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British Airways’ Club Europe Offering

Andy · December 22, 2019 · Leave a Comment

BA Club Europe

Unfortunately, the short 50-minute hop from London to Dublin does not permit much time for the preparation, serving and enjoyment of a meal of much luxury and opulence; but one must remember that in Europe, the meal is effectively the only key differentiator between business class and economy. With that in mind, this meal didn’t exactly leave me feeling truly inspired.

Airline: British Airways BA828
Route: London – Dublin (Approx. 1 hour)
Class: Business (or “Club Europe”)

For those who are unfamiliar, this is actually widely considered and paid for as a ‘business class’ cabin in Europe, even though as you can see from the picture above, legroom is certainly not one of the key benefits. As a result, even on a short 50-minute jaunt like this, food and beverage represents the main differentiator from the economy cabin.

In this respect, BA have a hard job of trying to whip up much of a gastronomic storm in such a short span of time, and initial efforts to serve everyone individually one by one directly from the galley had to be unfortunately tossed to the wind by Row 3, in order to approach any chance of giving all business passengers a meal and drink by the time we needed to pack everything away again for landing.

Another limitation of course on a smaller aircraft such as this is the available real estate on the tray table surface, upon which to serve a multi-course epicurean feast. As a result, just trying to figure out where I should place the glass of water, and whether it or the wine deserved the indented drink space on the table, where should the cutlery go that it wouldn’t likely fall off; these were questions to be answered with Tetris grandmaster-like precision.

Unfortunately, menu’s did not exist whatsoever and so I can’t offer up a fancy title for this meal, but it was effectively a combination of cold cured meats that actually weren’t too bad, accompanied by an explosive egg salad – which I sampled a spoon of, and decided that being in a window seat a few rows back from the conveniences, was not worth the potential ramifications of continuing with – and then of course the dessert that had a sticky mango layer, followed by what seemed to be just cream underneath. How bizarre.

For my adult beverage, I enjoyed what was very descriptively offered to me as simply, “the French”. I wasn’t at all sure what to do with that information – did that mean it had something of a gallic temperament? Or was it likely to up sticks and go on strike? I will never know – but it was very pleasant.

In conclusion though, there really is very little that can be achieved within the short hop duration of this flight – but then again, the meal is literally the only thing separating (well, aside from a flimsy curtain) Club Europe cabin from the economy cabin. British Airways have given it a good go, the staff were doing their best (bar the initial confusion over how to serve everyone) but this just isn’t a flight you will come off feeling deeply satisfied with the gastronomic offerings.

Filed Under: Average, Featured, Inflight, Lunch, Meals Tagged With: british airways, club europe, dublin airport, heathrow

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Who Complains So Much?

Andy

Hi, I'm Andy - Irish world traveller, with a penchant for dissecting and complaining about global inflight cuisine.

