As a Japanese I may be quite biased in my opinion having used to growing up with seafood and soy sauce based food - so just a warning, they may not be everyone's cup of tea!
<JAL Business Class>
Flight Number: JL 740
Sector: Delhi to Narita
Date: 12/January/2017
Scheduled Block Time: 7hrs 20mins
Actual Flight Duration: 6hrs 21mins
On this flight, two meals are served: dinner after takeoff and breakfast before landing. Only the dinner is the major meal with hot main dish. The breakfast is served cold except for miso-soup.
Starts with after-takeoff drink. No welcome drink was served on this flight and I was quite thirsty for the first 45mins into the flight (yes, the service wasn't the fastest despite of many empty seats in the cabin).
I ordered plum wine (umeshu) with soda and ice and JAL's original drink called "Skytime" which is kiwi-based juice. Skytime is a good thirst quencher as it kind of tastes like Gatorade with a hint of kiwi. The drinks come along with dried fermented soya beans (natto) and some rice crackers. To keep my stomach ready for the dinner I didn't open the snacks.
After-takeoff drink service
Plum wine, Skytime, dried natto and rice cracker packages.
For the dinner, there were three choices.
<Choice 1> Full course Japanese meal with teriyaki chicken as the main dish
<Choice 2> Grilled Japanese beef steak with mushroom sauce (Western)
<Choice 3> Seafood cannelloni (Western)
Japanese choice looked much more appetizing.
*Dinner*
Appetizers plate
Appetizers up close
Beef sirloin roll with "kujo" leek
Grilled taro with Japanese pepper flavored duck; skewered sweet black beans
Shrimp dressed with tofu sauce (shrimp is hidden inside)
Scallop flavored with pickled plum and wasabi
Grilled flounder with Welsh onion miso; simmered cod roe rolled with kelp; grilled Japanese millet cake with miso; vinegared Japanese ginger
Oh man - the presentation is sublime. It was so perfect that I felt a bit guilty touching any of the plate
Each appetizer dish also tasted fresh - considering they've been carried from outbound flight, it's quite surprising how they've kept the quality up.
The next is the main - chicken teriyaki.
In between I decided to have a glass of sake: Hakurakusei from Miyagi Prefecture. Here is what the menu says:
Festive aromas evoking ripe citrus. The velvety and continuously evolving texture of your first sip. Enjoy the flavor! Tender sweetness deliciously balanced with acidity offer your palate a juicy yet dry expression.
Please forgive their English expression...
Hakurakusei (Junmai Daiginjo)
The main
The teriyaki chicken came with fresh steamed Koshihikari rice, miso soup, and Japanese pickles. Note that both JAL and ANA have specialized rice cooker on planes and the fresh steamed rice is available only in First and Business Class.
Teriyaki chicken
The chicken was tender and quite good. It was quite a large portion too.
Dessert is pretty much the standard fare. It was the same as the Western options - a seasonal fruit tart. Had with herbal tea and sparkling water.
Dessert
Fruit tart
The meal actually took quite some time - by the time dinner was done it was almost 3hrs after take-off. Since it was only a 6+hr flight a quicker meal service would have been much appreciated.
Near the galley, a small self-service bar was made where snacks, pralines, and drinks were available.
Self serving bar
About an hour and a half before landing, a breakfast was served. The choice was either Japanese rice balls (onigiri) or Western muffins. I chose the former.
Breakfast plate
The green drink is the iced green tea.
Inside the black bento box, there was grilled fish, some seaweed, and an egg roll.
Inside bento box
Miso soup with fried bean curd
Spicy cod roe (mentaiko) onigiri
Seaweed and sesame onigiri
Freshly brewed coffee from "JAL Cafe Lines"
I was really impressed by the quality of meal. I'm not sure how the Western option would have been like but I can confirm that Japanese choice is no regret.
<JAL First Class>
Flight Number: JL 725
Sector: Narita to Jakarta
Date: 15/January/2017
Scheduled Block Time: 8hrs 00mins
Actual Flight Duration: 7hrs 25mins
Meal and beverage on JAL First Class are one notch above. Most alcoholic beverages cost USD 100+ a bottle, while food is so meticulous and detailed beyond already excellent Business Class meal.
Will start with after-takeoff drink. JAL serves Salon 2006 for champagne which I believe is the only airline to serve this brand. Note that Salon will not be available before takeoff - instead the crew would serve more economical champagne brand or juice.
Salon 2006
With the bottle
Amuse
Amuse-bouche consisted of liver pate on choux dough, a ham stick and a salmon stick. I can't stand livers so I left that one out.
JAL logo
Amuse up close
For the second glass, I tried another champagne - Henriot Cuvee des Enchanteleurs 2000. It has pear and honey aroma which I preferred over more-expensive Salon.
