On my last visit to Hong Kong I managed to squeeze in a look at the Kyra Lounge food thanks to my priority pass card. I always like to explore both the airline lounges and pay-for airport lounges and this was a nice interlude between my visits to The Pier and The Deck lounges.
What’s nutritious in the Kyra Lounge?
There was a salad buffet that had both mixed salad dishes and then also some bowls of salad ingredients and dressings. The mixed salads were sweet potato salad with kale and a honey mustard sauce, cloud ear fungus and lotus root salad, and a mixed green leaf salad with carrot and radish. Bacon crumbles, cheese cubes, legumes, corn, cherry tomatoes and lettuce leaves were available to then add to the salads. This is a great wellbeing initiative as passengers can add higher energy foods to their taste and keep the salads quite light if they wish. But the options are still there. Same as legumes such as chickpeas – while these are fabulously nutritious foods they can cause bloating in some people which is not good just before a long flight. So being able to add the portion size right for each passenger is a good initiative.
So many vegetables in the Indian vegetable curry – I love it! And not just lots of vegetables in terms of portion sizes but it has a range of colourful vegetables. This is the perfect dish to add as a side dish to a meat based dish or to eat solo. There were also papadums served in a bowl alongside the curry.
These small portioned pork rice casseroles were listed as being a Signature Baked dish on the buffet sign. Serving some dishes in small individual dishes such as these is a nice touch on the buffet and can help with portion control but still allow for a taste of a variety of dishes from a buffet. This is especially important before a flight if a large meal is going to be served just after takeoff.
There were dim sum available such as beef sui mai which are an open topped dumpling with beef and a thin dough wrapper. These are higher protein than some other dim sum which have less filling and more dough.
Fruit and nuts were available for snacks. The nuts were situated on the bar with a spoon available to place the nuts into small dishes. There did not seem to be any other foods around the nuts and so hopefully this reduces chance of cross contamination for anyone with a nut allergy as the spoon should not be able to be used to serve other foods easily.
Not so great. Caution.
Spring rolls are delicious I know, but can be high in energy (calories) and not very nutritious. It does all depend on the filling as some spring rolls are filled with vegetables which is great while others are mostly the pastry/casing without much inside other than a stodgy filling. So I do acknowledge that not all are the same, however that is why this section is labelled ‘not so great and caution’. It is meant to make you think before automatically choosing certain dishes. So when it comes to a dish like this, try one and see what the quality is like before serving yourself more. Also have a think about your flight and which class you are in – are you likely to be served something like this onboard? If so then consider choosing something lighter from the buffet.
Fish in a creamy sauce can be difficult to place as fish itself is quite nutritious however the cream sauce can be quite fatty and energy dense. And while in many cases this is not necessarily an issue, when we look at the environment of flying high fat foods can impact digestion and also being sedentary for long periods of time (such as on a long-haul flight) passengers aren’t expending much energy. So if you enjoy dishes such as these be mindful of portion sizes and don’t couple it with other creamy dishes that might be on offer in the lounge.
Ah the dreaded pasta with bolognese/tomato based sauce in a lounge. It is so common and overdone. And this version has barely any beef and seems to be mostly pasta with a couple of cheery tomatoes on top. I didn’t taste it but from a nutrition perspective it could be spruced up a bit so try having a side salad with it or try a side of the Indian vegetable curry (obviously not together lol) to bump up the vegetable content. Vegetables are nutritious and great to have when travelling as they are sources of vitamins and bioactives which help support your body. The Portugese chicken does contain decent sized pieces of chicken (which is great to see) however the sauce looks quiet creamy (I didn’t taste this dish either) and so be mindful re portion sizes before long-haul travel.
Processed meats such as these are not recommended to be consumed often as they can be high in salt and other additives.
Breads available were mostly white, which are generally lower in fibre and nutrients than wholegrain types.
Final word on Kyra Lounge food in Hong Kong
The Kyra Lounge food was a solid experience for a pay-for entry lounge. It was nice to see the local flavours shine through with some of the dishes. If I was travelling through Hong Kong Airport and didn’t have access to an airport lounge then I would consider this one alongside the AMEX Centurion lounge.
NOTE: All pictures of the Kyra Lounge food are my own and I review a lounge from just the foods I see during my visit. There may be different options available at other times.
See food and nutrition review of The Pier First Class Lounge and The Deck Lounge at Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok.
