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Malaysia Airlines; A Meal With Your Linen, Perhaps?

Andy · January 2, 2020 · Leave a Comment

Malaysia Airlines' 60-minute flight time offering

As you know, I’m a firm believer that flights’ within the 60-minute range simply don’t seem to offer sufficient time for the cooking, plating and serving of a meal of much decadence – and this flight was absolutely no different, with a presentation that not only rivalled, but also lost to a dog’s dinner. But to my great amazement, it tasted really quite delicious with the exception of the long beans, and not actually having a proper drink to wash it down with.

Airline: Malaysia Airlines MH795
Route: Phuket – Kuala Lumpur (Approx. 1 hour)
Class: Business

Kicking off the afternoon refreshments today was a starter of an entire tray-load of white linen tablecloths, napkins, and then more linens. I’m not entirely sure what the purpose behind this was, although I graciously accepted – letting the Irish in me show clearly – even though I had no clear idea why I was thanking the crew for bundling a laundry bag worth of linen on my table.

Malaysia Airlines’, on short flights such as this, curiously do not serve any alcohol in business class under the pre-tense of local cultural sensitivities. I do not want this to be considered acceptable practice, so I will just say this; serving alcohol on long-haul Western-based flights (London/Australian destinations) is a clear play towards appeasing the needs of high-yield Western business travellers; but there is absolutely no point attempting this, if you will disappoint many of them refusing to serve them a drink when they then use Malaysia Airlines to connect to an Asian-based destination. Rant over.

Malaysia Airlines Short-Haul Meal

With my grumblings out of the way – and a lingering hangover from New Year to put me off continued drinking anyway – and instead a lovely glass of guava juice in hand, out came the meal.

OK, I think we can probably all agree that this is definitely a meal upon which we should metaphorically not judge a book by its cover; but to my great astonishment it actually tasted pretty great – though my strong affinity and admiration for a good beef rendang is certainly a matter of record at this stage.

I, unfortunately, did not quite enjoy the weird coconut milk-stewed vegetables with the same vigour and enthusiasm, but despite the almost Tetris-like packing of the meal, I had already quite attained elegant sufficiency.

In conclusion, this meal – for a 60-minute flight – was as good as one can possibly expect, and was definitely agreeable both in terms of portion size and taste. Unfortunately, Malaysia Airlines’ continued refusal to serve an adult beverage in business class on short-haul flights for cost ‘cultural sensitivity’ reasons just frankly cheapens the entire experience and is something – even if I don’t want a drink – that just has to go to move this meal into the ‘outstanding’ bucket.

Filed Under: Average, Featured, Inflight, Lunch, Meals Tagged With: kuala lumpur, lunch, malaysia airlines, mh795, phuket

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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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