my seat pocket, reading the description of the in-flight meal. It seemed decent enough, but my past flying experiences have taught me that airplane menus are some of the most deceptive things in the world.

A couple of hours into the flight, I was drifting off to sleep, but the mild aroma of food woke me up. I poked my head into the aisle and sure enough, the flight attendants were getting ready to serve our meal.

I chose one of the three items on the menu and my food was placed onto my tray table.

As I was about to reach for the butter (in my opinion, that’s the only thing that makes airplane bread bearable), I realized that it wasn’t there, but I was so hungry that I was not going to waste time to ask for butter.

The moment that I bit into the warm bun, I understood why it was served on its own – it simply didn’t need anything else. The bun was warm, soft and fluffy; and it slowly melted into my mouth. It had butter and rosemary right at the center, giving it the perfect flavor that just made me want to slowly savor it despite my hunger.

Finishing off the last bite of the bun, I lifted the aluminum foil to uncover my meal – stir-fried eggplant with rice. It does not look like the most amazing thing in this picture, but it tasted to me like heaven. The rice was cooked to the perfect texture, not at all soggy with just the right amount of chewiness. The vegetables tasted fresh, were crunchy and cut to the perfect bite-size. And the eggplant… it actually tasted like eggplant, slightly sweet and seasoned such that the taste was 恰到好處。I guess that phrase roughly translates to being seasoned to perfection, but I feel like the word “perfection” has a stronger directional sense, like it means the more the better. 恰到好處, I feel, conveys more of a sense of balance, the equilibrium of saltiness and sweetness and spiciness, the taste of soy in the sauce strong enough and yet not so strong that it overpowers the taste of the eggplant. The portions of rice, veggies and eggplant also perfectly complimented each other, so that when I finished there wasn’t anything leftover.

Already satiated, I moved on to dessert, which was a smooth Pana Cotta accompanied by crushed Oreo on top. I think this combination needs no explanation – it simply is a match made in heaven.

Then I finished off my meal with Ginger Ale :D

My favorite thing about this meal was actually the fact that it wasn’t served on a tray like traditional airplane meals. I feel like those meals always come with one or two random “appetizers” or “desserts” that by no means taste good, but you always feel obligated to eat them so as to not waste food. This meal had everything it needed to be good. No more, no less.

Breakfast was also served before I left the plane, and it was just as elegantly simple and good as the last meal. There was a warm, moist banana muffin (that actually tasted like bananas and not artificial flavoring), as well as a large portion of fresh fruits (not a couple of tiny pieces that airlines usually give you as a pathetic attempt of making their meals seem fresh and healthy). And of course, you could never go wrong with a good cup of tea at breakfast😊

It honestly is miraculous how I felt more replenished after this ten-hour flight than before, and I would say that it is all thanks to the food.

(Funny story: as the flight attendant asked me if I wanted tea at breakfast, he asked if I wanted Black Tea or Jasmine Tea. I said Black. Then he asked if I wanted milk, and then he laughed to himself. He said, “now would you like some milk to make the Black Tea White Tea? :)” Okay, maybe it wasn’t that funny, but you’ve got to give him props because how often do you find flight attendants even making a remote attempt at humor?)