This flight was going to be very unusual, right from the off, as we both have elected to take several months' off drinking – which of course, is both the overarching theme of this blog, and a pivotal part of my travel experience. So that left us with just this; a bland, miniature lunch of Japanese Teriyaki Chicken.
Airline: Etihad EY46
Route: Dublin – Abu Dhabi (Approx. 7 Hours)
Class: Economy
After a beautiful morning take-off, we sat about enjoying the in-flight entertainment, provided today by the guy behind us trying to chat up – quite unsuccessfully – his seat-mate, in our vintage Etihad 777 they continue to send to and from Dublin.
Before long, meal service commenced, with a verbal presentation of our menu options “chicken or brrbbr pasta”. When we asked for clarification on the pasta, the same noise was made along with the word ‘pasta', and so we both elected to go with the safer-sounding chicken.
In the absence of a delicious adult beverage, I accompanied my meal with an orange juice and tried my very best to imagine it was actually a mimosa. That seemed to make everything better, at least temporarily.
To start, we had a quinoa salad that certainly tasted healthy, and as salad often does for me, made me hungrier than I had been before I'd started eating it. Accompanying that was an individually plastic-wrapped bread roll made in Portugal, according to the wrapper. I don't want to waste anyone's precious minutes by describing to you a bread roll, so we'll move on.
The main today turned out, in fact, to be some kind of teriyaki chicken – an obvious choice between Europe and the Middle East first thing in the morning. I would describe it as, simply, ‘adequate'. It was relatively bland, filling, and nothing much else.
If it had been bland however, the ‘passionfruit cheesecake' certainly wasn't, and seemed a very eclectic choice. I know the brand, Lily O'Brien's, for their chocolate – and can't say the dessert offering left me dying to explore the rest of the flavoured cheesecake range.
After another two very exciting orange juices, it was time to lay the head down (well…somewhat) and try to sleep; for the grand total of 45 minutes, thanks to the small child in front of me who kept kicking my feet under the seat (the joy of being tall, I suppose).
Overall, the culinary offering on this flight certainly wouldn't incentivise anyone to go out of their way to select Etihad again, and in line with everything else, this was very much an experience to get us from A to B rather than any actual enjoyment during the journey.
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