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.
Japan Airlines (JAL) served up a very hearty lunch on a midday flight from Guangzhou to Tokyo. Here’s what you can expect on a JAL mid haul flight.
Actually, when it comes to what you can expect, the great thing about JAL is that it posts all its menus online, even for economy class. So check here before your flight to get a very clear idea of what you will be served.
But a menu cannot reveal quality or taste, hence thisMeal of the Week feature.
Meal service began shortly after takeoff, and I mean within minutes. Unless you ordered a special meal, every passenger received the same lunch.
I had pre-checked the menu so knew that the main course was beef, but there was no indication on the purple foil covering the hot dish.
The main course was strips of beef in a brown sauce with steamed vegetables and mushrooms. Unfortunately, I’m just not a fan of this type of meat, which tasted fatty and greasy.
On the side were three salads.The first included cold noodles with sliced cabbage, cucumbers, ham, and green onions. The second included a single piece of lettuce with one shrimp, two cucumber slices, and one cherry tomato.
And the final salad (right in the picture above)…well you’ll have to help me on it. At first I thought it was coral mushroom, but it wasn’t. And whatever it was, I did not eat it because the green onions overpowered it. I don’t mind green onions in some dishes, but they are so strong and I don’t like tasting it in my mouth all day.
The dessert was Häagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream with a choice of coffee or tea.
CONCLUSION
At 1,794 miles, about the distance of a flight between Chicago and Los Angeles, it was nice to receive a multi-course meal included in the ticket price. We are well beyond that era in the USA. But I didn’t much care for any portion of this particular meal. So check the menu and bring your own food if warranted…or order a special meal.
Someone doesn’t appreciate the Asian palate…
In Matthew’s defense, he’s always been upfront that Asian cuisine isn’t his cup of tea.
If you didn’t eat the mystery salad, how do you know that the green onions overpowered it?
Oh, I tried it…took a few bites. I just didn’t finish it.
As far as I can tell, there’s only one salad in that meal. The noodles with cucumbers (not cabbage), green onions, ham, and egg are just that – noodles. They’re meant to be eaten with the clearly labeled noodle sauce. The item with the meat and green onions has what looks like shredded daikon radish and carrots underneath. That seems like it’s a pickled dish. The only thing that’s a salad is the item with the tomato, shrimp, cucumber, and lettuce, although that lettuce looks like it’s pickled cabbage from the photo angle.
It’s odd that you didn’t seem to mind all those green onions in the noodle dish, but suddenly they’re overpowering in the pickled dish with far fewer green onions…
In any case, it actually looks half decent, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the quality out of Guangzhou was/is decidedly inferior than on flights catered out of Japan. Based on the ice cream, though, perhaps it was double-catered?
I was overwhelmed by the green onions in both dishes; I left both behind. Not sure if the meals were double-catered, but I don’t think the main courses were.
Looks tasty to me. I’d be delighted to get that on any US airline
I share your opinion of green onions, or raw onions in general (exception: diced onions on cheese enchiladas or chili con carne, yum), but personally that main course looks really good to me. To each his own.
You’re like literally the worst blogger jeez.
lol
Thanks Hannah. I appreciate your clicks.
The 3rd salad? Tofu skin? Just a guess…..
Thanks for sharing Matthew. We love the fact that the airline actually gave you traditional food when flying with them. Looks good to us to, however it looked more like beef, we thought. Iberia do try and offer a high standard of traditional food for long hauls. https://www.iberia.com/us/on-board/on-board-menu/ Best regards from https://www.airportsinspain.info/
Howdy Matthew, I hope You well.
re:Inflight meal service-a very sensitive subject with me
as You know in a private communication 2 weeks ago I had the opportunity to compare 2 star alliance mid haul/long-haul inflight meal service. One is THE ONLY 4 STAR SKYTRAX carrier in North America . One of the careers was…UNITED as You know I havent had flown them before (…as hard to believe it may sound…yes imagine there are such people who have never flown United!!!) So United Economy vs $star SKYTRAX N.Am airline:
1.United-I got a CHOICE (very important b/c on the other career the choice was either the Antarctic expedition Admiral Byrd style ICE COLD meal…or…NO MEAL at all…therefore on that career Id strongly recomend BRING YOUR OWN FOOD on ANY and ALL of Your flights regardless of the class You may be flying) so on United in Economy there was always a choice of TWO meal options. 2. United meal options were both including a HOT meal service. volume wise it was aprox TWICE biger in quantity. THe other carier had only one option which included on the inbound to Canada flight (OMG You wont believe it: KRAFT DINNER masqueraded with few sprincles of dill as…some fancy name from a famous Canadian Chef . The outbound flight included as main dish some fancy Thai shrimp salad…atleast that what was on the online and paper menu description but without the SHRIMPS…I didnt even catch the taste of a shrimp…they probably laid the shrimps on top of the main dish for a few minutes leaving an imprint of a GHOST of a shrimp
ive heard (i dont know if thats true) but a several passengers on United flights Between HNL & GUM =9 1/2 hrs duration that there isnt ANY MEAL service I asume that there is atleast the buy onboard option.