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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

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
It's no secret that I have yet to enjoy an in-flig It's no secret that I have yet to enjoy an in-flight breakfast, and this culinary abomination would not be the meal to change that unbroken record.
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SQ305 / London - Singapore ✈️ / Economy 💺
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I was disappointed from the outset, immediately upon realising that breakfast would be our first meal on today's flight, and realising that I was likely to encounter nothing less than an unmitigated culinary horror show. 
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With a choice between the ominously non-descriptive 'scrambled eggs' or Indonesian chicken noodles (when was Indonesian noodles a strong representation of Singaporean cuisine?), I elected somewhat abruptly, surprising even myself, to opt for the scrambled eggs. Drinks on offer were tea and coffee, though fruit juice was available on request. Alcoholic options were not presented at all.
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Peeling back the tinfoil metaphorical shop shutter of this highly unenticing meal, I was greeted by a medley of assorted breakfast items of varying portion sizes and states of visual unpleasantness.
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The taste was equally unpleasant - ranging between the nuclear-temperature worryingly soft scrambled eggs to the pork sausage that seemed to require a troubling amount of chewing.
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The bread roll and room temperature yoghurt represented by all accounts the dual peaks of the meal.
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Following my attempt at the meal, it was time to sample the wine options; "white or red". The white wine, name unknown, was not disagreeable though had a fruitiness that made me wonder how sharp it might be at ground level.
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Overall, one of the greatest post wake-up disappointments and another reason why airlines and breakfasts are deeply incompatible bedfellows. 
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#eatsbythewindowseat #windowseatpreferred #inflightmeal #meal #economyclass #airplanefood #airplanemeal #flight #LHR #SIN #inflightcuisine #SQ305 #singaporeairlines #sq #economy
Here we have the (paid for) offering's of TAP - op Here we have the (paid for) offering's of TAP - operated by Portugalia, if that makes any difference - on our crossing to Lisbon. I always enjoy a paper cup of wine...
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TP1323 / Dublin - Lisbon ✈️ / Economy 💺
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With no expectations going in to this journey, I was initially pleasantly surprised by the option-lacking, but somewhat good value menu that was furnished on-board. Unfortunately, it will be noted that many, if not all, hot food options come marked 'Not available on Embraer', which of course is precisely what I was contained within. 
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With just a nudge under 3 hours to spare, I decided to indulge in the value meal including an option upgrade to wine, as opposed to a soft drink. As you can see, this also came served with a cup of questionable-quality water freshly dispensed from the aircrafts water tank.
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It's been some time since I've been served an actual mini-sized glass bottle containing wine - so heavy that I pondered upon how much extra fuel had to be carried in order to ferry these countless glass bottles from place to place. Before of course, I poured myself a room-temperature serving of the very beverage.
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On the whole, while also served slightly colder than room temperature and somewhat stodgy, the pastrami sandwich was perfectly acceptable - if perhaps not exactly haute cuisine - for the journey.
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The wine meanwhile started off fruitier than expected, but as with most alcohol, became palatable the longer I spent drinking it - to the point where it actually became very enjoyable and a second top-up wouldn't have been out of place, were we not landing shortly thereafter. 
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The 'Mediterranean crisps' were appropriately described, and included enough salt to trigger irreparable kidney damage - perhaps that's why the cup of water was considered necessary. 
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Overall though, for a flight of only 3 hours within Europe where food and drink offerings are always a paid-for extra, I left satisfied and curious to know where I might find that wine again. A surprising, half thumbs-up for TAP*.
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#eatsbythewindowseat #windowseatpreferred #inflightmeal #meal #economyclass #airplanefood #airplanemeal #flight #DUB #EIDW #LIS #inflightcuisine #tp1323

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