Henriot champagne
With the bottle
Champagne tasting - Salon to the left, and Henriot to the right
Now time for lunch set-up. Without a doubt I chose Japanese option since it would have wagyu (beef) as the main. What I like about wagyu is it literally melts on mouth.
Lunch set-up
I've decided to have sake for the drink: Jyuyondai. According to the menu, "This brand originates from the brewery's current 14th generation president".
Jyuyondai sake
JAL First Class napkin
The first course starts with appetizer plates. There are 5 plates, 2 of which were served warm.
Appetizers
Egg roll
A crew member explained that this egg roll is made with maple syrup instead of normal sugar. The Japanese flag symbolizes the pride in traditional culinary by Chef Seiji Yamamoto, from Ryugin restaurant in Roppongi area of Tokyo.
Warm appetizer: Stewed "Bimeiton" pork
Spanish mackerel & turnip dressed with Welsh onion flavored oil
Herring roe and poached winter vegetables
Sea urchin and "Yubatama tofu" with cold starch sauce
So this "Bimeiton" pork - it's a special kind of pork with SPF (Specific Pathogen Free) certified and pigs are fed with natural ingredients. It prides in softness of the meat yet maintaining juiciness and sweet taste in its fat.
The next in course is owan - or soup.
Owan course
Japanese soup with steamed prawn cake and grated turnip
Note that the real gold flakes are sprinkled on top!
By this time with all the champagne and sake I was quite drank - and to give more punch, I had stronger Japanese alcoholic beverage called "shochu", which is distilled alcohol which could be made from rice, sweet-potatoes, buckwheat, and barley etc. JAL First serves very limited produced top quality shochu called "Mori Izo", made from sweet potatoes of Kagoshima Prefecture in Kyushu Island. This is a famous shochu brand yet not easy to find in retail.
Mori Izo
Next in the course is seafood platter (still not the main yet).
Seafood platter
"Matsuba" snow crab with black vinegar jelly
Caviar!
Kelp flavored scallop and northern shrimp
The crab meat
The crew said this caviar is substitution for soy sauce, to pour it over the shrimp. That was quite funny - I never knew caviar could be soy sauce's substitution! Apparently they are both salty, so perhaps that why.
Caviar on shrimp
Now comes the main dish! The main is wagyu beef fillet sukiyaki - it's a sweetened soy sauce soup based dish. Usually we make it as hotpot at home.
The main tray
The beef!
It's really soft!
Japanese pickles
Half cooked egg
In sukiyaki the beef is mixed with the egg to give taste.
Steamed rice with Japanese pepper flavored young sardines
After having too much alcoholic beverages I've decided to have a glass of Royal Blue Tea - made from the finest hand-picked tea leaves. It's served like a wine bottle. Served chilled and unsweetened.
Royal Blue Tea
Personally I didn't find much difference with iced Darjeeling tea I make at home - but supposedly it's a luxury drink in Japan.
The last of the course is dessert.
Dessert
Wasanbon and Japanese pepper flavored Satsuma orange compote jelly with Wasanbon caramel ice cream
So basically, the white stuff is rice puff and below that there is orange jelly and caramel ice cream. While the concept is unique the pepper didn't go well with sweetness. The pepper is called "sansho" and often times used in Chinese food too, and a bit spicy as well. Not sure if this was a successfully created dish. Nevertheless, the idea was interesting.
Ryugin's specialty - Japanese style baked pistachio cake
This was quite good, albeit a bit small in size.
Roppongi Pudding
This pudding is a simple egg custard but from a quality brand.
Dessert plate again
Green tea with oshibori
Now, sumptuous and gorgeous lunch was over.
The next meal - a snack before landing.
I chose udon noodles with edible wild plants, along with fresh fruits and one of the dessert options in Western lunch menu - Tosa pomelo with coconut sorbet.
For the drink, I chose Kusuda Martinborough Syrah 2014 from New Zealand. This again is a very limited production and supposedly not easily purchasable in market.
Kusuda wine
Udon noodles with edible wild plants
Udon noodles up close
Fresh fruits
Coconut sorbet - again, gold flakes!
Coconut sorbet with pomelo jelly
Just before landing, the crew distributed a box of Jean-Paul Hevin macarons.
Macarons box
Macarons
That concludes my report. The food quality on JAL Business and First is top notch, and if anyone is fine with raw seafood and soy-sauced based food I'd highly recommend to try Japanese options! I've tried Japanese meals on other airlines but so far not to the level of Japanese carriers (I'm sure ANA is great too).
) report. Absolutely stunning with your food experience flying JAL. The once when I tried JAL's CGK-NRT in C I was greatly disappointed with the oversalted and overfried food that they presented, and with a 10pm departure they let you wait for one hour only to serve you with a couple pieces of sushi (not even sashimi)! Given the short-ish (6hr) flight it's absolutely ridiculous IMHO.
I found these tips helpful when flying with them, maybe you can give it a go next time? But my experience with ANA gives a much better food quality than JAL overall.
