JAL First Class cheese offerings for Fall 2013. Image by Japan Airlines.

Japan Airlines (JAL) has been serving domestically produced cheese in its First Class and Business Class on select flights departing from Japan since March 2012. JAL has just announced the fall and winter cheese line-ups. For First Class, these cheeses will be available on flights form Tokyo Narita to Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, London, Frankfurt, Paris and Jakarta. For Business Class, these cheeses will be available on flights from Tokyo Narita to Los Angeles, San Diego, Vancouver, Chicago, Boston, New York, Honolulu, London, Frankfurt, Paris, Moscow, Helsinki, Sydney, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Delhi, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Bangkok, as well as flights from Tokyo Haneda to San Francisco and Paris. And only 2 types of cheese will be served on flights from Tokyo Narita to Honolulu, from Osaka Kansai to Bangkok and Honolulu, and from Nagoya Chubu to Honolulu.

JAL collaborates with Soup Stock Tokyo to create a new breakfast menu for select international flights. Image by Japan Airlines.

Japan Airlines (JAL) will collaborate with Soup Stock Tokyo, a popular soup restaurant chain in Japan, to create a new breakfast menu for select international flights departing from Japan. This menu will replace the existing NORIBEN (seaweed bento) menu, which is also a collaboration between JAL and Soup Stock Tokyo to promote Japanese food culture, on these flights.

ANA new First Class Japanese menu by Yoshikazu Tsuji, owner of Kaiseki "Tsujitome". Image by All Nippon Airways

All Nippon Airways (ANA) has announced its latest inflight service enhancement in the premium cabins which will be rolled out in September. The new menus will be designed by a group of renowned chefs and beverage specialists. New bedding including one for Business Class will be added too. Sounds familiar? Seems like ANA is trying to match the offerings from its rival as these are exactly what Japan Airlines (JAL) did with its New Sky Project.

Time for my 2nd meal

So after taking enough pictures of the familiar Business Class self-service bar and Sky Gallery, I went back to the First Class cabin to watch more movies.

Now it's around 19:50 EDT, around 4 hours after the first meal service. I was finally not as full and had some room to spare for more food. So I started flipping through the menu. Within minutes one of the cabin attendants visited my seat and asked if want something to eat. Yes, even though the lights were off and curtains were closed, the attentive cabin attendants would still keep an eye on the passengers. You could see them periodically peeking through the curtain to see if any passengers needed anything to provide an attentive yet non-intruding service in First Class.

Grand Dessert - "Yuzu" Mousse Cake, Mille-feuille with Raspberry Sauce, Vanilla Ice Cream

Before the dessert, I was offered cheese from the a la carte menu too but I declined. No way I could fit all these in! So I just went for the the Grand Dessert which is another trio.

"Yuzu" Mousse Cake
Mille-feuille with Raspberry Sauce
Vanilla Ice Cream

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.

Amuse bouche from the Western menu.

There were two different menus for the first meal service: Japanese Cuisine and Chef's Recommendation.  In case you are wondering what Chef's Recommendation is, it's just the Western Cuisine. Not sure why Japan Airlines (JAL) named the Western options this way. Makes you wonder whether it means the Japanese option isn't recommended by the chef then LOL

For the Japanese option, two different types of rice were provided and you could choose to have either or both of them. For the Western option, there were three different appetizers and three different main dishes for you to choose from. JAL allows its First Class passengers to pre-select their meal options. But unfortunately, you can only specify whether you want Japanese or Western. So not very helpful if you want the a specific dish on the Western meal, but would work for sure if you plan to go for the Japanese one instead.

Get ready for the first meal service on JL005

Shortly after the cabin attendants distributed the menus and Bose noise canceling headphones, they came back to set your table and take your welcome drink and meal order. Although JAL has a very extensive drink menu, it didn't take me long to decide. In fact, I decided long before my flight! Of course I am going to start the service with the Japan Airlines (JAL) exclusive, Champagne SALON 1999!

Ms Fumiko Arisaka was in charge of JAL First Class wine list

As you have seen in my previous post on First Class amenities, Japan Airlines (JAL) has a separate drink menu in First Class. In Business Class, you would only get an insert to the menu telling you what the wine and drink options are. Not in First Class!

Ms. Fumiko Arisaka has been in charge of JAL wine list for a long time. She is one of the leading wine journalists in Japan. A lot of JAL cabin attendants (CA) are also qualified members of the Japan Sommeliers' Association and have in depth knowledge of wines. Therefore, they also assist Ms. Arisaka to carefully select the wines to be served onboard.

JAL will enhance the meals served in Domestic First Class. Image by Japan Airlines.

Japan Airlines (JAL) has announced it will enhance its popular Domestic First Class offerings from June 2013. This time it is the breakfast and lunch menus that will get the enhancement, while JAL will continue its collaboration with famous local restaurants in the region featured in the JAPAN PROJECT during the month. Currently JAL offers Domestic First Class on select flights between Tokyo Haneda and Osaka Itami, Sapporo Chitose, Fukuoka, and Okinawa Naha.

JAL special beef curry at Sakura Lounge

When reading trip reports on Japan Airlines (JAL) lounge service at Tokyo Narita (NRT), almost everyone would praise how tasty the special beef curry JAL offered on its lunch and dinner menus is. Due to its extreme popularity, JAL decided to offer the beef curry from 10am in the morning from February 27 2013, an hour earlier than before.