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BA confirms new Club World dining to JFK from Friday …. without Bollinger

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British Airways has confirmed that the new ‘trolley style’ Club World dining service will launch on Friday.  This will be exclusively on the New York JFK route, with other routes being added during 2018.

Despite the images released during service trials, it seems that Bollinger will not be part of the new service.

Here is a typical menu released by BA yesterday:

Starters:

Loch Fyne smoked salmon tartare with wasabi crème fraîche

Burrata and tomato carpaccio with olive oil and balsamic dressing

Creamy butternut squash soup with chive and sour cream

Fresh seasonal salad, grilled vegetables and a choice of French dressing or olive oil and balsamic dressing

Entrees:

Best of Heritage beef homemade gnocchi in Café de Paris sauce and pan-fried green asparagus

Line-caught grilled Cornish Dover sole with Mediterranean lentils, celeriac mousseline and lemon butter

Homemade artichoke ravioli Parmesan

Dessert:

DO & CO‘s double chocolate medley

Lemon tart

Viennese-style apple strudel with vanilla sauce

Fresh strawberries

Cheese board with Somerset brie, Keen’s cheddar, Cropwell Bishop stilton, walnuts, grapes and fig chutney

It has to be said that, because this is being overseen by DO & CO, the most exclusive airline caterer in the business, it could work.  If BA has written a big enough cheque, and if the BA cabin crew can prepare and serve the food properly, DO & CO will deliver.

DO & CO don’t have anything to do with the alcohol selection.  Highlights from the wine list include:

a Bourgogne Chardonnay 2016

Patriarche Père et Fils from Burgundy

a Tiki Sauvignon Blanc 2016 from Marlborough

a Las Olas Malbec/Bonarda Reserve 2014 from the Famatina Valley in Argentina and

a Reata Three County Pinot Noir 2013 from California.

The champagne options are:

Champagne Henriot Brut Souverain NV

Champagne de Castelnau Brut Réserve NV

Champagne de Castelnau Brut Rosé NV

…. which is a bit poor, frankly, but let’s see how it goes.

The new Club World bedding and amenity kits, in partnership with The White Company, have been pushed back until ‘the Autumn’.  Again, this will only be on the JFK route this year.

I look forward to seeing how this beds (sic) in.  More importantly, I am keen to see how many people who have dropped BA for a better seat elsewhere will be tempted to return by improved food.  Especially as I have an invitation on my desk to try out the Qatar Airways Qsuite in two weeks ……

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Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (85)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • William Avery says:
    30 Aug30 August 07:24

    Op – you’ve added a lot of humour to your daily updates this morning. Something in your weetabix? Enjoying it a lot.

  • N says:
    30 Aug30 August 07:50

    F?

  • Joseph says:
    30 Aug30 August 07:51

    I don’t understand why BA gets slated so much. They are not the same as the ME or Asian airlines but, at least on long haul in Business Club World or First I find their service appealing and cannot find much to complain about. You have hit it on the head when you say that “If BA has written a big enough cheque, and if the BA cabin crew can prepare and serve the food properly, DO & CO will deliver.” From what I see Do & Co do a very good job in Turkish Business. I only eat kosher meals and the caterer BA use [Hermolis] provides the finest kosher meals in the flying world with the only exception being the LH First Kosher catering out of FRA. With the BA kosher offerings, which by the way are from the same company in Economy, there is minimal crew involvement as the meals come in sealed packs, it is all down to how big the cheque is. BA provide excellent Kosher meals undoubtedly paying good money for good food. I flew to MEL a few months ago on Singapore and the Kosher food was a real disaster. You get what you pay for!

    • Paul says:
      30 Aug30 August 07:56

      If BA appeals then please continue to enjoy. However anyone with experience of other carrier especially ME3 CX QF JL ANA KE and unbelievably AA will attest that what BA serves up is at best mediocre and frequently down right bad

  • chris says:
    30 Aug30 August 08:04

    2 observations from me:

    1. Why do they feel the need to describe ingredients in such detail? Just asparagus will do – it doesn’t need many words to say how it’s cooked.

