Cathay Pacific has been working with created together with Michelin-starred restaurant Duddell’s to celebrate Hong Kong’s culinary heritage, with a new menu out of Hong Kong International Airport.
First Class Items
Business Class
The menu refresh is for the airlines’ Business and First class cabins, showing off the food culture of Hong Kong and how both Cathay Pacific and Duddell’s interpret this.
This will be available on select flights from Hong Kong, with refreshed selections of dishes throughout the year.
First class
First-class customers can start with one of a selection of appetisers, among them chilled abalone and cucumber with black vinegar, or minced pork with mixed vegetables and pomelo, served with lettuce wraps and prawn crackers.
Chilled abalone and cucumber with black vinegar
They then move on to a choice of exquisite main courses. The red braised Iberico pork belly with radish takes its cue from the Shanghainese classic braised pork belly and features premium Iberico pork belly simmered in a sweet, sticky glaze of soy sauce, sugar and our chef’s special blend of Chinese spices.
Red braised Iberico pork belly with radish
The wok-fried lobster in white pepper sauce with spring onions and ginger is inspired by the Chinese banquet classic and crowd-favourite dish in local seafood restaurants, with a nod to the Singaporean speciality of white pepper crab.
The meal concludes with dessert. One of the highlights is a light, refreshing and cooling chrysanthemum and longan jelly.
Business class
Customers flying in Business class will enjoy newly designed starters that embrace an interesting twist on some popular Chinese classics. Among these are drunken prawns with aged Huadiao wine and shredded chicken and jellyfish salad with sesame dressing.
Drunken prawns with aged Huadiao wine
For the main course, customers can enjoy dishes such as steamed halibut with cordyceps flowers, aged mandarin peel and preserved black olives, which is inspired by the cuisine of Shunde in Southern China.
The barramundi fillets with pickled mustard greens in hot and sour rice noodle soup is another option that is available throughout the flight as a light meal or snack being a lighter interpretation of Sichuanese spicy and sour poached fish with the addition of rice noodles.
There are of course choices of the desert too. Standouts include ginger milk pudding or strawberry yoghurt pudding.
In Quotes
Cathay Pacific General Manager Customer Experience and Design Vivian Lo said:
“We are very excited to partner with acclaimed restaurant Duddell’s, who shares our core values of thoughtfully curated dining with warm service, to showcase this new culinary experience for our premium customers. We want to deliver delightful dining experiences for our customers by focusing on the details that matter, and this ethos is at the heart of every single dish we developed together.
“As Hong Kong’s home airline, we place great importance on serving our customers with authentic local culinary delights through our ‘Hong Kong Flavours’ concept, while also showcasing the diverse range of cuisines our city has to offer. By partnering with renowned Hong Kong restaurants, we hope to give our customers an unforgettable introduction to our city’s culinary offerings and a comforting reminder of the taste of home.”
JIA Group Chief Executive Officer Yenn Wong said:
“We have always wanted to partner with Cathay Pacific, one of the most prevalent service providers in the travel industry and a renowned airline. Coincidentally, Duddell’s, one of our popular outlets amongst tourists, has an outpost at Hong Kong International Airport, making the partnership even easier as having an outpost at the airport aids in spreading and fostering Hong Kong’s food culture to the international crowd.
“As Duddell’s serves Cantonese cuisine, the theme is unquestionably Hong Kong-inspired. We want to create and bring Hong Kong’s traditional flavours, with easy access, to different parts of the world. The team has curated an extensive menu that caters to First and Business class, from appetisers through to desserts.”
Delivery will be key
These are wonderful offerings that Cathay Pacific is making – but these are all ground-shot images. The real test is how these dishes hold up in the air.
Food changes how it behaves in the air – with older aircraft pressurised at different levels compared to newer aircraft, which have a different pressurisation level. This has an impact on the human body and how it reacts to taste (it’s also the reason why salt and stronger flavours are added, as opposed to more delicate notes).
It will be interesting to see how Cathay Pacific, Duddell’s and Cathay Pacific’s caterers take this into account in the menu development and deployment from Hong Kong.
All Images: Cathay Pacific.
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