I was looking forward to being back in the Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita (Tokyo) to see what had changed since Covid. Visiting in January 2022 Japan’s borders were closed to foreign nationals and anyone entering Japan needed to quarantine at the time I visited in January 2022. While this is the First Class lounge, the business class lounge was not open so it reminded me of Qantas’ current set up – it is more of a premium lounge rather than a first class lounge, being a business class lounge held in the first class lounge space.
The food menu wasn’t extensive, however there were both Japanese and Western dishes available. Interestingly, the serving sizes differed between dishes with some such as the Japanese curry served in a bowl and in a size suitable for a main, yet the Creamy Salmon pasta was served as an appetizer size (entree size in Australia). I found the there was a fair amount of attention to detail paid in regards to food presentation which was really nice to see.
Ok, so lets take a look at the Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita.
What’s Healthy?
- As always I love a vegetable dish on a lounge menu, so I was pretty happy to see steamed vegetables as an option. However, while it was presented really nicely the portion was tiny. As you can see, the vegetables were served on a really large plate, but there was only about 1/2 serve of vegetables on it. So if you are looking to eat one of your daily main meals in this lounge then I would recommend ordering a couple of these dishes to ensure you get at least around 2 serves of vegetables.
- In addition to the dishes on the QR menu, there was a small range of snacks available on the bar. The bag of mixed nuts, seeds, and dried fruits was about a handful and so the perfect size for a snack.
- The sushi plate was incredibly fresh and had a lovely variety of flavours. It also came with a bowl of miso soup, which is made from miso paste and dashi stock (sometimes with other ingredients as well). It was great to see small portions of rice served as sushi can be easy to over eat, with it being very easy to consume upwards of 1-2 cups of cooked rice without realising it. This is because we don’t necessarily register how much rice is contained in sushi and it can be easy to eat the equivalent carbohydrates of a few slices of bread, while thinking we have only eaten a snack (a few pieces of sushi). The seaweed wrapped vegetable roll was a great inclusion as it provided a source of iodine.
- While I have placed Ramen in here in the What’s Healthy section, please note it is borderline, so don’t go having multiple bowls. There are many different types of Ramen but generally it is made from wheat noodles in a meat or fish based broth and flavoured with soy sauce or miso. The soup then has different toppings added like pork, bamboo shoots and seaweed. There is potential for Ramen to be quite high in salt (sodium) which is not great while travelling as many foods on planes can also contain high levels of salt to help improve flavour while in the air.
Not so great (caution).
- Ah the Japanese Curry, also referred to as JAL’s Signature House Curry. Now I have to admit this curry tasted delicious. However unfortunately that was all it was – just sauce. This was a pretty decent size bowl and all that was in the sauce was two small cubes of beef. The rest was just sauce and rice which was pretty disappointing. This is not ideal from a nutrition perspective as there are limited nutrient dense ingredients, meaning it most likely doesn’t pack much of a nutrient punch. Now I say ‘most likely’ because I do not get to see the actual recipe, however from what I can see from what was served to me, it didn’t contain many nutrient rich foods. The sauce may have been made from a traditional stock which may have some nutrient benefits. However the bulk of the dish comes from eating the white rice, so there is not much fibre or protein in this dish and so it may not keep you feeling full for very long.
- The creamy salmon pasta dish was very delicious, and I have to applaud the very small portion size that was served. However, when considering whether this is a healthy dish or not I have to say it isn’t the greatest. The sauce was very rich and creamy, suggesting it is high in energy (calories/kilojoules) and it was mostly pasta. Yes it did have salmon, which you all know I am a big fan of while travelling, however it was more of a flavouring and not the main ingredient. There were also a few mushrooms included. If you would like to have this dish, then just choose one serve and enjoy it – don’t go back for multiple plates.
- There were also some chocolate chip cookies and chocolates as snacks on the bar. Similar to the nuts they were in small portions which can help reduce the tendency to overeat, however you can have as many as you like so you could still end up eating a large portion if you have several packets of them.
Last word from travel food and nutrition review for Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita (Tokyo).
Overall not too bad a lounge offering considering the international borders were closed and 14 days quarantine was in place for anyone who could enter the country. However I would consider the offering more of a ‘premium’ lounge offering, rather than First Class.
The menu did have a variety of dishes, both in terms of size and cuisine.
Hopefully this is the starting point and the offerings will continue to improve once the country opens up more and the Business Class lounge opens up again.
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NOTE: All pictures 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.
