Trip Report 4 - Part 6 - SIN-LHR, SQ J

And finally....

SQ 318 SIN-LHR

7^th January 2011

Airbus 380-800

Business Class, 12A

I arrived at Changi quite early, mainly because I need to get some last minute shopping done and partly because I dislike hanging around hotel rooms on the final day of a stay and Changi is a nice attractive airport with lots of places to look at. The added advantage was that my flight was from Terminal 3, which I've never really had much time to explore before.

I checked in very quickly and proceeded through immigration to try and find my last gifts for friends. This took a bit more time than I thought, some people are just so hard to shop for. After I got all that sorted, I went to have a smoke on the outdoor terrace and then into the SilverKris J lounge in Terminal 3. It’s a quiet time for SQ at Changi, so the lounge was fairly empty. I snaffled some very good pakora, some nice rice and some indifferent sweet and sour pork washed down with ginger ale. After an hour or so reading some English newspapers. I decided to go and get some tranquillity in the Butterfly Garden and then have a final smoke before boarding.

Boarding had started by the time I got through security, as I had left it a little later than usual, but I quickly went through the jet bridge for the upper deck of the WhaleJet.  As usual, there was a greeting, a welcome drink (apple juice and bitter lemon) and the offer of newspapers and magazines which gave me an The Economist to enjoy over the wait for take off.  We joined the take-off queue and eventually rumbled into the sky with that looooong WhaleJet take-off roll.

Pretty much as soon as we were up, our pre-ordered drinks were served (a weak Gin and Tonic) and orders were taken for main courses. The lunch menu today was:

Satay

Mesclun with marinated lobster and sun-dried couscous salad

Fillet of salmon Florentine with vermouth sauce, pureed spinach, carrots and sweet garlic puree potatoes

or

Singapore Chicken Rice

or

Grilled Beef Fillet with green peppercorn sauce, parsnip puree, roasted vegetables

or

Lamb Biriyani

Movenpick raspberry panna cotta ice cream

Or

Azuki red bean ice cream with vanilla sauce and granola

Fresh fruit, cheese with garnishes.

Gourmet coffees and teas with pralines.

The famed Singapore Airlines Satay was pretty nice, but you can get better at most hawker centres in Singapore, but it’s a refreshing entree and despite this being my eight flight with SQ, it's the first time I've managed it.

Satay

The lobster salad was generous on the Lobster and a bit mean on the greenery, the couscous was properly cooked (unlike Qantas’ efforts before Christmas). The dressing was Thousand Island - one of the few non home-made dressings I enjoy. I enjoyed this dish. 

Lobster Salad

I had picked the biriyani and the Indian Flight Attendant taking the selections said it was a a good choice. It was not a good choice, it was an excellent choice. Two lovely Lamb Chops in a dish of piquant sauce, two nice crispy papads (one of which was sesame coated) and a nice sides of pilau rice with nuts and pickled vegetables. One of the nicest airline dishes I’ve ever had and I’ve had a few over the years. 

Excellent Lamb Chop Biriyani

I decided to have one more drink and the only thing that would stand a chance with biriyani was the Shiraz, it managed, but it wasn’t a stunning example of the fine breed of Aussie Shiraz (the Bordeaux was infanticide), I wasn’t tempted to a second glass.

I had no idea what Red Bean ice-cream tasted like, but it slipped down fairly well and unusually wasn’t utterly rock-hard. 

Aduki Bean Ice Cream

I skipped on the fruit, but had a little cheese, the cheddar was meh, but the brie and the other soft cheese were nice. I then tried to relax over a cup of Earl Grey with Lemon, but by this time, the flight had gone into a short period of Clear Air Turbulence and most of it ended up over my tray table.

When did I last refuse a cheese course

I was going to read books on this flight, but I noticed that virtually the whole of series 4 of Dexter was on KrisWorld, so for a change, I actually used the in-flight entertainment. Not that I didn’t get on fairly well with my latest historical tome - Defenders of the Faith towards the end of the flight. 

