Philippine Airlines Meal Mnl-Hkg-Mnl, April 2012

Our family spent Holy Week in Hong Kong last April as is our annual tradition. As usual we took our favorite airline, Philippine Airlines.

Isn’t the line-up of Filipino chefs cooking for PAL really impressive? No wonder the food is almost always good.

menu

I’ve always had luck with their beef entrees so I ordered the beef tenderloin to get my daily dose of lean protein.

I always love their salad starters. They’re always unique and well made and this was no exception. The scallop was perfectly cooked but the prawns were a tad overdone. The seafood was well complemented by the soba noodles and cucumber slices. I just poured a little sesame dressing and it was delicious. I was already half full after this seafood salad.

prawns & grilled scallops, soba noodle salad, seaweed, cucumber & salad greens with sesame dressing

I’m happy that the Cebu Best Mango Chocolate is now automatically served on the tray unlike before you had to ask for coffee or tea AFTER your meal for this delectable treat to show up.

tenderloin & prawn w: truffle bernaice sauce & cheddar croquette

My luck didn’t hold up this time. The taste was good but unfortunately the beef was overcooked beyond what my jaws could handle.

I spied my British seat mate’s paksiw na lechon kawali and asked her how it was. She said it was very good so I requested the flight attendant if I could have my entree changed. I was surprised at how adventurous my seat mate was in her choice of food.

paksiw na lechon kawali with lemongrass steamed rice

It was indeed very good. The flavors were spot on with the lechon sauce having the right balance of sweet and sour. The lechon kawali was also very tender. I just found the pork too fatty and there was not enough meat left to make a decent meal out of it.

The best part of the meal was the surprising crépe samurai. It brought back memories of the buffet in Intercon Hotel where I first tried crépe when I was a child.

crépe samurai

It was a really wonderful treat to find in an airplane meal. And yes it was as good as the one in Intercon. It made me forget the beef and pork entrees.

I’m sorry Nestle, this wasn’t tempting at all. I stopped eating it after a spoonful. My British seat mate did the same after she asked me, “this is ice cream?” I agreed with her. It tasted like some artificial cold stuff and nothing like creamy ice cream.

Nestle Temptations ice cream

menu

bread basket

On the trip back to Manila I was greeted with a happy surprise. It was the first time PAL gave out Blue Diamond mixed nuts and it was a relatively big bag too. I hope they don’t stop doing this.

Blue Diamond mixed nuts

PAL is also the only airlines I’ve taken that always included dried chili pepper and mixed herbs asides from just the usual salt not that I’ve ever used it since the food is always just right for my taste.

Asian squid salad, papaya salsa & salad greens

When I first ate this I thought it was udon noodles until I read the menu again. I was surprised it was squid since it was so tender it could pass for noodles. The squid was partnered with poached chicken and sweet mango cubes. As usual I loved this unique salad specially the vibrant vinaigrette.

I really liked the fish with it’s nutty topping. It was well cooked and the taste was sublime. The super cheesy and creamy potato au gratin was to die for and I had to stop myself from eating more than one layer.

pistachio-crusted sea bass in lime & lemon veloute & roasted onion & potato gratin

I found the apple filling too sweet and the crust wasn’t that great but the almond filling in the middle was wonderful.

apple frangipane with vanilla sauce