    2. What is the word entree doing on there? The only Americans who wouldn’t know what a main course is, wouldn’t be travelling internationally.

    • Alex W says:
      30 Aug30 August 08:37

      Exactly. How else can you fry something other than in a pan – deep fried? Don’t think that deep fried asparagus would go down too well. Actually I don’t really want fried at all – boiled asparagus would be fine!

      • mark2 says:
        30 Aug30 August 10:20

        I live next to the Vale of Evesham, one of the main asparagus growing areas.
        Every year they have an Asparagus Festival and one of the dishes served is deep-fried asparagus – in batter of course.

        • Wivus says:
          30 Aug30 August 13:06

          I am based in Evesham and grow, sell and import the stuff. Problem I have is a less than subconscious QC of the product every time I see it. Probably why I try to avoid it out of UK season.

  • Catalan says:
    30 Aug30 August 08:06

    Moan, moan, moan. There’s no pleasing some people.. The first meal hasn’t even been served yet and we have people complaining about check-in queues at MXP!

  • Jay says:
    30 Aug30 August 08:10

    Aaaaaand…… new soft drinks? Or is it still just the standard coke/fanta/sprite that they get back in Y?

    • C77 says:
      30 Aug30 August 09:07

      Order a child meal and you could be sucking on your very own froot shoot. Imagine the looks you’d get as you took a stroll back into Economy enjoying one of those bad boys!

      • Jay says:
        30 Aug30 August 09:50

        I’ve asked for a froot shoot sometimes (without the child meal!) – but would really like some less-sugary alternatives. I got all excited when the M&S rollout on short haul included Appletiserand Fever Tree, but no sign of this on the rest of the fleet.

    • Kathy says:
      30 Aug30 August 17:49

      +1 as a non-drinker!

      Would it really be that much bother to carry a wider range of soft drinks for Club? It’s not like they go off quickly. They could even have people specify soft drinks when they pre-order their meals, so that they could load more options depending on the number of non-drinkers on the flight – and, incidentally, reduce the amount of booze they carry.

  • Simon says:
    30 Aug30 August 08:17

    It could be a real possibility that the word ‘entree’ is only for American routes only, don’t see any problem with that. It seems that any attempt at ‘Britishness’ has been scaled back.

    Over-colourful descriptions have been commonplace for some time. There would be more complaints about the airline making no effort if a starter was called simply ‘mozzarella and sliced tomato’ even if this was more accurate.

    I don’t think it’s overboard, if you look at the picture they could easily have gone on, ie ‘with julienned onion, minted cucumber, hand-picked red lettuce leaves’ etc

    • Drav says:
      31 Aug31 August 09:55

      well no. calling burrata “mozzarella” is like calling premium economy just “economy” 😉

  • Jeremy I says:
    30 Aug30 August 08:38

    Morning all. Sorry for the OT but re Amex Plat:
    1. someone posted a PRG-> Plat upgrade link over the weekend. Any reports of whether this works? Is it better to try and get it done over the phone?
    2. do I get a pro rata refund for the PRG (£70 or so) if I upgrade to Plat?
    3. when does the 10k miles for £10k in your first PRG year typically post?

    Thanks so much Jeremy

    • James says:
      30 Aug30 August 08:52

      +1 – is there a link for gold>plat upgrade? Ta

    • Wivus says:
      30 Aug30 August 08:52

      1/ Well the link works. Used it last night. I asked on Chat about it before I had the link and they told me to apply from new.
      2/ Not sure about the pro-rata. I just presumed they would and deduct it from the Platinum charge on the first statement.
      3/ All my reward points have been posted as I hit the spend. Gold was immediate hence the upgrade to Platinum now.

      • Jeremy I says:
        30 Aug30 August 09:26

        Thanks, mate. I think you and I have our wires crossed on question three but no problem.

      • MarkH says:
        30 Aug30 August 11:16

        Last time I used the upgrade link no Plat fees were charged in the 3 months I held it. Others have posted they would have done on the Gold card anniversary

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