Travelling back from Europe to Australia saw me transiting through Bangkok and onto Thai Airways for the first time. I had wanted to try Thai Airways business class food (Royal Silk class) for a while and so this trip to Europe to the World Travel and Onboard Catering Expo seemed to me to be the perfect time to give it a try. This was a morning flight (8am) to Australia – so lets see what the breakfast service and second meal service was like.
First Meal Service
Similar to the recent Cathay Pacific flight I took (and reviewed), Thai Airways business class served breakfast upon take off but this was not the main meal service. The main meal service was the second meal later in the day.
Just after takeoff cabin crew came around and took our orders for both breakfast and the second meal service (main meal service). There were three breakfast choices (see menu below) and I chose the Pad Thai option. The Pad Thai was served with Tiger Prawns, a yogurt, fresh fruit and bread roll.
Nutrition Comment
Fried noodles are not a very nutritious choice as the noodles soak up a lot of the fat they are fried in (that’s what makes them delicious). But I wanted to try a dish with Thai influences and to be honest I am quite sick of bad egg dishes on flights. So this Pad Thai dish did have some bean shoots and fried egg in it (along with the prawns) which provided a boost to the nutrient content. However the dish was predominantly noodles. The roll was a fluffy white roll, which suggests it was low in fibre. While some white rolls on planes are a bit cake like, this roll was quite a fluffy roll – so refreshingly tasty.
Main Meal Service
The main meal service was served about 2.5 hours before landing which I found made the 5 course meal a little rushed.
While drinks with nuts were served first up, the first course of the menu service was 2 amuse bouche. These were a chicken and prawn meatball on pineapple, and tuna with mango salsa. Both were delicious. The starters were a Thai-style eggplant salad and a grilled scallop with a red capsicum sauce – again both were delicious. There was not choice for the amuse bouche or the starters.
There were 3 choices for the main meal and I chose the Chilean sea bass with cream sauce which was served with vegetables and mashed potato. This was my least favourite dish as I found the cream sauce tasteless and the potato was very powdery and had a funny taste. The colourful vegetables though were cooked really nicely and had a lot of flavour.
I loved the addition of the macadamia nuts to the cheese plate.
Nutrition Comment
There were lots of fresh elements to the main meal service which was great. Both the amuse bouche and the starters had fresh fruits and vegetables as part of the dishes, albiet small amounts. But since these were only bite sized to start with, having small amounts of fruit/vegetables was quite significant for the dish. The main meal of sea bass was accompanied by beans, carrots, 1 cherry tomato (which was quite amusing – more a of a garnish lol) and mashed potato. The colourful vegetables were bright in colour and cooked lightly, suggesting they may have retained many of their nutrients. The creamy sauce had the potential to be high in fat and energy, and so while the sea bass seemed to be a lean, white fish, the creamy sauce may have added the calories back. It is important to enjoy the taste of food, and sauces like this can provide taste to nutritious foods and help people enjoy eating them, so they aren’t all bad. But just don’t eat them mindlessly – if you don’t like the sauce (such as this one that I didn’t like) then don’t eat it. Don’t eat it just because it is in front of you. I ate the fish and colourful vegetables, but left the sauce and the potato as I didn’t like the taste of them. The macadamia nuts were a great addition to the cheese plates are a good source of monounsaturated fats, which are a type of healthy fat, along with manganese, niacin and fibre. The cheese plate came with 3 types of cheese – unfortunately the soft cheese was really hard and bit dried out around the edges.
Snacks
A bag of almonds was served between meal services when I asked for a drink, and a dish of mixed nuts and dried fruit was served just as the main meal service was beginning.
Nutrition comment
Fantastic to see nuts feature mainly as the snacks on offer. Almonds, cashews, walnuts are a great mix as each kind of nut has slightly different nutrient combinations. For example walnuts are a source of plant-based omega 3s (ALA) which almonds have higher levels of vitamin E and calcium than other nuts. So great to eat a mix of nuts when you can to help boost your nutrient intake when flying. The light coloured dried fruit was quite sweet and chewy – almost too sweet and it made me wonder whether there was added sugar (there was no package for me to look at so I can’t determine this).
Final thoughts on Thai Airways Business Class food (Royal Silk)
The business class (Royal Silk) service from the cabin crew was really great – they were very very attentive, and I loved the way the main meal service was switched around so it was the second meal served. However I felt the Thai Airways business class food quality didn’t quite match up to the service standard. There were plenty of nutritious qualities about the food, however the food quality in some instances wasn’t quite there. Parts of the meal were really enjoyable while others missed the mark.
NOTE: All pictures of Thai Airways business class food (Royal Silk) are my own and I review the food from the menu I was given and the food I ordered on my flight. There may be different options available at other times.
