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.
Right off the bat, I will say that I loved this breakfast perhaps more than any other breakfast I have had in years on United Airlines. On the other hand, the ricotta-filled crepes strike me as the sort of first class breakfast that is both delicious but injurious at the same time…but talk about a carb and sugar bomb!
A Hot, Gooey, Sumptuous Mess: Ricotta-Filled Crepes In United Airlines First Class
I generally stick to eggs for breakfast on the road or at home, but diverted from my usual choice to give the ricotta-filled crepes a try on a recent United breakfast flight in first class.
Ricotta-filled crepe
Ricotta-filled crepe with vanilla cream, cherry sauce, and blueberries
The crepes were buttery and the ricotta inside mild and slightly nutty. The true richness came in the thick vanilla cream each crepe was covered in. That was covered by a sweet cherry sauce and then topped with blueberries (pre-frozen, not fresh).
When you cover an already-sweet dish in layer after layer of sugar, you darn well expect it will be delicious…and it was. Unfortunately, I still have not trained my body not to crave these sweet dishes. The key ingredient is really the vanilla cream.
While I will not make a habit of ordering these (not good for my nutrition plan), I am really glad I did, because this is the sort of dish that I can strongly recommend…if you don’t give a you know what about your waistline.
Then again, it’s not like any airline meal is going to be healthy and I am going simply based upon my own tastes and perceptions…perhaps the shakshuka is even worse (though I strongly doubt it…).
I guess if you order this at least skip the sugary yogurt and croissant? In any case, I do think you will enjoy this dish. I certainly did.
Nice!
Those faux croissants really offend me as a European….
“oven safe”… Doesn’t scream quality to me, lol
And the FA didn’t bother to heat it…that made the decision to dump it very easy.
Eating a meal like this, which is loaded with both calories and fat, is going straight to your hips Matthew. You should read up on foods that can contribute to a healthy diet.
Girl, I know that. It’s why I haven’t had anything like this in years…and won’t order it again. But what a splurge. So delicious.
What do you mean by “calories and fat?” The two are not mutually exclusive but rather inclusive. People still express such concern about weight and sugar. A teaspoon of sugar contains 16 calories, while a teaspoon of butter contains 34. I’d be more concerned about eating the croissant (if at all made the correct way) than the topping on the crepe.
Probably a half cup of sugar in just the vanilla cream and cherry toppings. Too bad because it might not otherwise be so unhealthy
so it’s a blintz then?
Is it? The menu certainly said crepe.
What is “Deficient delight”? Is that German?
I concur. It was good.
This was served as breakfast from EWR-HND earlier this month.
Though I wanted Japanese option.
It was good too.
Just a word play on D.
I think it’s just a poor translation from Matthew’s native German (mangelnde Freude).
LOL Matthew…I “engaged” with this same option on my recent SFO SIN flight and it was singularly one of the worst meals I’ve ever encountered on a plane…which says a lot…or…maybe doesn’t? 😉
Thankfully I only took two small bites and left the rest including the full-sugar yogurt and croissant-thing. I just ate the fruit and pulled a protein bar from my stash. I do enjoy a decadent breakfast/brunch experience every now and then…but if I going to eat a bag of sugar…I want it to be a delicious journey. Expecting that on a plane is my bad but I am glad you enjoyed it!
Now, I did have the Whole Wheat Pumpkin Spice pancakes on SQ a few days later, from their “Wellness Menu” and that was a very scrumptious spread! #SafeTravels
Just say “I like thin pancakes.”
I recently decided to try this and it was not edible. The next meal served was a chicken dish with 2 rice sides. United has to serve the worst first class meals of all US airlines.
Crepe means the batter wasn’t fried in butter after flipping.
Hey JoeMart. When I make crepes the pan is only wiped with clarified butter before the pour. Nothing on the brief flip, then onto the stack. They keep so well just refrigerated! 😉
Is it better than IHOP?
I have had some perfectly healthy airline meals over the years, often involving fish or seafood. Of course, one can still make those meals rather unhealthy by partaking in large quantities of bread, dessert, and/or cheese.
Even though I have seriously cut down on my carbohydrate intake, I may occasionally treat myself to something sweet, but it certainly would not be something served by an airline (well, maybe except the knefeh on MEA).
As I was mentioning on Facebook, VIA Rail Canada had similar ideas about 20 years ago, whereby they served one, possibly two variations of this dish.
The one that I recall very clearly was called Ricotta and Orange Crepes. This had crepes with a filling of ricotta along with cream cheese, cottage cheese, and orange zest, and there had to be a bit of sugar, egg, and vanilla in there. This was served with slices of ham, which you could remove if you didn’t want them. I don’t think it was sauced apart from real maple syrup served on the side. This was actually a very good breakfast dish, and from what I understand it would run out fast. I would like to say that the filling tasted a bit like cheesecake, but not as sweet, and certainly with a bit of texture from the cottage cheese that was clearly in it.
There was also another one that I never tried – and I think it was a duet of a crepe and (I believe) French toast. The crepes were apparently stuffed with peaches instead of orange, and they also mentioned they were stuffed with cottage cheese, but I would imagine it would be a similar filling to the other.
Clearly United’s creation is a step in the right direction, as it was clearly tasty, but there might be one or two things to work out with respect to it. It appears to be very similar to the ones I mentioned.
Looks good!
When I travel, diet goes out the window, so this would be perfect!
United didn’t have the vegetarian meal that I had requested. They found me this awesome cheese crepe that came in a real porcelain dish. Best airplane meal I have ever had. I am assuming it was first class leftovers. The rich have no idea.