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.
It may be a small airline, but Croatia Airlines offered me a large dinner on a short flight to Germany.
This week’s meal takes us back to 2011 and a trip from Zagreb to Frankfurt onboard Croatia Airlines. To give you an idea of what a different era in travel this was, I used 9,000 miles from bmi to book this flight (plus about 70EUR in taxes).
I lost track of time and made it to the airport just in time to be amongst the last to board my flight. Settling into my business class seat, which was just an economy class seat with the middle blocked, I paused to catch my breath.
After takeoff, dinner was served. While “just” a cold meal, it was one of the heartiest cold meals I have had on a intra-Europe flight.
Service began with dessert…well sort of. Instead of offering mixed nuts or crisps with the beverage, FAs offered a packet of honey and pepper biscuits called paprenjak. The packaging indicated these treats are a national favorite in Croatia.
Soon after, the meal tray arrived.
It included a generous helping of cheese and rather crisp Istrian pršut (dried ham). Using the hot bread rolls and some pickled artichokes and mushroom, I enjoyed a very tasty sandwich.
A side dish featured a some sort of chicken salad (I skipped it) along with a single olive and mozzarella ball.
Finally, a small fruit dish with green grapes and a slice of orange rounded out the meal.
Dinner concluded with a cup of black tea.
CONCLUSION
Croatian Airlines offered a nice meal on my two-hour flight to Frankfurt. I hope to fly Croatia again soon to see if anything has changed.
It’s like a modified Ploughman’s lunch. English inspiration.