In their quest to bring exclusive high-end services to first and business class passengers, international airlines are pairing with chefs to offer enticing in-flight meals.
For the latest of these partnerships, Japan Airlines is featuring the cuisine of Hiroki Yoshitake, the Japanese chef at Sola, an acclaimed restaurant in Paris. A native of Kyushu, Yoshitake opened his Franco Japanese restaurant Sola in Paris in 2010. By 2012, he had earned his first Michelin star.
Starting this December and through February 2014, business and first class passengers on the airline’s flights from Paris will enjoy unique dishes created by Hiroki Yoshitake: smoked scallops and mashed porcini mushrooms, king crab chawanmushi (savory custard made with fish stock), lobster dumplings, chanterelle mushrooms and arugula salad, or Charolais beef filet with sauces made from sansho (Japanese peppercorns), fennel or yuzumiso (miso made with the Japanese yuzu citrus fruit).
Passengers will finish the meal on a sweet note with a variation on classic Black Forest cake revisited by master chocolatier Jean-Paul Hévin.
To ensure the presentation is as refined as the meal, certain dishes will be presented in traditional Japanese Arita Yaki porcelain, in shapes designed specifically to fit on the standard airline serving tray.
Hiroki Yoshitake’s cuisine will return to Japan Airline flights in a new menu from June to August 2014. In the meantime, the airline will serve gourmet meals created by Shinichi Sato, another Japanese chef living in Paris, whose restaurant Passage 53 has earned two Michelin stars.
