We had four flights on Singapore Airlines. Our first leg was from Melbourne to Singapore, then from Singapore to Capetown. This was the longest we had to travel, about 24 hours all up. It was 8 hours to Singapore, with 4 hours in Singapore airport, then 12 hours to Capetown. Neither of us slept on the flights, and by the time we got to Capetown we were pretty tired. Unfortunately we arrived very early in the morning (5.30am) and couldn't check into our room. We had to face our exhaustion and do tourist stuff until 2pm. It was quite amusing trying to stay awake!
From Melbourne to Singapore there were two meals – dinner and a "refreshment".
Our first meal was an early dinner, served around 5pm. The appetizer was potato salad with beef pastrami. The potatoes were quite bland, but the pastrami was rather salty so they balanced each other out.
Green curry chicken and Savoury beef-tomato casserole
The main courses were Thai style green curry chicken and vegetables with steamed rice or savoury beef-tomato casserole with oven-roasted vegetables and potatoes. Alastair had the green curry, and this was pretty good! It was very fragrant and actually better than the takeaway Thai we had eaten the night before we left. I had the beef casserole. The meat had a firm chew to it but it wasn't too chewy. The vegetables were nice, and retained a bit of firmness.
As always with plane meals, there was cheese and crackers and a bread roll.
Dessert was ice cream – the flight attendants handed out mango and passionfruit Splices.
The refreshment was a choice between a chicken and leek pie or braised shanghainese noodles with seafood and seasonal greens. I went for the chicken and leek pie, which was a tad salty but the pastry was nice and light.
Alastair had the shanghainese noodles which looked okay.
After a four hour transit in Changi Airport we boarded the flight to Capetown (what a fabulous airport by the way, we had a shower, used the internet, had some food, used a free foot massaging machine and could've shopped shopped shopped if we wanted). On this flight we were served a refreshment when we got on the plane, and then breakfast a couple of hours before we landed. This felt like the longest flight in the world. In the 12 hours on the plane I watched 4 movies and a couple of TV shows as I was too uncomfortable to sleep (damn cattle class!). Anyway, on to the food.
Chicken wrap and Tuna Croissant
The refreshment was a choice between a Roast chicken with mustard mayo and lettuce on flat bread or a croissant with Thai style tuna salad and tomato. I had the chicken wrap – BOO. This was the worst thing I've ever eaten on Singapore Airlines and possibly ANY airline. The "chicken" was processed meat and the whole thing was bland and uninteresting. Al's croissant seemed to be a better choice. I would definitely have preferred a dinner and breakfast and I assume the refreshment is served because it's cheaper than serving dinner. It was a 12 hour flight though – I think it's long enough to serve two proper meals. Admittedly there was snack service after the lights went out that I didn't partake of - ham rolls, tomato and lettuce ciabatta, peanuts, chocolate bars, chips and apples. Still. I wanted dinner!
For breakfast, there was fruit, bread roll, and the main choices were fried rice with chicken, peas, shredded carrot and white cabbage, shrimp dumpling or a chive omelette with veal sausage, grilled tomato and potatoes. We both had the omelette, which was a regular plane omelette. Breakfast meals on planes don't impress much.
The pineapple and grapes were nice, but I don't like papaya. Ick!
On our way home, we flew from Johannesburg to Singapore. This was a slightly shorter flight than the one from Singers to Capetown, plus we stopped a couple of nights in Singapore to break up the travel. Unfortunately, again, we didn't sleep on this flight and ended up wandering Singapore in the early hours of the morning (as we couldn't check into our hotel). Luckily we were able to get our room at 9:30am and squeezed in a quick nap after checking in.
On the way to Singapore we were served lunch and breakfast. For lunch, we started with a pasta and vegetable salad with the main choices being a stewed chicken with mushroom in coriander sauce, seasonal vegetables and potatoes or the braised fish fillet with black bean sauce, seasonal vegetables and steamed rice.
Alastair and I both went for the fish, having been starved of seafood during our trip. The fish wasn't bad, although the black bean flavour wasn't that pronounced.
As always, there was cheese and crackers as well as a bread roll.
Dessert was a milk tartlet, which I found a tad sweet and kinda boring.
Breakfast was fried egg noodles with chicken and vegetables or an omelette with pork sausages, tomato and potatoes. It was interesting having noodles for breakfast. They were a tad salty but a better choice than another omelette. As per usual, there was fruit and a bread roll.
And then on the final leg – from Singapore to Melbourne. We were served a continental breakfast and lunch. The breakfast was simply fruit, a bread roll and a muffin (no photos).
For lunch we had marinated prawns with crispy romaine lettuce to start. Were the prawns marinated? I couldn't taste any marinade. Still - prawns. Not complaining.
Perch fillet and Braised beef
The main course choices were wok fried perch fillet in ginger soya sauce served with stewed vegetables and steamed rice or braised beef in red wine with spinach, roasted vegetables and mashed potato. The beef dish was exclusively created by Gordon Ramsay and finally! A great plane meal from Singapore Airlines! The beef was tender and in a tasy sauce. The mashed potato was nice and creamy and not too bland. Hooray! When I asked Alastair how his fish was, he said, "Good." He has lots of words about many things, but apparently not about food.
Dessert was ice cream – classic Magnums.
All in all, I wasn't that impressed with the food on Singapore Airlines. The food was better when we flew Emirates earlier this year. At least we got to eat some good food while in Singapore (posts still to come).
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