I’m live-blogging my SAS EuroBonus SkyTeam Million Mile challenge this week. Click here for background and route information.
Our short flight from Xiamen to Taipei, again on a Xiamen Airlines 737-800 in business class, featured quite a Chinese breakfast onboard…
Hearty Chinese Breakfast On Xiamen Airlines
The flight from Xiamen, PRC to Tapei, ROC was only 199 miles…a very short flight! Even so, a massive breakfast was served after takeoff and I cannot say that I can identify half of what was served…well, maybe that’s an exaggeration.
But within minutes of taking off, the following tray was placed in front of me:
Starting with the congee and working clockwise, the fruit looked familiar but, unfortunately, included tasteless dragon fruit and Chinese pear…).
Then some black thing that may have been mushroom? And green beans with something yellow on them…
Next, carrots, broccoli, and a dumpling:
Then whatever this was (beyond the sliced hardboiled egg) was revolting, but I did try it!
And finally a yam, corn, and some sort of root vegetable?
No, the meal was not my cup of tea and this time Augustine did not really care for it either (after wolfing down the meal on the previous flight).
Speaking of tea, I should have had that instead of the coffee…
But I certainly did appreciate such a large meal on such a short flight…a great effort and far more than any US and even European carrier pull off on a flight that short.
However, I was quite happy to return to the China Airlines Lounge in TPE for a better cup of coffee and a croissant!
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.
A few food clarifications: Not chinese pear, but appears to be guava. Yes those are woodear mushrooms. and the root veg is Taro
Definitely not guava. It was one of those apple-pear combos.
Hard to tell from that angle, but it does appear to be a green/white variety of guava. I think a lot of Americans are used to the pink guava hence the confusion. The middle plate that was revolting – I’m not sure but it just looks like wild rice or grains? And the purple/white swirl thing is just a plain steamed mantou with some color added. I commend you for at least trying some of the dishes 🙂
I believe it’s guava as well. Some parts of Asia love the hard and sour variety of guava, as opposed to the soft, sweet, pink variety that westerners are used to
Probably whatever type of guava those in Taiwan might prefer.
Well, at least you tried. Granted, a noddle dish would have been better but for a flight that short, it seems that might have been the best option for them to serve. Plus it is a decent variety of items.
EVA has shrimp in the congee.
That looks terrible. Though some European carriers do in fact exceed that. BA does a full hot meal service on LHR-CDG/BRU with champagne to boot, and they’re comparable in distance. I’d much rather have the Full English than whatever that is, and I generally always prefer Asian breakfasts to anything served in the west.
Wood ear mushrooms taste good. You can also find them in ramen (kikurage).
Except the gruel it looks passable for such a short flight.
That “revolting” bowl you described appears to be some Chinese steam bun plus a stick rice ball thing of some sort.
While it’s full of carbs, congee plus any sort of carbs will be considered a comfort breakfast option in China and the last bowl of unprocessed carbs and those veggies are considered by Chinese as healthy food options.