PAL food Mnl-Sfo

This is the start of my blog entries on my recent trip to the United States. I literally ate my way from the west to the east coast and back. Thanks again to all my cousins and friends who shared with me their favorite restaurants and for being great company. Join me on this journey as I feature all the places I tried in the US.

For me there is only one airline when traveling to the US and that’s Philippine Airlines. It’s the only plane that flies direct and non-stop to the west coast from Manila. That’s a 12.5 hour trip. And I don’t really have a choice since all my mileage is with PAL. If I want to ride business class for free then I have to ride PAL.

I’m so happy that their planes have been retrofitted with new recaro seats and their entertainment systems have many movie choices and you can choose what you want and when to watch it. And I’m happy to report that everything worked in order – the lights, seats, and video screen. Before one or all of those could be out of order even in business class!

This Boeing 747-400 had one design error. They used only 1 door for the entrance of all passengers. The entrance was right in front of a row of seats in business class.

Everyone had to pass through this row. The poor foreigner sitting there had to get up and temporarily sit somewhere because of all the people passing in front of her. Maybe PAL just wanted to maximize the number of seats in business class.

I sat on the same row but on the window side. I chose the exit row because when these seats recline you can’t get out to go to the bathroom without waking your seatmate.

inflight menu

cute bottle of olive oil & balsamic vinegar

The appetizer was a small dish filled with lots of goodies like a scallop, fig, almond, melon and fish roe. What a great starter!

amuse bouche

The seafood terrine with orange dressing was very, very good. It didn’t have a fish taste at all. It was studded with pistachios which I enjoyed. The melon wasn’t sweet though.

parma ham w/ melon, seafood terrine w/ orange dressing

I really love the food that PAL serves on their flight. The food reminded me of hotel food. The veal was fork tender and topped with a slice of baked apple and herb crust. The potatoes au gratin was cheesy and creamy.

grilled veal tenderloin

There were 3 desserts – leche flan, fresh fruits and a selection of cheese with dried fruit and nuts. Yum! They even offered cups of Arce ice cream but I was too full already.

fruits, leche flan, cheese & nuts

They even had snacks of sandwiches, chips or arroz caldo for those who couldn’t sleep. I wasn’t one of them. Thankfully I had a good sleep and woke up in time for breakfast.