Sampling oneworld Premium Services: Japan Airlines First Class New York JFK to Tokyo Narita First Meal Service - Western Options Part III

JAL Original Drink "SKY TIME SHIKWÂSÂ CITRUS"

At this point, I had a couple of glasses of Champagne SALON already and my face had turned a bit red. So I switched to a JAL signature drink, "SKY TIME SHIWÂWÂ CITRUS". Shikwâwâ means Okinawa Lemon and this is the third SKY TIME flavors since it was first introduced on January 15 1992. Compared to the previous Yuzu flavor, Shikwâwâ is less sweet and more acidic. But it could still be quite sweet for some people. Not a problem for me and majority of JAL passengers as this is the third most popular beverage in Economy Class after beer and wine.

JAL custom-made glassware

If you pay closer attention to the glasswares (and probably other tablewares as well), you would notice that they are all custom-made for JAL only. For the glasses used in First Class, you could find "JAPAN AIRLINES" printed on the bottom. Even the branded RIEDEL wine glasses have "JAPAN AIRLINES" printed on them as well.

Hors d'Oeuvre

Hors d'Oeuvre - Maine Lobster, Smoked Salmon, Foie Gras Mousse with Melba Toast

Hors d'Oeuvre (Choice)

Caviar

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Maine Lobster
Smoked Salmon
Foie Gras Mousse with Melba Toast

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Salad Appetizer with Mozzarella Cheese & Olive

For the appetizer, there were three choices on the Western menu. Although the menu specifically says "choice", I am pretty sure you can choose more than one item from the list as long as there are extra left. But since I am planning to try out the Japanese option later on, I am only picking the Lobster dish. Yes, sorry to disappoint you that there will be no pictures of the caviar dish. If you want to know the brand of caviar JAL uses, you will have to wait for my report on the flight from Tokyo Narita to Jakarta :)

Hors d'Oeuvre - Foie Gras Mousse

Hors d'Oeuvre - Fresh Salad

Hors d'Oeuvre - Maine Lobster

I was a bit let down by the appetizer to be honest. I was expecting the lobster to be sweet and tender but unfortunately it was a bit overcooked and therefore it was quite rubbery. I blamed the catering company at New York for that as the cabin attendant simply plated the pre-cooked ingredients then dressed the salad. Other than that, and the Melba Toast went really well with the foie gras mousse which was smooth and creamy. You can also eat that alone or with the BEURRE Echiré butter. Salad was fresh with a well balanced acidic dressing. Can't really comment on the smoked salmon as I mentioned before I don't eat that.

Main Dish

Main Dish - Grilled Fillet of US Prime Beef with Roasted Garlic Sauce & Anchovy Butter

Main Dish (Choice)

Grilled Fillet of US Prime Beef* with Roasted Garlic Sauce & Anchovy Butter

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Long Island Free Range Duck with Berry Sauce

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Pistachio Crusted Chilean Sea-bass with Grape & Saffron Salsa


* Please let your cabin crew know if you prefer to enjoy the steak with salt instead of sauce

Also a tough choice for the main dish. I was going back and forth between the steak and duck. At first I was leaning towards the duck dish as JAL usually doesn't serve duck in other classes. But then the senior cabin attendant "highly recommended" the steak, so I ended up ordering that instead. It's possible that she only recommended this dish because they had run out of other main dishes as that's exactly what happened in one of the episodes in Attention Please!, a Japanese TV drama featuring JAL cabin attendants :P Unfortunately US prime beef instead of Wagyu beef was used. I guess probably JAL was trying to use some fresh local ingredients that represent New York and the East Coast.

Main Dish - Grilled Fillet of US Prime Beef with Roasted Garlic Sauce & Anchovy Butter

Main Dish - seasonal vegetable garnish

Frankly, I was a bit disappointed when I first received the dish. It looked exactly like what I usually got in Business Class, but maybe with a better cut of meat. Definitely should have gone for the duck simply because of that reason. Oh well too late now. But you could tell that the cabin attendants did try to plate the dish as beautifully as possible but then there's only so much they could do with these vegetable garnish and a steak.

Main Dish - Grilled Fillet of US Prime Beef with Roasted Garlic Sauce & Anchovy Butter

But then it all changed once the anchovy butter started melting. The creamy and rich butter is all over the steak, and it's simply mouth-watering. I couldn't wait any longer to dig in.

I cleared the plate!

And 10 minutes later, this is what the plate looked like. I probably don't have to describe how good the steak is :) The only thing inside my mind now was how am I going to burn all these calories and butter fat, and oh god there's still dessert to come LOL