The Singapore Airlines Business seat is unusual in it's width (and the 1-2-1 layout is spiffy). The seat  showed the odd sign of wear, but was pretty much well maintained. I did not bother go into Bed mode, but did spend several hours, part reclined and using the width of the seat to get a nice “half-snuggle” position whilst watching Dexter.

In Flight Entertainment

During the flight, there were constant top-ups for drinks and a snack basket passed around a couple of times. There was another period of turbulence which delayed slightly the second meal.

Before landing we had a light meal served

Antipasto

Braised ee fu noodles with prawn dumplings, leafy greens and mushrooms

or

Banger and mash

or

Penne with arrabiata sauce, grilled chicken breast, arugula, shaved parmesan cheese

Ice Jelly with Fresh Fruit

The antipasti were quite nice, a couple of shrimps, a stuffed artichoke, some “parma” ham, salad and parmesan shavings. I took the penne and they weren’t bad, generous portion of chicken with it. The Ice jelly was vile. Teas and coffees were not offered due to it still being a bit bouncy, which was a shame, I could have done with a cuppa at that point. 

Penne with Chicken

Approach to Heathrow was fairly direct and the landing was a greaser. We didn’t have the “waiting for a stand problem” at Terminal 3, we did have the slow immigration (no fast track for EU citizens) and even slower bags, although they seemed to have gotten the priority baggage out first which is unusual for Festung Heathrow. 

A train and a taxi later I was at Euston, having missed the Birmingham train I had hoped to get by about 2 minutes. However, there was another one along in 20 minutes and the Virgin Bendyleaner soon got me to International where my flatmate was waiting to drive me back home. 

After a 28 hour day I was greeted by the cat with a "Where the hell have you been for three weeks and where's my salmon" look.

Trip Report 4 - Part 5 - BNE - SIN, SQ J

SQ256

BNE-SIN

Airbus 330-300

Business Class, 11A

Checking in was not terribly quick or easy, both sets of passengers using the Business Class Desks seemed to be taking a great deal of time. As large families, they were probably having fun getting seats together or something. However, eventually I was called over and everything was done for me in a trice. I wandered back outside to enjoy a smoke before dealing with Immigration and Security. Both Immigration and Security were extremely quick and extremely painless.  I then went to the SilverKris lounge, which wasn’t very exciting, however, it provided me with the breakfast I didn’t have time to have on leaving the hotel. Vegemite toast, apple juice and a long black. I thought the selection of food was weak.

I did try to settle down, but the area was invaded by what I believe is termed in Australian English “cashed-up bogans”, who at the tender hour of 7:45 decided to hit the beer and vodka. After the second lengthy sighting of the grubby underdaks of one of the younger(and deeply unattractive) bogans due his low riders, I decided to see if I could find some cufflinks and have a general wander through Duty Free, after a short search I did find a display of links, although it did take some time to find some subtle ones. I then went in search of the secret smoking terrace at Brisbane, it does exist but is signposted nowhere.

Boarding was called very much on time and I swiftly found myself on board my first Airbus 330-300, I have the bulkhead row at the front and no seat mate. This is very lucky as there are only 2 free business class seats (and economy looks very full as well). The bogans are at the back of business class.

We are immediately offered, newspapers, magazines and a fruit  juice, I take tomato and a Straits Times. The rather paltry business class amenity kits are distributed, socks and eyeshades, I’m afraid I take my Suites slippers out my case, they are very comfortable and I’ve been wearing them in the hotels. Menus are distributed as well.

We push back bang on time, take off bang on time and are told that our flight time will be around seven hours. Just a small hop around here J

Quickly another round of juice is distributed with the hot towels, both of which I’m very grateful  to receive. The bogans are demanding beers, I can hear them from the front row.  We are then asked for our selections for brunch and I settle down with Jeffrey Eugenides’ Middlesex – which is at least more readable than The Virgin Suicides, if somewhat unfinished. I can’t help feeling that there should have been a second book there.