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Gramtastic Memories

eatsbythewindowseat

This was a reasonable in-flight spread for a fligh This was a reasonable in-flight spread for a flight barely over an hour - if I hadn't already been so salty from being involuntarily (and quietly) downgraded from business to economy.
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TK2016 / Istanbul - Kayseri ✈️ / Economy 💺
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After enjoying a glorious nights' sleep on Turkish's service from Kuala Lumpur to Istanbul the night before, it was with profound sadness and confusion that I found myself, without a word spoken by any member of staff, ushered into the economy class cabin of today's flight, TK2016, to Kayseri - despite, that is, paying a business class fare (for those wondering, there was no business cabin offered that day after a change of some sort, though @turkishairlines is yet to reply to my "feedback").
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To comfort me in my time of despair, the in-flight snack offered today was a lukewarm ciabatta accompanied by slices of tomato, and doorstep-size slices of cheese. It was a stodge-fest if ever there was one. 
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Accompanying this veritable bread-based heavyweight was a choice of 'juices', served alongside a pouch of water. Tea & coffee was also offered.
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Overall, for an economy snack, not that I was expecting one, it more than did the trick and you could've lasted a full day after consuming the culinary cocktail of all that bread and cheese. 
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As we all know, you'd be hard pressed to even get a crumb in Europe in economy, let alone juice, water and a sandwich on such a short flight - so I was left quite impressed, if a little over-full!
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Kudos to Turkish for setting some kind of standard for complimentary food in economy even on short domestic flights - even if there was very little much else to say about this unexpected mini banquet. 
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#eatsbythewindowseat #windowseatpreferred #inflightmeal #meal #economyclass #airplanefood #airplanemeal #flight #IST #ASR #inflightcuisine #TK2016 #fly #turkishairlines #business
While the plating (if one can call it that) leaves While the plating (if one can call it that) leaves much to the imagination, the taste proved, once again, that Malaysia Airlines is best sticking to the simple, not overly-sophisticated dishes.
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MH1145 / Penang - Kuala Lumpur ✈️ / Business ✨
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Still trying to forget, despite many months of intense effort, the disgraceful chee cheong fun that last assaulted my palate in Malaysia Airlines' short-haul business cabin, it was with great trepidation and fear that I once again put myself courageously to the front - literally and figuratively - of the cabin for what I hoped would not be a repeat performance.
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Once again, service begun from the rear of the business cabin, working its way slowly towards the front row where I was perched, all the while affording an opportunity to build a sense of suspense and anxiety.
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Mercifully, we were spared an exact repeat and instead treated to some kind of roti and chicken curry dish (I did ask for what type of roti it was, as it looked slightly thicker than a typical roti canai - but was informed 'it's roti canai' without hesitation, so let's go with that). 
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While the plating may not exactly be incredibly elegant or delicate; it tasted absolutely great, a perfect amount of spice and flavour for me, all to be mopped up by our oversized roti's. If only we could have such consistency in tasty, homely dishes. 
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Beverage service was a choice between juices and water, and an admonishment to 'eat quickly because we're landing' even though it was 3 minutes after we'd been served due to the back-to-front service order. 
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Overall, this was one of the best meals I've been served on Malaysia Airlines short-haul. Just the right amount of food, with great flavour, and nothing overly complicated or difficult to produce - something they seem to struggle with both in terms of production and delivery. Absolutely as good as it gets, much to my surprise and delight!
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#eatsbythewindowseat #windowseatpreferred #inflightmeal #meal #businessclass #airplanefood #airplanemeal #flight #PEN #KUL #inflightcuisine #MH1145 #fly #malaysiaairlines #business #mas
After being denied boarding with Ryanair the previ After being denied boarding with Ryanair the previous evening (despite in fact trying to board), it was with a new level of patience and gratitude that I enjoyed this SAS Plus breakfast service from Heathrow to Copenhagen. Have times changed? No.
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SK500 / London - Copenhagen ✈️ / Economy 💺
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As it is well known and understood by all, breakfast is a meal I consistently detest on-board flights of all airlines and cabins. Generally stodgy, with meat of questionable provenance, it is a meal I look forward to the least.
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So you can imagine my surprise and actual enchantment with the more sensible, reliable offering afforded on this SAS flight from London Heathrow to Copenhagen, in SAS Plus.
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Included in our Scandinavian forest-branded box today, was a yoghurt, blackberry granola, a cardboard tin of mango & orange smoothie, a slice of cheese and a very lovely - and incredibly sugary - jar of orange marmalade. 
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To the hungry passenger this all may sound incredibly minimalist and disappointing, but in my mind, where the alternative is a tinfoil tray of stodge, it was exactly what was required. 
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The only notable exception to this otherwise delightful medley unfortunately being a bread roll that was proffered at a later stage, that seemed designed to emulate the toughness of the Scandinavian winter. I suspect I may have lost several teeth in that particular battle. 
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Sobriety was the order of the morning, and so I settled on a cup of coffee with refills offered but quickly forgotten about.
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Overall, this was actually one my favourite in-flight breakfast meals served onboard of all time. Fresh, not too much, and with nothing that could cause an immediate stomach disagreement, I only wish more airlines would follow this train of thought.
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#eatsbythewindowseat #windowseatpreferred #inflightmeal #meal #economyclass #airplanefood #airplanemeal #flight #LHR #CPH #inflightcuisine #SK500 #fly #sas #sasplus #economy #scandinavianairlines
After the culinary catastrophe that represented br After the culinary catastrophe that represented breakfast earlier in this flight, I was surprised to be woken halfway through for another gastronomic effort.
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SQ305 / London - Singapore ✈️ / Economy 💺
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With the apparent luck of the Gods on my side for this meal service, I was offered the regular choice of chicken curry or prawns in brown butter sauce (what on earth is a brown butter sauce comprised of, I dread to think) - or a leftover meal from Premium Economy, the apparent 'beef steak' meal.
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Calling this particular esculent a 'steak' felt like we were being incredibly economical with the truth, but I will admit it at least visually appeared far more tantalising than what had been witnessed earlier in the flight. 
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In terms of taste, I was impressed by the satisfying palatability of this meal - admittedly drowned in gravy, it all went down with no trouble. The spinach was by all means wilted beyond redemption or saviour, but again, tasted fine once suitably drowned in the accompany gravy.
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Accompanying our evening meal tonight was a harmless bread roll, as well as crackers and cheese, and a very delicious Lily O'Briens chocolate mousse pot - this, for me, was of course the pinnacle of the meal. 
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All washed down this evening by a carefully rationed two glasses of mystery white wine.
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Overall, this was a great comeback after the abysmal horror that had graced my tray table earlier on in the same flight and gave me hope - reasonably well placed - for the remainder of my Singapore Airlines' flights. 
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#eatsbythewindowseat #windowseatpreferred #inflightmeal #meal #economyclass #airplanefood #airplanemeal #flight #LHR #SIN #inflightcuisine #SQ305 #singaporeairlines #sq #economy

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