Text 19361, 86 rader
Skriven 2014-11-14 05:17:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: Asia 276
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QR 8 LHR DOH 1625 0205 346 12EF

We got seats in the middle, which was fine, as there's
nothing to see on the way. Angled lie-flat I think these
are classified as. Moderately comfy, not so sleepable as the
old United seats but I thought a bit nicer than the new
United beds, which were given a fair shake when they first
came out (verdict: pluses and minuses compared to the old
product, but not enough room) but are now characterized as
"slave ship" seating.

Our meal:

chicken anticucho - sort of nothing-looking, and I didn't
bother with it, and what's an anticucho without heart meat
anyway;

butternut squash soup; crisp sage leaves, toasted pumpkin
seeds - pretty good, all told, though the sage leaves and
pumpkin seeds weren't very crispy;

an individual selection of smoked beef and salmon tikka;
parmesan cheese and baby gem salad - pretty decent,
especially the flakes of cheese with the rather cute but
insubstantial salad;

classic arabic mezze; hummus, tabouleh, and muhammra
served with arabic bread - on the whole rather sour but
tasty. I reflected on how they probably got used to lots
of lemon juice to preserve or disguise;

vegetable makhani and gobi masala; green peas pilau rice,
chana dal and raita - I don't remember what else there was
to eat, but it must not have been very exciting, if I was
reduced to ordering cauliflower. This was, though, fairly
attention-occupying and tasty;

white chocolate mousse with raspberries; passion fruit
coulis - of a richness, but not bad. I can't see why one
would use white chocolate in essentially a vanilla pudding,
as all it does is make the texture heavy rather than
refreshing. The coulis was a kick in the taste buds.

Ch. Le Bon Pasteur 07 was an excellent Pomerol, and I kept
it coming for both of us. At one point I got bored and
called for a glass of the Poggio Antico Altero Brunello di
Montalcino 06, which was shoelike and not at all ready to
drink. Thereupon we returned to our scheduled programming.

Kopke Colheita Port 74 was surprisingly vigorous and
young-tasting, just beginning to color around the edges.
The good thing about all that age was that the sweetness
was kind of muted.

The flight itself was pleasant enough, and I didn't actually
use the bed feature, and as a seat the furniture was fine.
Service was pleasant if a bit too deferential.

Down airstairs into the chaotic dark. A fancy new terminal
is being built, and these procedures are an improvisation,
mildly unpleasant, and I get the feeling that they are not
doing much to make life easier, even for premium customers.
We got loaded onto the same bus as everyone else, so instead
of the limos and luxury coaches described in the literature
we had to stand (not good) with the unwashed (not bad) and
wait until arrivals and economy transit had left before we
arrived at our stop, the Premium Transfer Terminal, where
for unknown reasons we had to go through security (Lilli had
a corkscrew confiscated) before going upstairs to the famed
business class lounge, which looked like what I imagine an
IKEA cafeteria to be. It was perfectly fine, the skeleton
crew willing enough; but overnight catering was ungenerous,
and the only after-hours alcohol was Champagne, which
neither of us particularly wanted. I made do with orange
juice, Lilli with Pepsi or the middle eastern equivalent.

Two hours was plenty, and we were happy enough to get on
our next plane: another bus, private and rather nice this
time, up the airstairs (none of the ground staff offered
to help the oldsters with their bags, which sort of annoyed
me), and into our nice seat seats, conducive for snoozing
and other kinds of relaxation.

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