The choices today for Brunch are

Sliced fresh fruit

Cereal (Raisin bran or Cornflakes) or Yoghurt

Grilled beef fillet with rosemary jus, roasted vegetables and potatoes

or

Singapore style roast chicken with chicken flavoured rice and chilli sauce

or

Scrambled egg with ham steak, sautéed mushroom, roasted tomato and roesti

Sticky rice ice cream garnished with yam and sweet potato in coconut milk stew.

The fruit is, as ever on airlines, slightly too cold. However, the mango is nice and ripe and the two raspberries and the blueberries are always welcome. I get a cup of tea, more juice and water to go with it all.

Breads are served, nice and wam, only one each and the brown roll is pretty dry. Those complaining of Lufthansa’s bread rationing may wish to take note. The yoghurt is Ski, wild strawberry, it might be slightly more classy to put it an bowl, but this is the Brisvegas route.

The Roast Chicken Rice is fairly decent, the chilli adds a good kick and the chicken is juicy, especially the two dark meat pieces, the rice has suffered slightly in the convection oven. However, an enjoyable choice, I’ll pop down Maxwell Road for the real thing later this week. I did see the grilled beef fillet served to another passenger and it looked very good.

The ice-cream is slightly strange, it’s a bit of an unusual combination for me and I approach it with a certain degree of caution. It is, like 99% of airline ice cream, rock hard. When melted, it’s delicious. I’d happily order that again.

The cabin then settles down, some go to sleep, some use Krisworld. Myself, I get the seat into a nice comfy position and I switch between reading Middlesex and writing this trip report. After just half the flight, we leave Australia and I decide that as it is now Australian lunchtime, I’ll take a beer. It comes with mixed nuts (which are carefully examined for the presence of the fell walnut before consumption). The regional seat isn't as generously wide as some SQ seats, but does have a nice reclined position for reading with loads of legroom.

Just after that, there is another drinks round and then orders are take for what is deemed refreshment which is served about 75 minutes out of Singapore.

Our choices today for refreshment are:

Warm smoked chicken, brie and Avocado in rustic Turkish bread served with rucola

or

Braised egg noodles with beef mushrooms and greens.

I took the sandwich with a cup of tea and some water. It was tasty, but quite messy to eat.  It was certainly just about the right size after only 5 hours.

The decent into Singapore was a little delayed due to a thunderstorm in the area, but we made a nice landing at Changi just before three o’clock Singapore time.  We then proceeded to have a small tour of the airport before arriving at one of the far gates in T2. We were off quickly, I popped for a quick smoke, then joined what I thought was the shortest immigration queue, but unfortunately was behind some French cretins who felt they didn’t have to fill out a landing card.  Sigh. Bags were, of course, on the belt by the time I got to them and I was quickly into a taxi for my hotel where a big surprise was waiting for me.

Trip Report 4 - Part 2 - SIN-MEL, SQ F

A Short Changi Interlude

One advantage of 1A is that you really are the first off and it’s good to stretch the legs for a while. However, my power walk was stopped by a sign board indicating that SIA wanted to speak to me. For a minute, I thought I was being put onto the next Melbourne flight in two hours or so, which I wouldn’t have minded at all. However, it was to give out compensation for the downgrade from Suites to First from Singapore to Melbourne. All I will say is that this was very generous, consisting of quite a large sum of cash and a generous duty-free voucher which has gotten me the smart new watch I wanted.

I then proceeded to the lounges, or at least the smoking terrace before the lounges for the first fag for sixteen hours or so and then decided even though I only had a few minutes I’d pop into The Private Room which is for First Class passengers only (no Star Gold elites, no First Class pax from other airlines, no SQ Solitaires).  It’s very nice, if a little stuffy looking, the waiting staff address you by name, everything is brought to you, there is a delicious food menu and a buffet. Personally, I asked for an enormous glass of water and a cup of coffee, these arrived very swiftly and I consumed them whilst making a phone call home.

