Malaysia Airlines is in the midst of a renaissance, desperately trying to stay competitive and return to profit in a market crowded with competition.
Wisely, it seems to me, Malaysia is not just cutting but adding: we’ve even heard plans of lie-flat seats on 737s. In whatever form Malaysia Airlines ultimately ends up in, though, I hope they leave regional business class meal service at its current outstanding level. That is the subject of this week’s Meal of the Week.
I was flying from Jakarta to Kuala Lumpur last year on MH220, a flight that left CGK at 3:45p and arrived into KUL at 6:50p. A time change was involved; the flight itself was only 2 hours and 5 minutes.
Once onboard, a menu was presented with both western and eastern dishes. I chose halibut, covered
The meal began with a green salad with sliced chicken breast and garlic bread fresh from the oven. Good garlic bread. Refills were also offered.
For my main course, I chose halibut, covered in grilled onions and tomatoes. The flavor was excellent and the main course came with a side of steamed vegetables (zucchini, carrots) and boiled potatoes.
There was no formal dessert, but the slice of pineapple, watermelon, honeydew, and papaya, served as a nice post-meal sweet.
I was impressed by the quality and taste of the meal. Furthermore, I was impressed that a western option was offered on a short regional flight in Southeast Asia.
Malaysia Airlines offers great food in regional business class. Let’s hope it stays that way.
Since you mention time change, isn’t it weird that even tough KUL is west of CGK, KUL is GMT+8 while CGK is GMT+7?
That’s because of a unification done to match Borneo’s time with KL so that the entire country runs on one time zone. It’s better for business and other official matters. Btw Singapore is west of Jakarta too, and it too is at GMT +8, so does many of the cities in China.
On my flight from London to Melbourne on Malaysia Airlines business class this year I enjoyed the best vegan meals I have ever had on a plane (only considering business class, not economy). For the first time I didn’t feel like a second class passenger just by being vegan, all my meals were delicious, fresh and balanced,a real pleasure
I noticed that you did not mention about their signature satay….was it not served? Looks like they up’ed their catering for intra Asian routes of this distance, with starters and than the mains, they used to as I remember just do everything on 1 tray.
Not served on this flight.
You come somewhat too late with this, catering has been cut to much less quality already and it’s now all on one tray served. Most other full service airlines around this area far surpass Malaysia airlines in almost all aspects.
When was the cut? My understanding is that food is often served on a single tray, but the meal itself has not been cut.
I was flying last in late August and early September and the food quality was extremely disappointing, they also had no soft drinks stocked and only water + orange/guava juice was available. I am often flying KUL – SGN with either MH or VN and Vietnam Airlines definitely has the better food as of 2017.