Recently I flew ANA business class Sydney to Tokyo (Haneda) to explore what their business class is like compared to Japan Airlines. I have always heard great things about the food on ANA, especially in their premium classes, and so I was curious to see what their food quality and nutrition was like. I was on a 787 and the hard product was their ‘regional’ business class – so comfortable but not the fanciest. And I would have to say the food experience matched the description of the seat- nice experience but not amazing. I suspect this is because it was an evening supper meal and it landed very early into Tokyo so the second meal was just ordered from the A La Carte menu.
ANA Business Class food menu – Sydney to Tokyo
The menu offered a choice between a Japanese Meal and an International Meal. There was then an A La Carte menu which started after the main meal service where you could choose anything at anytime throughout the flight. This finished up about 1.5hours before landing. I was surprised there was no ‘second meal’ option on this menu – just snacks and light meals.
Main Meal Service – ANA Business Class Sydney to Tokyo
All courses were served at once on a tray and the main meal had the foil lid still on. I am in two minds about this because it had the feel of an economy meal when served in the tray with the foil on. However on the flip side I kind of liked it as I like to eat slowly and saver my meals, and so when all the food is served at once on the tray then my main meal tends to go cold. At least with the foil lid still on this helps keep the main meal warm. I am really not a fan of the concept of serving all food at once on a tray – passengers should get a choice if they want it all at once or have courses served separately. If passengers want to maximise sleep then they can choose to have it served all at once, otherwise passengers might like the business class experience they are actually paying for with a focus on an enhanced and extended meal experience.
This meal service seemed to be really slow. While there was some turbulence after take off and the seatbelt sign stayed on a little longer than usual, it still took about an hour once it was off for the meal service to begin. Takeoff was 9.45pm and the food was served at 11.30pm. There was a pre-dinner drink served between 11pm and 11.30pm however there was no snack served with this drink. I thought this was way too long to wait before the meal service started, especially since it was a later flight.
I chose the International set meal and within this there was no choice of main meal. The Prawn and Bulgur Tabouleh salad was really nice but it was not a salad in the traditional sense. It was a small plate with a spoon of tabouleh, a couple of prawns, a few small slices of smoked duck, dip and a mini tomato, and served with a citrus sauce on the side. The flavours all went together nicely, except I thought the duck was a little strange to be included. The prawns were pretty bland – not much flavour. I would have preferred more tabouleh since it was supposed to be a tabuoleh salad. The steak came with thyme sauce which was served on the side and half a plate of sliced potato wedges which had been baked (but were extremely soft and soggy). There were also two asparagus spears and 1 small piece of red capsicum and squash. The steak was cooked through with no pink. The dessert was a small chocolate mousse cake which was delicious. The small baguette roll was nice – it has a chewy and slightly crunchy texture. But the round roll had a cake like texture and was very dry. Both rolls were served warm.
Nutrition comment
This meal service didn’t have many colourful vegetables which was disappointing. The description of the prawn and tabouleh salad made it sound like it was going to be a decent sized salad, rather than a small dish with a spoonful of tabouleh. Overall I estimate there was between 1/2-1 serve of colouful vegetables across the entire meal service. There were two bread rolls served which seemed a little excessive for such a late night flight since they seemed to be reducing the size of the starter. These breads were both white and so not very nutritious to be served so late at night.
Second Meal Service
ANA business class offered an A La Carte menu for throughout the flight and for the second meal service. This menu had a small variety of foods ranging from light meals, snacks, and refreshments. I chose to try the Rice bowl with chicken meatballs and Croque monsieur from the Light Meals section of the menu. The chicken meatballs were tasty but the egg was a brown colour which turned me off. It might have been the teriyaki sauce that caused the change in colour but I wasn’t sure. The croque monsieur had a lovely flavour, however was a bit soggy. The two sandwiches were stuck together and as I peeled them apart the slices of bread stuck together and then started to rip apart.
Nutrition comment
It was great there was some spinach in the croque monsieur, considering ham and cheese are the traditional filling ingredients. Spinach is a great source of folate and because of the lack of vegetables over all on the menu this was definitely a welcome addition and I felt it didn’t take away from the traditional flavour at all. The overall A La Carte menu was fairly heaving with white refined carbohydrates (e.g. noodles, white rice, rice crackers) which was not metabolically healthy for meals served between midnight and early morning. It would have been good to see more higher fibre grain options. But it was good fruit and yogurt were available.
Snacks
There were a small range of pre-packaged snacks available in the galley during the flight which included nuts and rice crackers. There were also bottles of water.
Final thoughts on ANA business class food Sydney to Tokyo
All Nippon Airways business class food on the Sydney to Tokyo evening flight was a solid offering. I was surprised there wasn’t a breakfast meal served on the flight considering the flight landed early hours of the morning in both Australian and Japanese time zones. The light meals in the A La Carte menu did act like a second meal which was something but within business class I think airlines needs to be careful with their offerings when people are paying for business class food experiences regardless of the time. I personally love the A La Carte menu offering which allows people to personalise their meal experience onboard and have it match up with their body clocks which is fantastic for travel wellbeing. But The options on the A La Carte menu still need to be equivalent to a business class experience. From a nutrition perspective vegetables were certainly lacking on this flight – a side salad served with the main meal would have really elevated this experience and as would having more vegetables on the A La Carte menu.
NOTE: All pictures of ANA business class food Sydney to Tokyo are my own and I review the food from the menu I was given, the menu on the website at the time and the food I ordered on my flight. There may be different options available at other times.
If you are flying out of Tokyo (Haneda) you might be interested in the review of the ANA Lounge Tokyo (Haneda) in T2.