It was then swiftly out again onto the smoking terrace, off to duty-free to buy 200 fags, then a brisk walk up to the other end of the A pier (I needed to burn off some of the several thousand calories I have comsumed today) to go through Security (swift, polite, no Nude-O-Scopes, no groping) only to run into a somewhat disorganised boarding process where the priority queue seemed to mainly consist of “families with children who need assistance with boarding”  and "anyone else who thinks that they may qualifyt". There were, of course, a considerable number of “gate lice” hanging around, one of which shoved in front of me with a wave of a pass and a grunt of “Business Class”. I tapped her on the shoulder, showed her my boarding pass and told her to get to the back of the queue J .

SIN-MEL

SQ 227

17th December 2010

1B, First

After a few minutes of this queuing idiocy, I finally managed to make my way onto the 747-400 and to my seat at 1B. I’m fond of the 747, and this is probably the last time I’ll fly an SQ one, so I actually wasn’t that bothered by the downgrade. Also, this is a short leg of around 6:30 minutes and I was wide awake and refreshed – in fact remarkably chirpy, so again, I wasn’t expecting to sleep, a comfy chair and good service will do me fine.

However, when you have been in the Suite, you can see why it is a downgrade, merely from the privacy point of view. I am only too aware that there are people trying to sleep behind me, so flash photos of the food ain’t happening. I would have been comfortable viewing a movie like La Haine in Suites, I wouldn’t be so happy in First. However, it’s nice enough, plenty of room and the usual charming SQ service.

I was of course offered a welcome drink, I decided on a nice big glass of water, as that’s what I needed after the fast walk up the pier and the small boarding scrum. The usual handing out of the goodies occurred and I carefully stashed many of them unopened, I’m thinking gifts not ebay, folks. Well, not ebay much, honest.

After takeoff, I switched to the Rudesheimer Riesling Spaetlese 2006. Wow, I though I was drinking an Auslese, except it was fake sweetness. I like German Riesling, mainly because it’s complex and not appreciated and therefore generally has reasonable prices. The was accompianied by the mix of macadamia and cashew again. I ended up having two glasses which is my limit unfortunately.

Menu

Chilled malassol caviar

or

Salad of lobster, Asparagus tips and artichoke “barigoule” with old mustard vinigarette.

Mushroom soup with spices  and truffle fois-gras royale

or

Oriental clear broth with watercress

Butter lettuce heart with baby cress and cherry tomato (Hazelnut vinigarette or thousand island dressing)

Chicken breast with morel polenta, roasted zucchini, asparagus and jus

or

Singapore Bak Kut Teh

or

Steamed fillet of black cod with gremolata, pickled cherry tomato and saffron potato

or

Nasi Uduk (coconut rice, beef redang, chicken curry, steamed fish soufflé, pickled veg)

or

Saffron fettucine with sauted ceps, argula, shaved parmesan, pesto

Warm chocolate cake with rum infused raisin and expresso ice-cream

or

Mango soup with pomelo and sago with vanilla ice cream

Selection of brie, mild chedder, true blue and smokey pepper cheeses

Fresh fruit

Tea and coffees served with pralines

The lobster was very nice, but actually the highlight was the delicious artichoke and the lovely old mustard vinigarette which blended together really rather well.

The mushroom soup sounded a wee bit too rich for me, who is after all eating a second large meal in less than 5 hours. So I had the broth, cleansing, not medicinal, lots of watercress and very refreshing, I'd certainly order that again.

I dodged the salad, I’ll make up for it on the ground, honest.

Main course was a bit tricky, anything with polenta is right out, the pasta sounds dull, but the other three are all interesting. I went for the Uduk, which had melt in the mouth beef redang (although a bit gorafied), nice chicken, good soufflé and the only downside was the rice wasn’t quite perfect.

I passed on dessert, I’m a fat biffer and one contained the demon rum and the other contained both a form of Satan’s globes and sago, despite the best attempts by two of the crew to fatten me up, I wasn’t indulging.

