Air Canada 4: NRT-YVR

My first 787 flight.

I've waited a very long time for this, and I was very excited to know I would return to North America to the most sought after plane currently in the skies, Boeing's 787 'dreamliner'.

Today's flight from Tokyo's Narita airport to Vancouver will be aboard C-GHPX, but before we get into the details of the flight, and since we're in Tokyo, a flight out of Narita is incomplete without a visit to the Last Chance sushi bar.

Some pictures of the ōtoro and Uni sushi I enjoyed before the flight.

C-GHPX was only visible after the gate check during boarding.

And once on board, five rows of lie-flat seats filled the business class cabin which I found to be a  relatively small business class cabin.

Just in case one can't read the seat number above, each entertainment screen listed the seat number. Below, I enjoyed my pre-flight champagne while waiting for boarding of the aircraft to finish.

The cabin's menu was available on-screen, but paper menu shots are provided below!

 It wasn't long that we were in the air heading east-ward thanks to Japanese efficiency.

Menu shots for your perusal - click to enlarge. A decent food and liquor selection on board. Air Canada has been having issues with their Espresso machines so cappuccinos and the like were unavailable on board. 

To start, nuts and scotch of course! I always get my blanket out before the main meal as it's easier to pass out once the meal service is over and I'm cocooned as well as liquored. 

The starter was smoked salmon topped with fennel, dill and salmon caviar. Not a fan of fish eggs, but the started was most fresh and delicious. Not a fan of the mayonnaise like dressing on the right and left side of the dish.  

Tray shot overview with the Appetizer, starter salad, wine, and bread.

 The starter salad was fresh and greens were crisp. There's really only so many ways one can describe a salad so I apologize for the unenthusiastic tone.

The main was FANTASTIC! The lamb loin was oh so tender and the said was the perfect compliment to the sautéed potatoes and beans. Air Canada really knocked it out of the park on this dish. I was so torn between the Japanese meal and the lamb, but it's not often one finds Lamb on the Menu, and I had to indulge.

After the excellent Lamb, I finished with a cheese plate. I heard the senior purser remark than not enough cheese was loaded onto the flight. It did not deter me from making sure I tried one of everything. 

Breakfast was another eye-appetizing meal. I went for the omelette as usual. I say eye-appetizing meal as breakfasts are never better than the dinner.

Breakfast tray shot with the fruit, yogurt, and yummy crispy croissant. 

Vancouver Island was view upon descent into Vancouver ending a fantastic first flight on Air Canada and their excellent 787 service. If this is the level of service their aiming for, then I'm happy to continue flying with them!

Korean Air 759 : PUS-KIX

Sometimes, short flights are the best flights. Especially those with a meal served on board for all passengers as flight attendants know they need to be efficient to complete the meal service before the call to secure the cabin for landing. Of course, efficiency doesn't exist in North America and nor do such meal services. 

Today’s flight is Korean Air 759 aboard HL8246, a next-generation 737-800 with the sky interior that I am such a fan of, flying from the southern Korean city of Busan on a short hop to Kansai international airport. 

There’s nothing really remarkable about this flight or about the city of busan or why I’m really here - the only thing that was interesting was getting myself comfortable in the lounge for what I thought would be a lengthy two hour wait to only realize my flight began boarding in the next minute. This hopefully will be the last time that I confuse the departure time with the actual arrival time at the destination. Whoops.

Boarding the aircraft was less than desirable - no gate boarding in PUS meant we were stuck on a bus and driven out to the plane. On the other hand, such boardings are great opportunities for super cool plane photos reminiscent of days gone by. Luckily, I had some super nice light to try to take a neat shot - I think it turned out well. 

Onto the food. As this was a short flight, the meal service was simply a handout of meal trays. On my plate was a bowl of soup, a roasted beef and grilled vegetable sandwich, and to finish, a small plate of seasonal fresh fruit. 

I decided to accompany my meal with umeshu, a Japanese fruit liqueur and tt did not take me very long to finish my meal. Overall, each item was delicious and the mint on top of the fruit cup was a very nice touch to a refreshing dish. 

I've had many bad experiences with airplane sandwiches in the past but I was surprised the sandwich bread was not stale whatsoever - it seemed freshly baked and topped with thinly sliced almonds.

Here’s a shot of my demolished tray - and rightly so!

Onto the menu shots for your perusal. Note the liquor selection on a 1.5hr flight…which in terms of whisky/scotch selection is very impressive especially when comparing to United…

Cathay Pacific 536: HKG-NGO

Hello World. 

As an attempt to make the sometimes monotonous beat of travel more interesting, I’ve put together this sliver of the internet to document the interesting and perhaps sometimes the mundane aspects of life on the road, in the air, or even the rare time at sea. 

This isn’t the first time I’ve thought about sharing my experiences with the internet, but I’ve been internally divided on which aspects to share. Even from the last hour since I’ve taken off from Hong Kong, I decided to only document my meals on flights, but then have decided to broaden to general experiences as I feel necessary to share. 

So here I begin.

Cathay Pacific flight 536. Today’s flight, aboard Hong Kong’s flag carrier, is taking me to Nagoya, Japan aboard a practically brand-new Airbus A330-300, registration B-LBC. Luckily, this wide-body aircraft is configured with long-haul business class with Cathay’s much lauded Cirrus Lie-Flat seat. 

Meal service on board included special dishes from Hong Kong Michelin Star Chef Pino Lavarra. It’s not clear to me if this was a new promotion for the month of May or had been previously offered in April. Nevertheless, the two special dishes from Chef Pino Lavarra came as a starter and a Main. 

Menu insert for special dishes

Meal Menu

Drink List

Wine List

Spirits list

Prior to the meal service, rice crackers and a drink were served. Not wanted to delve into the alcohol too quickly, I decided to relax with a glass of Perrier.

The special starter was a beef seared carpaccio with ricotta and rice crackers. Perhaps I’m not “cultured” enough, but prior to serving, I was having a very difficult time visualizing a carpaccio that had been seared. Hm. 

Soba and a Salad accompanied with sesame dressing rounded off the appetizer list which made just the appetizers alone feel portioned enough to be a meal… and I wonder why I’ve gained so much weight since I began flying often…

Definitely no carpaccio here....

The wine pairing for the appetizer was a French 2012 Vignerons de Buxy “Tete de Cuvee Bourgogne. I’m no sommelier or do I currently plan to talk about nose, mouthfeel, and tasting notes, but I felt the wine was well suited to the appetizer. 

The main was a  roasted lamb shoulder confit, grain mustard and herbal bread crust, vegetables caponatta, and black pepper sauce. As always, Cathay has procured an amazing piece of lamb to which I reflect that I cannot recall ever having a less than spectacular lamb dish on Cathay. 

For the main, there was no specific pairing, but the inflight service manager recommended the Red Chateau des Jacques Morgan.

To finish, cheese, fruit, and ice cream, and as if perfectly timed with the end of the meal service comes the captains announcement of the descent into Nagoya. 

Yes... the spoon reflection was intentional

A perfect flight, with a excellent attentive cathay crew. 

Well... almost perfect. The above was all written during the flight but getting onto the ground involved a go-around a couple hundred feed before our first attempt at landing.