SATS Inflight Catering is the first to introduce in-house culinary consultants. The launch kicked off earlier this afternoon at the SATS Inflight Catering Centre I near Changi Airport.
Over 100 dishes were showcased at the SATS’ inaugural “Culinary Journey with Global Chefs which was attended by airline clients giving them the opportunity to try out these dishes and decide whether to offer them to the passengers.
SATS Culinary Consultants
The food service provider has enlisted five chefs renowned in their own field from around Asia Pacific. The panel includes Singaporean celebrity Chef Eric Teo, award winning Korean Chef Gwak Man Keun, prominent Indonesian Chef Idham Mirwan, Chinese celebrity Chef Qian Yibin and global baker Dean Brettschneider.
Chef Gwak Man Keun from South Korea is the founder of Gwakfood FC with over 50 branches in Korea. He is the Vice Chairman of Korean Food Association and winner of Korean and International awards such as the 2012 IKA Culinary Olympics in Germany, 2013 International Culinary Art Master in China, 2014 Villeroy & Boch Culinary World Cup and 2015 GOSU (Master) Certificate.
I remember Chef Dean Brettschneider when we first met at the IHG Culinary Ambassadors programme last year. Chef Dean has 25 years of experience specialising in new world baking products. He is also an international award winning author of 12 best selling bake books with vast experience in Asian taste profiles. He is the founder and co-owner of the global bake chain Baker & Cook and Plank Sourdough Pizza in Singapore.
Chef Eric Teo has 30 years of experience in Singapore’s F&B industry. He was World Gourmet Summit Executive Chef of the Year in 2006, 2008 and 2009. He was also the first Singaporean to be appointed President of the Singapore Chef’s Association from 2005 to 2013. Chef Eric is also a TV personality.
SATS has been working with Indonesian Chef Idham Mirwan previously providing seasonal festive menus for Hari Raya Aidilfitri on selected airlines such as SilkAir and Jet Airways. Chef Idham is a culinary consultant at renowned restaurants such as Munik, Infinity Bar and Lounge Crown Plaza and Claw Daddy Restaurant. He is also a lecturer at STP Sahid in Jakarta. With over 25 years experience in the hotel industry in Jakarta, Middle East and USA, Chef Idham is also the ambassador of the Indonesian cuisine showcasing Indonesian food at international events.
Celebrity Chef Qian Yibin is a master of traditional and modern Shanghainese cuisine. He was the Judge for World Chefs Challenge as well as the coach for China Culinary Team for the upcoming 2016 German Olympics Culinary Challenge. He has authored many cookbooks featuring Chinese cuisine. He owns a restaurant cum training kitchen “WF Kitchen” in Shanghai. SATS has worked with Chef Qian earlier this year to create seasonal festive menus for Chinese New Year on selected airlines.
SATS has picked these chefs so that it can keep the flavour profile of its meals authentic. It also aims at providing its airline clients the best food experience as possible as airlines cannot afford to be commoditised. SATS Director of Kitchens Rick Stephens and his team of over 52 chefs and the five international culinary consultants have created a new selection of inflight Asian and International dishes.
SATS has to inflight catering centre in Singapore. Both centres serve up and average of 80,000 meals each day at its 20 kitchens. It has a workforce of over 2,000 including a culinary team of 1 Director of Kitchens, 1 Executive Chef and 19 Executive Sous Chefs.
Chef Collaborations with Airlines In Asia
In-house culinary consultants and chef collaborations are common for many airlines. We’ve seen and also tried a couple of these collaborations during our travels. Many of these collaborations benefit those flying in premium classes.
All Nippon Airways has been working with chefs to launch seasonal menus on its flights in three-month cycles as part of its “Tastes of JAPAN” campaign since September 2013. Between September and November this year, ANA will introduce ANA customers to products from Akita, Saitama and Shimane prefectures.
Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways has collaborated with Hyatt Hotels and Resorts since 1 June this year till mid 2017 to offer specially designed menus by star chefs at Grand Hyatt Hong Kong and five Park Hyatt hotels globally. Till end August, passengers travelling in all classes from Hong Kong to most of its long haul destinations including Australia, New Zealand, Europe and North America can dine on traditional Cantonese fare by Chef Li Shu Tim of Grand Hyatt Hong Kong.
Cathay Pacific is also collaborating with celebrity chef Daniel Green, a specialist in high-quality, low-carbohydrate cuisine. First and Business Class passengers flying from Hong Kong to destinations in North America have been enjoying exclusive dishes and drinks designed by Chef Daniel. With this collaboration, the airline can offer its guests clean dining options.
Under the meal service concept of “Sky Auberge BEDD by JAL, Japan Airlines has collaborated with Chef Daisuke Hayashi for its First and Business Class flights departing from London from 1 September this year. Chef Daisuke Hayashi from the Japanese Culinary Academy UK is a new member of the airline’s dream team of star chefs. Chef Hayashi was sous-chef at the prestigious high-end Kyoto restaurant “Kikunoi” in Akasaka, Tokyo, and supervised the Japanese cuisine at the 2008 G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit. He also has extensive experience working in Japanese restaurants overseas, including his current post of Executive Chef at “TOKIMEITE” in London.
Qantas has been collaborating with Celebrity Chef Neil Perry for his Rockpool food philosphy and Spice-Temple inspired menus using seasonal ingredients and served on Marc Newson tableware both inflight and at its Airport lounges around the world including the one closest to us at Changi Airport in Singapore.
Daily plates with locally influenced dishes, with an a la minute section where you can get dishes cooked up for you when you want it as well as an extensive buffet section with local and international influences and a bar with snacks and signature Spice Temple cocktails and a plethora of wines and spirits are available at the Qantas Singapore lounge. We also hear that the food prepared for inflight dining on Qantas is prepared no differently than how they would have been prepared for diners on the ground. If it is good enough to eat on the ground, it is good enough to eat in the air without any enhancements that is usually required to compensate the palate which reacts differently to food taste because of cabin pressure.
Singapore Airlines has its own International Culinary Panel which includes eight celebrity chefs. There’s Alfred Portale from New York, Carlo Cracco from Milan, Georges Blanc from Vonnas, France, Matthew Moran from Sydney, Sanjeev Kapoor from Mumbai, Suzanne Goin from Los Angeles, Yoshiro Murata from Kyoto and Zhu Jun from Shanghai.
On 19 August 2016, Hainan Airlines launched its new “Restaurant On Board” service at an event in Grand Hyatt Beijing. A menu has been created by Michelin-starred chefs for passengers flying from Paris, Berlin and Brussels. The new Michelin menu is part of Hainan Airlines’ “Exclusive Restaurant on Board” programme. It plans to launch more in-flight special and gourmet meals based on new international routes. Chefs will be on board the flights and let passengers sample the food as they share stories behind the research and development that went into the creation of the new meals.
