The 19th October menu in situ.
The eagle eyed will notice the host marker, a little thing i have been blessed with many times over the years, from the Staff Captain as host in 1987 on the trip over to New York to The Captains Table in 2006 and it started with John Duffy in 1988. ironically we would be at the same table exactly 20 years later, he checked his diary after l had mentioned the little bit of info
Having worked now in hospitality for over 20 years l still marvel at a table setting how its set, whats around and about , the butter dishes with a lump of ice to keep them from melting, a butter pat can melt very quickly, l wonder if these were bought in or did some poor sod have to make them. Its also irksome when your sitting down and things that you notice are not quite right be it a badly polished wine glass with remains of lipstick or blemishes on the cutlery or a tide mark on the cup or chipped cruet sets or a water glass that has passed its use and is cloudy with scratches and the almighty no no having a plate with a logo placed before you and the logo is not sitting at 12 but rather 10 or 1.30 Not that any of the above happened on QE2, but do we remain quiet or make a comment and be thought of a moaning old git on table 4.
Good old BA l had the great pleasure to have the pre flight First dining in the lounge at Chicago a few years ago. The atmosphere was very relaxed the server must have ironed his shirt over some rocks , the lounge hosts to be fair l knew and felt l could joke with them about the relaxed service afterwards, but for starters my table wobbled, l glanced my eye over the settings in the very small dining area only 16 settings. my second table was clearly set in a hurry To be fair l had been bantering with the server so l felt l could give my views of the relaxed service in a fun way, The soup was minus a bread roll and no butter the champagne lovely as it was bubbled over the glass for the refill ( a chilled glass would have been so much nicer) The Food presentation was as expected, great. Im not outwardly a fussy person but you can comment constructively without being a knobend , l do wish more people would try it but if your paying £4k for a First Class Flight then some people want you to know that . I was paying a lot less , but again its the standard of service you expect when flying First.
Onboard it was the typical BA experience with crew who knew what they were doing and were able to suss out the regular from the novice. there were after all only Five in First, the other Diner was having dinner now and going right to bed, he was connecting onto a long haul to Hong Kong so as he said he needed his sleep, his breakfast was simply orange juice and toast , But the serving of dinner as the table was laid in front of you, the napkin business was very interesting to observe as was the 4.20 setting for the start of my First Breakfast
A complete difference to that of the Concorde room, the holy grail for some , the onboard CSM who was up for the banter imparted some tips one of which was for the only time travelling First we ask you to turn right is after security, there's a door on the right with a member of staff there and podium, its called The Million Pound Door, why Because BA pays Heathrow a million pounds to have that door there ,somethingto do with the fact its to make up for the loss of revenue from the shops that passengers would have spent their money in en route to the lounge. it affords those in First rather than having to trudge through T5 you can show your boarding pass and the door magically opens and your first dilemma is to accept the LPGS or not. Personally, l found it to be on the stuffy side with in the main a load of DYKWIA passengers , l had greater enjoyment interacting with the staff and when they know you on their side so to speak it does lower the barrier, but also its where i had my worst burger . l wished I had now made use of the Concorde dining room , but where i had the burger afforded me a great runway view and it was a very quiet area for a Sunday Morning, and again the tea came out at the 4.20 setting.
The other place that was a let down was Gleneagles in terms of the table settings, imagine a chipped salt pot and the blue water glass that was so cloudy with use it was positively dull, l could go on about the water on the table or the fact the staff member had no idea of the menu prices or cutlery on the floor but l won't.
Before Covid there was nothing nicer than seeing a table well set with everything in its place, l fear the good old days have put paid to that.
Topic: Final transatlantic menus (and choices) (Read 1957 times)
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Oct 12, 2015, 05:41 PM