Another trip in Club Europe, this time on the short flight between Dublin and London City, saw this absolute abomination on offer to keep one satisfied; what I am informed was a salmon salad that, based on its presentation, was very much the essence of why sometimes you probably should judge a book by its cover.
Airline: British Airways BA4467
Route: Dublin – London City (Approx. 1 hours)
Class: Business (or, once again, “Club Europe”)
On flights of this length, as I have often found, there is simply insufficient time for the crew to prepare and serve much in the way of substance, although good presentation goes some way to offset whatever paltry offering is available. In this case, even that went very much by the wayside and out came this tray of horrors.
A single slice of ‘crusty’ (i.e. stale) bread drew attention to the clotted cream and jam in the little jar behind, both of which were left bereft as the scones were only belatedly handled out far after the mealtime had passed and pretty much everyone was completely finished and now hastily moving onto ordering additional drinks in the vain hope that doing so might assist them in forgetting the meal (I tried – it didn’t).
The mains was – as I alluded to above – the salmon salad pictured, which featured 3 very lumpy blocks of smoked salmon, resting gently on a bed of some kind of smush. I can’t describe what was in there, but there were definitely some apple chunks, and a half a grape. Other than that though, it was just like a cold mash of random salad items, all of it – including the salmon – displaying most undelightful pallor.
Dessert came in the form of a not altogether inedible cheesecake, although unfortunately no reference was made to this and it could only be discerned by taste. To be honest, with the exception of the wine, it represented by far the most desirable element of the entire meal.
A meal of such quality definitely requires a beverage with which to wash it down; and there was a lot of washing down to be done in this case, in order to clear the taste of the few pieces of salmon salad I’d endured. The wine, offered only to me as “the white” was not offensive at all, and thankfully two additional bottles were offered – silently, I presume, as a form of appropriate compensation for suffering through the meal.
Ending this lengthy diatribe and to summarise, this was simply not an acceptable meal for any cabin; I actually felt strongly that a packet of crisps and a chocolate bar would’ve been far more preferable. How this could be plonked down on the tray table of any business traveller – except those you’re trying to poison – I will never know.
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