FOCUS ON
forward to meals that are hand-made in Do&Co’s gourmet kitchen, which opened at Heathrow in 2003. The 4,500 sq metre production space is next to the airport. SAA’s menus, says Winner, will be kept
‘fresh and inspiring,’ with a seasonal quarterly rotation. Those in Business can look forward to a five-course offering that could feature tomato shorba soup with fresh parsley topping and cheese straw; Loch Fyne smoked salmon; handmade truffle tortellini with grilled artichoke and parmesan; grilled cod from the North Atlantic (MSC approved) served with saffron veloute, baby carrots and mushy peas; chicken supreme stuffed with aubergine and goat cheese, with saffron risotto; or braised beef cheek with glazed shallots, grilled carrots – and for dessert there’s a line-up that includes mango panna cotta, avocado chocolate mousse and passion fruit tiramisu.
Economy customers can tuck into meals that include a farmer’s salad with feta cheese, beef patties with couscous, Viennese paprika chicken with homemade
buttered Spatzle and broccoli, or rigatoni with a rosemary sauce, rocket and tomato salad, sprinkled with parmesan. The dessert lists include carrot and
banana cake, Schonbrunner chocolate cake and cheese.
The new menus are supported by an
impressive wine list of South African labels – and choosing the final cut of wines to make it onboard was quite an exhaustive process in itself. SAA receives over a thousand wine
entries, which are blind tested by the airline’s sommelier and independent
Pictured: Delightful desserts from Do&Co 48
WWW.ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM
wine connoisseurs over a three-day process. They are assessed and then given a score.
Only the very best wines make
SAA’s onboard trolleys, with a selection of 60 wines on a monthly rotation. For the current quarter, these include Spice Route Sauvignon Blanc 2013 (in
Business), Laibach Ladybird White 2012 (Business) and Jordan Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
(Economy).
And key when selecting the wines is their suitability to
work with the dishes Do&Co’s London kitchens are creating. “Our palate differs on the ground to in the air and I assess the ability of the wine and the food to maintain their flavour even at 30,000 ft, as our taste buds can be diluted by up to 30% when flying,” said Bongi Sodladla, SAA’s senior food and beverage manager. “The wines that end up on our rotation
are the ones with bold flavours that complement the vibrant menu offerings.”
In the same week in mid-July when SAA unveiled its new onboard menus, it picked up its latest two latest awards: the airline was ranked the ‘Best African Airline’ for the 12th year in succession at the 2014 Skytrax World Airline Awards and was also listed by Skytrax in the top 10 in the World’s Best Business Class Airline Catering, the only African carrier to achieve such a ranking. SAA’s Kershaw added: “These latest
awards show we are constantly striving to better the customer experience. The latest phase in this is to offer our passengers the very best gourmet culinary experience possible during their journey to Southern Africa.” With its headquarters in Vienna,
Do&Co has gourmet kitchens in Austria, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, Turkey and the United States.
flysaa.com;
doco.com
Profile
South African Airways (SAA) is Africa’s most awarded airline. It operates to 42 destinations worldwide linking South Africa to all the major continents through 10 direct routes. It is a Star Alliance member which offers more than 21,900 daily flights to 1,328 airports in 195 countries.
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