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.
I recently flew on Cathay Pacific on a 14-hour, 15-minute flight from Hong Kong to Amsterdam and enjoyed one of the best airline meals I have had in years: tender lamb shoulder.
Lamb Shoulder In Cathay Pacific A350 Business Class
It always surprises me when folks complain about the food on Cathay Pacific because I cannot recall a single bad meal on my many flights on the Hong Kong flag carrier over the years (unless you could that disgusting sandwich I had on the Fifth Freedom flight from Bahrain to Dubai in economy class).
I pre-ordered lamb shoulder as part of a menu collaboration between Cathay Pacific and French restaurant Louise, located in Hong Kong Central. There were many choices on the pre-order menu that sounded delicious, but I’m not one to turn down lamb when it is on the menu.
The dish included lamb shoulder braised in lamb fat served over a bed of bulgur wheat salad with mint, coriander, and dried fruits, and finished with lamb jus infused with the North African spice mix of ras el hanout and toasted pine nuts.
Just writing that makes me hungry…
The dish was served during the “supper” service shortly after our (midnight) takeoff. It was not only nicely presented with cilantro leaves placed as a garnish on top of the meat, but it was one of the most tender pieces of meat I have ever enjoyed on an airplane.
This was a very good dish that I highly recommend if you are flying Cathay Pacific out of Hong Kong.
> Read More: Cathay Pacific Should Not Bother With This Slop…
Looks like a lamb tagine dish I make frequently:
https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/lamb-tagine-green-olives-and-lemon
Looks delicious.
Any product cooked with animal fat becomes tastier. Try potatoes fried with beef tallow and tossed with blackening powder.
IME, Cathay struggles with catering at certain stations, some of the worst First Class food that I ever ate was on JFK-YVR portion of the CX JFK-YVR-HKG route.
With that said I have also had great meals on CX especially out of HKG and SIN.
This must have been quite sometime ago. Cathay used DO&CO ex JFK for the last few years that the YVR flight operated. The catering was always excellent, in my experiences.
Made from 100% decadent lambs?
Happy lambs come from New Zealand.