I landed in Hong Kong first thing in the morning (around 5.30am) and so headed to The Pier, Business Lounge about 6.30am and it was empty! Really empty! There was only a couple of others in the entire lounge, and no-one else in the roped off section for First Class/Oneworld Emerald that I was sat in by the staff as The Pier, First Class lounge was closed.
Considering the there were quarantine restrictions for all entering Hong Kong (and so mainly transiting passengers) the variety of food offerings was decent for an early breakfast menu. The menu was mostly Chinese style dishes, with a western style dish also available. The Teahouse and Noodle Bar were closed for the time I was there (I left at approximately 10am).
All other times I have transited through Hong Kong I have been in the First Class lounges so this was my first time here in The Pier, Business Class Lounge, and I didn’t know what to expect (especially with all the Covid restrictions and small volume of passengers). Even with their challenges, I felt Cathay Pacific did put on a decent offering in the lounge which I was quite happy with. The service was very attentive, the food arrived promptly, and was hot and fresh. There was good variety of both food and drinks, especially for so early in the morning.
What’s Healthy?
- The potato and egg tortilla was quite tasty and what I really liked was it was non-greasy and fairly light. The side of cannellini beans was great to add some fibre and plant protein to breakfast too.
- I love that the majority of the dishes for breakfast have vegetables included. While they seem to predominantly come out as mostly based on noodles/rice (carbohydrates) the option is there to ask for more vegetables to be included. This will help increase the nutrient content of your breakfast and also help provide more fibre, filling you up more and helping to reduce the overall carbohydrate intake from other foods such as eating more of the noodles. For example the Braised E-Fu noodles with mushrooms – I would ask for it to be served with extra mushrooms.
Not so great (caution).
- There were a number of options available for Dim Sum including steamed pork bun, chicken sui mai and mushroom and vegetable dumpling. I ordered one serve of each which you can see below. Now I know a number of you may be wondering why I have placed Dim Sim here in the ‘caution’ section and I always think about this carefully. But when travelling it is important to consider the refined carbohydrate content of foods and also the quantity that we may eat. Dim Sum can be easy to overeat since they are small bite sized pieces and it can be easy to consume a few before having a larger meal, which can add a fair amount of extra energy which may be hard to burn off when then sitting down on a plane or in a lounge for hours. Dim Sum are also usually made with low fibre, refined carbohydrate – think of the white bun of the pork bun or the dumpling dough. These refined carbohydrates aren’t as nutrient dense as other foods, and the amount of filling that sounds nutritious (think vegetables/mushrooms or meat) is small and so you don’t receive much nutrition benefit.
- Ok, lets take a closer look at what I mean when I am talking about the filling and carbohydrates in many types of Dim Sum. Here is one of the steamed pork buns cut open (below) – you can see how half of it is fluffy white bun, with a spoonful of sauce with 1-2 small pieces of pork. This means they do not contain much protein or vitamins/minerals.
- Wonton Noodles were served with two pork and prawn dumplings and a piece of leafy greens (I think was Chinese broccoli). While some Wonton noodles are traditionally served with leafy greens as a garnish, it would have been good for this serving to have more greens. This serving was mainly noodles and the dumplings, while containing pork and prawn, had only a small amount of protein. While a popular dish, again it is the balance (ratio) of carbohydrates to other nutrients that makes me place this dish here in the caution section.
- Dan dan mien (spicy Shanghainese style noodles) – ooooh I must say the peanut flavour was delicious! But from a nutrition perspective, the dish was basically just noodles and a creamy peanut sauce.
Last word from travel food and nutrition review for Cathay Pacific, The Pier Business Class, Hong Kong
Great offering from Cathay Pacific at a time when Covid restrictions were severely limiting the number of passengers transiting through this part of Hong Kong airport. Good quality food and service which was great to see for an airline operating with limited number of passengers – I did not feel cost cutting too much. While the styles of dishes were fairly refined carbohydrate heavy, this was not unexpected due to the main cuisine. My main takeaway would be to choose 1 dish and limit the number of Dim Sum consumed. This means you can have a delicious meal, but not consume a carbohydrate heavy meal before a flight.
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NOTE: All pictures of Cathay Pacific The Pier, Business Lounge are my own and I review a lounge from just the foods and menu I see during my visit. There may be different options available at other times.
