Food on Aer Lingus recently was surprisingly good (Business Class), particularly noted because of how many airlines are skimping on food and wine, extras that make traveling a pleasure rather than a chore.
To start, they offered Pate de foie on toast with cream cheese, pesto and antipasti, something you’d be more likely to expect on a flight to France. This was followed by chicken skewers so they had a two step appetizer and this was lunch, not dinner.
They also offered a seafood plate as your main OR a duck liver terrine. The seafood plate was served with slices of smoked salmon, smoked trout adn peppered BBQ salmon, topped off with a mustard grain mayonnaise cherry tomato and lemon wedge.
I’m a stickler for wine so have noticed just how low quality the wine has become in both Business and Economy class since I typically don’t travel First. It’s not hard to find a decent wine without spending a fortune and yet so many airlines give you the bottom of the barrel but still charge $7-10 for it.
To accompany seafood, Aer Lingus offered business class flyers a Pouilly Fume Cuvee Boisfleury, Domaine A. Calibourdin (2010) from France. It has a gooseberry and grapefruit with white flower and cut grass aromas. Okay, but it didn’t knowck my socks off. If you wanted to opt for a sweeter alternative (I never do or very rarely), they offered an Austrian Gruner Veltiner Von den Terrassen from Kremstal.
The duck liver terrine is served with pear in red wine, cucumber, cherry tomato and olives.
They also had an assortment of breads and warm rolls, including tomato and fennel, multi-cereal, plain white and herbs de Provence.
They also had a “salad bowl” which included red cabbage and alfalfa salad served with cherry tomato and frieze lettuce Balsamic vinaigrette dressing. My favorite as the duck of the selection offerings.
For reds, they had a d’Arenberg High Trellis Cabernet Sauvignon from South Australia and the Domaine de Courteillac Bordeaux Superieur (2007).
Desserts included a cheese plate, including goat cheese (Gortamona), apple cinnamon and chocolate brownies and a warm rhubarb crumble. And, they were generous, another rarity in the airline world today. As for customer service: a 2 Thumbs up.
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