I did have cheese, silly question, when don’t I have cheese if it’s on offer? The cheese was a bit meh, when they say mild cheddar on the menu, they sadly meant it and that set the standard for the other cheeses. However, again a generous portion (unlike the wafer-thin slices of LH or LX) and nice big juicy grapes and dried apricots to go with it.

Again, I skipped the fruit, although I half fancied a banana and went on to a nice cup of coffee with a single white chocolate praline.

Virtually everyone else was asleep at this point with four hours to go, so I’m settled down into my book as we approach Port Headland. We fairly rattled along down to Adelaide and then on to Melbourne, with a strong headwind giving us speeds of over 1100 km/h at some points according to the Flight Map, I was content with Sambrook’s State of Emergency which as a big thick book filled with facts is amongst my favourite reading. What I particularly like about Sambrook as a historian is the sheer eclecticism that he puts in his works and State of Emergency is a very good follow up to “Never Had It So Good” and “White Heat”. Who says you need Krisworld, but I am a very textual rather than visual person.

About 90 mins out from MEL breakfast service started, it’s only a continental breakfast on this short leg, but whilst some carriers will skimp on this even in First Class, it’s a pretty decent selection on SQ. I had my usual tomato juice, two beautiful cups of black coffee, a fruit plate which included a positively lucullan half mango, a brown roll and butter and a small bowl of birchermuesli with additional fresh fruit. All done within the space of 30 minutes and done very well. Service for coffee and juice for people waking up carried on right up to 20 minutes out from MEL.

Landing had some pretty serious reverse thrust (unless the WhaleJet landing which was a greaser) but we were fairly swiftly at the gate and off. Immigration wasn't a problem, very polite and asking very sensible questions and the only slight disappointment was a fairly long wait for my bag to come off, priority baggage obviously doesn't work so well in MEL. No quarantine inspection, although a gorgeous dog sniffed the bags and out for a cigarette before getting a taxi into a very rainy Melbourne.

Once again, a very friendly and engaging crew on this flight who are a credit to SQ. I started this journey feeling not at my best physically and mentally and with a certain amount of trepidation about going. I arrive in Melbourne, reasonably well-rested, very well fed and watered, quite a bit better off than when I set off and in a much better frame of mind. I will thank my flatmate for bullying me when I get back. Next up: a few bits on Melbourne in a few days and then MEL-SYD on QF in J.

Trip Report 4 - Part 1 - LHR-SIN, SQ R

SQ321

LHR-SIN

1A, Suites

Having seen that the flight was boarding, I decided to leave the lounge slightly before the main horde mainly to have a stretch of the legs and because I tend to like to board early. On reaching the gate, I was cordially escorted to a separate seating area for Suites passengers and then within seconds escorted on board. My suite was 1A, it reminds me a little of a railway sleeper carriage of the couchette era but in done out in lovely wood and leather earth tones and with a fascinating selection of cubbyholes, crannies and buttons. The charming crew introduced themselves one by one, distributing a cornucopia of goodies, a Givenchy sleep suit (yes, the XL fits even huge old me), some slippers (very comfy), socks, menus etc whilst carefully establishing drink preferences and making professional chit-chat. Some people say SQ crew are robotic, I’ve never found this, I’ve always found them consistently very good and very charming. 

Of course, I was swiftly given the most difficult choice of them all, Dom or Krug, I’m not allowed to drink much on my new exciting medication, but I trust the pharmacist in that a couple of glasses will help sleep as opposed to the quack who has cultural reasons to say no alcohol at every opportunity. I chose the Dom and it was delicious. Sadly, we had one of those lengthy slot and de-icing delays which are so common in the winter, so we ended up on the ground for about an hour. Refills were of course offered, but declined as I was rationing the consumption.

Soon after we took off the second glass was taken with some roasted cashew nuts and huge macadamia nuts – lovely. 

