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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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Comments (84)

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

  • Macca says:
    30 Aug30 August 09:12

    I’d love to know how something served at the scale BA will require can be called “Homemade”. Is Alex Cruz picking his own Asparagus and pressing it into ravioli parcels! Hahah. Or does homemade on a British Airways menu just mean it was made in Britian?

  • Sarah says:
    30 Aug30 August 09:21

    All sounds fairly positive, it’s just a shame that the choice of main courses, sorry Entree’s, has been reduced from 4 to 3. I’d also be interested to see what proportion of starters are the salmon, and what are the dreaded poshed-up tomato and mozzarella and even cheaper to produce soup.

  • VS says:
    30 Aug30 August 09:34

    The wine list is Tuesday night from Waitrose – which is about right for Business Class, no?

  • Simon Monk says:
    30 Aug30 August 09:47

    Are you sure BA released images of Bollinger during the Service Trials? the image of Bollinger was taken by a staff member at Waterside employee engagement event – where no alcohol was actually served and the bottles were all dummies.

    So all in all a bit of a Daily Mirror headline!

    • john says:
      30 Aug30 August 10:09

      The Bollinger was probably left over from breakfast at the staff-canteen.

    • Rob says:
      30 Aug30 August 10:10

      I heard other stories from BA staffers that Bollinger bottles were being used during service trials – I think there was even a Flyertalk thread on this subject too.

      • Simon Monk says:
        31 Aug31 August 11:56

        But no images released.

        • Rob says:
          31 Aug31 August 12:29

          Not officially, no, but the use of Bollinger inevitably led to much discussion that it was going to be introduced. Not sure what was served on the BA press day flight as I wasn’t there.

    • Michele says:
      30 Aug30 August 10:03

      BA never promised improved wines or champagnes as far as I know. I’m not keen on Castel-no but their wine is normally reasonable. I am trying the new service shortly to JFK which I am looking forward to. I don’t think it will be a huge improvement. To be honest, until they get the better bedding and eventually the new seats it’s just fiddling at the edges. However, any improvement is a step in the right direction.

  • Adrian says:
    30 Aug30 August 09:57

    The problem I have with BA (not the only one by any means) is that they constantly fail to deliver what they say they are going to. It’s already “jam tomorrow” but they can’t even deliver that. This new service is only JFK, when will the rest of the routes get it, when can you guarantee that even if you are excited by the changes that you are actually going to get it? It’s the same story with the new club world seats, I’m sure QR will have the q suites fitted before BA have their “new” inferior CW seat installed across the fleet.

  • Nigel Huggins says:
    30 Aug30 August 10:07

    Many of the dishes mentioned seem very familiar – same food served off a trolley, just like Kenya airways used to do in Lion Class 25 years ago!!

  • AlexT says:
    30 Aug30 August 10:26

    OT – I tried the QSuite a few weeks ago. It is phenomenal! Since the seat has fewer breaks (due to the way the reclining mechanism functions compared to the Diamond Plus) it makes a more comfortable bed. The only downside is that the foot well is now deeper and your feet are even further in than on the 787/a350/a380 seat. If you do turn in your sleep that can be bothersome.

    That said, the seat is LONG (i’m 6’6 and was comfortable for a change), there is a TON of personal space around the seat, and it feels a lot more private when the sliding doors are eventually shut (need to be manually released by crew).

  • Ben says:
    30 Aug30 August 10:47

    OT: My Independent sub Avios vouchers just turned up to my two email address. Claimed both in one transaction. Will take up to 5 days to appear, apparently.

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

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