Did you know that airplane food could be saltier than you think? At tens of thousands of feet up in the air, pressure in the cabin affects our sense of taste. That could partly explain the general comment of airplane food being bland. As years go by, airlines tried to improve their meals. And for this flight, I actually found the meal okay.

PAL serves rice meals for their international flights. My first PAL flight years ago was a MNL-HKG trip and I remember being satisfied with a complimentary rice meal they served for the 3 hour flight. In comparison, a 5-star airline on a MNL-HKG trip served sandwiches or wraps. It might be good enough for a 3 hour flight but the natural rice eater in me favors the rice meal.

The food we had was not bad at all. Don’t expect anything restaurant-like especially in economy class but it definitely tastes better than the microwave-reheated, convenience store food back home. Not to mention there is a side dish, dessert, and beverage included in the in-flight meal.

Chicken or Beef?

I chose chicken. I don’t remember the exact name but it was something along the lines of chicken in some kind of Asian sauce. The sauce provided a texture to the meal instead of just having a dry piece of meat. The flavor could still improve. I liked the egg nori omelet and cucumber salad. The dessert was a fluffy mini cheesecake from Kumori, and melon slices. This meal might have been the Japanese inspired option judging from the side dishes. On the side I have a cup of water and apple juice.

My dad had the beef caldereta option, a Pinoy dish. He noted that the meat was not tough to bite, but not tender either. His meal also included a salad. For the side dish, it was a piece of bread and butter. Solo packs of Auro chocolate served as the dessert. There was also a pack of dried mango pieces. This combo reminds me of the chocolate dipped dried mangoes sold back home. Tomato juice was his choice of drink.

The in-flight meals were enough to keep us full until dinner.

See how our day 1 went. Read the full post this weekend! 😉