I was quite impressed with the Singapore Airlines business class food – there was so much choice with the ability to either order food onboard from the menu, order from the onboard menu in advance or order from the Book the Cook menu. How was I ever going to decide? My entire travel itinerary was from Melbourne to London Heathrow and so with two legs I was able to try a few different options (review of Melbourne to Singapore coming soon), and also review the Singapore Airlines SilverKris lounge at Changi. So let’s see the foods on the 13.5 hour flight in business class on Singapore Airlines from Singapore to London Heathrow.
Preorder and Book the Cook menu
Before I left Australia I decided to try the Book the Cook option and I ordered a main meal from the Book the Cook menu for both the main meal and the second meal. For the first meal I chose from the ‘Deliciously Wholesome’ menu and ordered the Spiced Braised Chicken, and for the second meal I chose the Beef Steak from the Western Meal. There are a range of menus from Singapore available example Western, Singaporean, Malay, Indian etc. For all the options on the Book the Cook menu in business class from Singapore see an article from me coming soon.
Singapore Airlines Business Class menu
The flight was serving lunch, delectables and a light dinner. If you hadn’t booked a meal prior to boarding the experience was not diminished. There were still four main meals to chose from for the main meal service, and three to choose from for the second meal. I really like this as part of the experience of flying for some people is getting on onboard, reading the menu and choosing a meal – essentially there is something lovely about choosing the menu when onboard. I certainly like doing that and I was actually a bit torn as to whether to pre-order.
Main Meal Service
Drinks were served prior to takeoff (bubbles or juice) and when serving these pre-take off refreshments cabin crew took drink orders (from the onboard menu) for after takeoff. This ensured a refreshment was served promptly after takeoff. Just after drinks Singapore Airlines signature dish, satay skewers, was served as a canape. The satay was delicious with a texture of crushed nuts, not a runny sauce. This was served alongside 3 chicken skewers, 1 skewer with raw white onion and 1 skewer or cucumber.
There was only one choice of appetiser, a hot smoked salmon. This was prepared without the dijon herb dressing with cabin crew placing a spoonful of dressing on when the dish was being served. The dish came with half an egg, 1 olive, green beans, pickled onion, lettuce, 3 small pieces of potato and some hot smoked salmon. It was delicious and all the flavours worked really well. The cabin crew served too much dressing for my liking so next time I will jump in and ask for it on the side. I also thought the 1 olive seemed a little odd. At least have 2-3 olives on the dish. Bread was also served with the appetiser however there was no sourdough or wholegrain options and so I wasn’t very inspired by their choices. I chose a white roll just to taste it but it was quite cake like in texture and not really my style. It was also not served warm (or maybe it was at first but by the time it got to me it was cold).
The meal I ordered from Book the Cook, spiced braised chicken, was served for the main meal however I was disappointed it didn’t come with the ‘cooling coriander yogurt’. It really needed it as it was very spicy and came with slices of chilli on the chicken. From the description I thought it was going to be more fragrant spices, rather than hot spicy as chillis were not mentioned in the description. I found I could not taste much of the fragrant spices as the hot spiciness over powered it (but this may be my personal taste experience and others may have tasted it differently).The spinach and sugar snap peas could have done with some flavour as they were quite bland. The rice was also bland and also felt very light. Overall I would not order this again which is disappointing to me as I was impressed to see a section in book the cook dedicated to ‘wholesome’ foods.
I usually choose the cheese plate for dessert as I don’t like most desserts – except if they are chocolate! And during this meal service Singapore Airlines really delivered – there was a rich chocolate cake on the menu and I thought it would be nice to have on this occasion. It was delicious and moist.
Nutrition comment
The hot smoked salmon as a starter was a great option as salmon is high in omega 3 fats which are anti-inflammatory. When I travel I like to try and optimise my diet to include anti-inflammatory foods where possible and so I also like to see salmon on a menu. The cold potatoes were also a great inclusion from a nutrition perspective as cooked and cooled potatoes have resistant starch which is important for gut health – another important factor when flying long-haul.
This main meal (chicken) was described as high protein, mineral rich and calming. I have to say with how spicy the dish was it was anything but calming for me. The labels of high protein and mineral rich were interesting and I would love to know whether these labels are meant to infer they are higher than meals not in the ‘wholesome’ category or if they are just looking at this meal on its own. It would be great if these labels could also be applied to other dishes in other categories if they meet the same threshold.
Second Meal Service
The second meal service was served about 8 hours into the flight and consisted of an appetiser, main meal and dessert.
There was only one choice of appetiser and that was seared pepper crusted tuna slices. I did not like this dish as the tuna was a bit tough and not as ‘melt-in-your-mouth’ as I would have liked. So the texture plus the really fishy taste put me off unfortunately. There was also a spoonful of crab on the side along with the lettuce.
My second Book the Cook meal was served to me as the second main meal – beef steak. I always like to explore what steaks are served like on different airlines to help compare food quality across airlines. This steak was delicious and very tender. While it did not look very pink inside, it was not tough in any way and I really enjoyed it. It was served with creamy polenta, green beans, squash and carrots. The green beans were beautifully crunchy and bright green, as were the carrots (but of course orange not green).
I did not order the Marscapone Cream Cake for dessert (only one dessert option) so sorry not photo here.
Nutrition comment
It was great to have the appetiser quite fresh and not covered in a heavy dressing – it was served with a lemon wedge for flavour. The tuna provided a source of protein. Overall it was a light appetiser which is great to serve so far into a long flight and especially since the main meal was about 6 hours previously. The steak dish also provided a good source of protein and again had a complementary amount of sauce, not drowning the dish in sauce. Lightly cooking the vegetables helps with nutrient retention which is great. It would have been good to have slightly larger vegetable serves for both main meals.
Snacks
There were a range of snacks available throughout the flight – both from the onboard menu and also in a snack basket in one of the galleys. There were both nutritious snacks and indulgent snacks available which is great. It provides choice for people, especially if they don’t want the traditional crisps or chocolate throughout the flight. At times I saw cranberries, nut and cereal bars and nuts/dried fruit mix. One thing to note is while nuts are nutritious snack foods, they are not helpful for people who have a nut allergy. The cranberries were a great option for people avoiding nuts, and did not have a ‘may contains nuts’ statement on the packet which hopefully indicates they are processed not in the presence of nuts.
Final thoughts on Singapore Airlines business class food
I really enjoyed my Singapore Airlines business class food experience. The ability to easily select your main meal prior to boarding, or still choose from a wide range on board meets the needs of many people. And I love this! The focus on food quality was clear to see and the service was excellent. It would have been good to see more vegetables included in the dishes, but the vegetables that were there were good quality. I would like to experience more book the cook meals from the various categories to see how they compare with the ‘wholesome’ category. It is a shame though that my meal from the ‘wholesome’ category was not quite as described as what was on the menu, but my steak dish was.
NOTE: All pictures of Singapore Airlines business class food 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 Changi airport in Singapore Airlines Business Class you might be interested in my review of the SilverKris Lounge.
