Each week, my Meal of the Week feature examines an airline meal from my travels over the years. This may be a meal from earlier in the week or it may be a meal served over a decade ago.
Aer Lingus offers Irish food on transatlantic flights. This week’s Meal of the Week samples lunch from Dublin to Boston.
Speaking of Irish food, Aer Lingus boasts on its website:
Irish cuisine is the best in the world (in our completely biased opinion). We want you to agree with us, so we work with top chefs to bring you a fusion of the finest modern and traditional Irish food on every flight.
So how it would be?
The canapés were not exactly Irish…cloudy Irish summers do not permit olives to grow. Nevertheless, a tasty start to the meal.
The appetizer of capresee may look more Italian than Irish, but the cheese was from Toons Bridge Dairy in Cork. Also very tasty.
The main course was a choice of Irish salmon lasagna, Irish cider chicken, or Irish beef filet. I should have known better, but I ordered I ordered the beef. Oh Aer Lingus, you give a bad name to Irish beef! The quality of the meat was acceptable, but it was cooked so well-done that the only flavor left was the sauce on top.
Beef should never require sauce!
For dessert, I had “raspberry fool” with shortbread cookies and tea. Correct me if I wrong, but isn’t this dish (raspberries in cream) more English than Irish?
CONLUSION
I really enjoyed my Aer Lingus flight and hope to travel on Aer Lingus again soon. I will, however, avoid the beef.
You can read my full Dublin to Boston trip report here. You can also view your Aer Lingus menu here before your flight…little has changed since my flight.
> Read More: Aer Lingus A330 Business Class Review
Flew first class British Airways LHR to IAD a few days ago and made the mistake of ordering filet mignon. Tough as shoe leather. Wife had halibut which was cooked to perfection. What’s the problem with beef on an airplane?
Hang on, there are those of us who like our beef well done, I don’t want to eat rare beef with blood oozing out.
To look down your nose at well done beef means you look down your nose on those of us who live ut that way,
Enjoy your overcooked beef. No offense intended!
Now that is some passive-aggressive shade…
The fork and knife are on the wrong side!
My fault.
I don’t know why airlines bother serving beef. It’s such a waste of meat (which is a resource that should be consumed judiciously) and nobody bothers to eat it. Those who order it end up disappointed because of how difficult it is to cook it right on a plane (or pre-load it correctly).
That’s a good point . And Matthew keeps ordering it, even though he knows he’s going to be disappointed…yet, when he chooses the fish he seems to enjoy it, almost without fail.
What other airlines print menus of the in-flight meals? I know Emirates and Lufthansa do, are there any others?
Yes, the “fool” is English , although traditionally made with gooseberries ( a fruit now out of favour and rarely served, sadly); it ranks with wine trifle and spotted dick as the most English of deserts.
Flew At Lingus Economy. If you are smart, eat before you board and bring a granolS bar to tide you over. W ha breakfast at the Prestige longer at our stopover.
Aer Lingus, what you put in front of customers does not even approximate what normal people would call food.
We did as well back in May/June… Appalling! From LAX to DUB and my god the “American breakfast burrito” as it was labeled, was more like a garbage Hot Pocket cooked out of existence and dry as the cardboard container it was served in. The departure flight I had an Irish Beef Stew, which was decent. The container of water was Canadian Nanton Spring or something, and had a heavy chemical taste to it. Couldn’t handle more than 1 sip. That meal was decent really. The return was not so good, seat comfort and food lol. Bring snacks and water..