For this year’s final Meal of the Week, I count down my top 10 airline meals of 2019.
To be clear, these are only the best meals I have enjoyed over the last year, not my top 10 all-time list. Since much of my travel was clustered around Lufthansa and United, you’ll notice half of the “winners” are from those two airlines. Still, I think my list is rather diverse this year.
10. Beef Noddle Soup on China Southern
I was already full, but so happy the flight attendant insisted I try the beef noodle soup–it was easily the highlight of the meal.
> Read More: China Southern A380 First Class Review
9. Grilled King Prawns on Cathay Pacific
I’m generally not a fan of prawns, but tried then on Cathay Pacific in first class and was pleasantly surprised. The tomato hollandaise sauce was perfect.
> Read More: Cathay Pacific 777-300ER First Class Review
8. Lobster Mac & Cheese on United
This delicious twist on comfort food hits the spot every time I order it.
> Read More: Dangerously Addictive Lobster Mac & Cheese On United
7. Grilled Rack of Lamb on Emirates
Rack of lamb happens to be my favorite dish and Emirates did a great job with it (infused with rosemary jus).
> Read More: Emirates A380 Business Class Review
6. Ginseng Chicken Soup on United
This was a surprisingly tasty dish that I now order every time I see it on the menu. The dish tastes “healthy” and you never feel heavy after eating it.
> Read More: United Pulls Off Incredible Bowl Of Soup
5. Skrei On Lufthansa
Skrei (Atlantic Cod) with chorizo and spinach risotto proved to be an excellent combination in Lufthansa First Class.
> Read More: Lufthansa A340-600 First Class Review
4. Barramundi On Virgin Australia
Even better than the Skrei on Lufthansa, the Barramundi on Virgin Australia served with cauliflower, currants, and pumpkin puree was a great late-evening dinner.
> Read More: Virgin Australia 777-300ER Business Class Review
3. Schnitzel on Lufthansa
While I generally avoid veal, I opted to try the schnitzel in Lufthansa First Class and was not disappointed. In fact, it was better than many restaurants.
> Read More: Lufthansa 747-8 First Class Review
2. Cheeseburger on Lufthansa
But even better the schnitzel or skrei, was a cheesburger. On Lufthansa. In first class. No joke. I had cheeseburgers on United, ANA, Virgin Atlantic, and Lufthansa and the Lufthansa variant beat the others handily. I credit the guacamole.
> Read More: Lufthansa A340-600 First Class Review
1. White Asparagus on Emirates
I was surprised to see white asparagus on an Emirates flight and it turned out to be the best airline meal of the year. The asparagus was perfectly cooked and rich hollandaise sauce perfect.
> Read More: Emirates 777-300ER NEW First Class Review
CONCLUSION
Emirates took the top spot this year, but Lufthansa took three of the top five spots. Here’s to more great dining in 2020!
What was your favorite airline meal in 2019?
Schnitzel on LH isn’t going to be pork, dude! A Wiener Schnitzel is made of veal.
Just a typo.
@John….a REAL Wiener Schnitzel is make of veal but in Germany a Schnitzel can actually be made of pork…especially if it says Wiener Art. So your not necessarily correct.
I appreciate that two soups feature the list (also the tomato soup you mentioned in the Australia review). Honestly I find that any decently made soup in the sky is better than most food, and more appropriate since it ticks several boxes: health, hydration, no heavy feeling. Sometimes I go as far as purchasing the noodle soups when traveling low-cost within Europe.
Airlines of the world, more soup, please!
Don’t know how they tasted but both United dishes look disgusting. That broccoli next to what you call “lobster mac & cheese” looks so out of place.
Matthew could do with eating more vegetables and much less meat. Also, any environmental activists decrying anthropogenic climate change who consume animal products should kindly shut the front door. To her credit (debit?), the very happy Greta Thunberg, looking forward to a bright and wonderful future, is vegan. Consider that while fossil fuels and petrochemicals are incredibly useful and energy-dense, calories from meat are ridiculously inefficient and are cultivated purely for human pleasure. suffering of the animals and damage to the environment be damned. Unrepentant meat eaters are akin to child molesters who keep at the bad touch because it just feels so good.
You forgot to drink your pills?
Based on the results, you should only fly on Lufthansa, Emirates, and United, since they captured 7 of the top 8 spots…
LH needs to ask the Austrian Airlines chefs how to make a real schnitzel! That thing looks more like a breaded pork chop than a thin schnitzel.
Airlines serve up the same unsustainable crap, flight after flight, year after year. They don’t innovate, ever…totally reactive. United will still be serving that ghastly, glutinous looking Mac Cheese until the cows come home. Why not surprise and delight customers with something more sustainable but still tasty ( eg, lentil burger in a vegetable bun…delicious).
Even the Barramundi ( a much prized fish in Australia) is now mass produced in filthy, polluting farms in Thailand , causing environmental degradation.
I don’t think I’ve had an airline meal in the last twelve months that was memorable for positive reasons.
I’ve had two dreadful ones, both on shorthaul in business class:
LH MUC-ADB main was a vegetable slop glued together with what tasted like wall paper paste.
LX ZRH-LHR a plate of red coloured couscous topped with a single parsley leaf. I don’t like couscous to begin with but for form I tasted it, it’s was like I imagine cardboard would taste.
I tried LH’s Wiener schnitzel, though in the FCT and not in the air. It wasn’t bad by any means, but I’d hardly say “better than many restaurants” quality. I had a much better one at a restaurant in Mainz on that same trip. Or for that matter, at Kuby’s right here in Dallas.
I have to say the best airline meal I had in 2019, and possibly one of the best I’ve had, was the Japanese set dinner on NH. Yes, that’s my way of needling you again to expand your horizons and try it. 🙂