The menu today was:

Chilled malossol caviar

or 

Maine lobster with celeriac-crabmeat salad and lemon dressing

Chicken and sweetcorn consommé with smoked chicken dumpling

or

Chinese style seafood soup

Salad of frisee and endive garnished with feta cheese, ligurian olives and semi-dried tomato. (Basil vinaigrette or ranch dressing)

Beef Wellington, Mushroom duxelle, green beans, bordelaise sauce

or

Prawn Sambal

or

Roast pork loin with caraway seed sauce, sauerkraut with bacon and potato dumplings (hello, am I on LH)

or

Salmon in oriental sauce with braised noodles

or

Assorted wild mushroom risotto with roast capsicum, rucola, shaved parmesan

Rhubarb crumble with vanilla ice cream and syrup

or

Vanilla ice cream with fresh mixed berries and passion fruit coulis

Somerset brie, Butlers secret mature cheddar, wensleydale with cranberry and Shropshire blue with the tracklements

Fresh Fruits in season

Coffee & Teas with pralines

Choices, choices, eh. Even the first choice is difficult, I am fond of caviar but I am also fond of lobster. I take the punt that there will be a similar choice on the next flight and opt for the caviar which comes with all the trimmings. I take a nice brown roll from the bread basket to go with the echt but too cold Normandy butter.

After that, I go for the consommé, this is quite nice, especially the dumpling, but not quite right. I skip the salad, one has to save some calories somewhere in a feast such as this, plus I like my salad to be nude leaves.

I then choose the Salmon with noodles, which also has a selection of fresh veg cooked with it. Like any reheated non-soup noodle dish, the texture is a bit variable, but a bit of crunchy is good as far as I’m concerned. It’s light and delicious and I could have eaten it all over again.

I skip dessert in favour of cheese, I’m happy to report that the cheese comes in generous portions, the Brie was a little meh, but the Shropshire blue was delicious – it’s not in the photo because it got scoffed  very quickly, as did the very good cheddar – I prefer my cheddar a little strong, but this had fine texture.

A nice cup of tea and a single praline rounded off the meal for me, with a few more pages read of Dominic Sandbrook’s latest magnum opus – State of Emergency. At this point I went to the bathroom whilst the bed was brought down and the seat folded away and changed into my sleepsuit. The bed is very ingeniously positioned in the wall and provides a decent length, single mattressed bed. It’s quite hard, but I like that and with the duvet and the doors shut I was soon snugly heading towards sleepytime.

I slept with the odd interruption for about 7 hours, the A380 is sufficiently quiet that I can sleep without using earplugs! There was a bouncy bit just over India, but otherwise the flight seemed pretty smooth.

Having the cabin converted back, I breakfasted over the Andaman Islands. I had some fresh fruit (too cold, melon a bit unripe), tomato juice and a nice large glass of it at that, two mugs of delicious black coffee, a small bowl of fruit yoghurt (very good), a croissant and Nasi Lemak. As is usual, I was asked “are you OK with spicy”, I say I’ve had it before (which is true, usually in food courts in Singapore). 

The Nasi Lemak was a good choice, the prawns in the sambal were plump and the sambal was nice and spicy but not that spicy, the little fried fish were salty heaven, the rice was good, the omelette was fine and the chicken was well, chicken.

Unfortunately, with the delays at Heathrow, it’s unlikely that I’ll have much time on my transfer at Singapore. My plan of a nice hour in The Private Room looks scuppered, but I should be able to get a look inside even if it will probably mean I don’t have chance for a shower. Well, I have no seat opponent on the next flight, I can afford to whiff a bit J

Unternehmen Changi is basically, smoke fag, buy fags, go to lounge for a bit of Intertubes, smoke fag, board. If I get chance, I might see if I can get a UK-OZ adaptor as well, but I doubt if I’ll get chance. I’m sure the hotel will have one.

I’m actually slightly regretting this flight. I have a terrible feeling that i’ll never be happy in Business Class to the Far East again. Now, I wonder how much a D to R cash upgrade is for SIN-LHR on the way back.