This spring, Lufthansa enlisted New York celeb chef David Burke to design innovative menus for First and Business class passengers on long haul routes from Germany. David Burke is most famous for his eclectic, Willy Wonka-like visions of candy floss and cheesecake lollipops, wild savory flavor combinations and eye-popping culinary colors. With a string of namesake eateries in New York, David Burke rules the roost in a funky high-concept foodie empire.
The path between concept and execution can sometimes be a long one. In this case the path is virtually endless. On my flight from Frankfurt to Addis Ababa, the Business class menu reads like classic "David Burke." The choices range from innovative and delicious-sounding to just plain weird. I choose the "king prawn confit with melon balls in tomato and soy sauce presented with apple and fennel salad" and this is what I got:
Lufthansa, some advice for you: tell it like it is. Apparently, something was lost in translation, because what I actually ordered was "three limp salty shrimp and fruit salad served with brown ketchup." Really. Brown ketchup.
By this point I declared the written menu invalid. I skipped over the David Burke descriptions and made my entrée choice between "fish" and "chicken." My chicken was described as: "fried breast of poulard in barbecue jus, mixed bell peppers stew and polenta" but again, the lofty New York culinary concept didn't quite translate to the tray table. At least the wine (German) went down smoothly.
For dessert, David Burke's most famous edible invention, cheesecake lollipops. The trio of cheeses (Bavaria blu, cheddar and chive) also sounded too good to pass up, so I opted for both. The cake-pops were described as "on sponge cake with coconut and chocolate" and appeared identical to ones I've had in the past at David Burke's restaurants. Unfortunately, they didn't exactly hold up from the catering facility to the galley. I still cleared both plates. What can I say, I'm a captive audience.
Our pre-landing snack (blah) was described as "crayfish salad, roast beef wrap with chili sauce and crabmeat with grapefruit." The dessert, totally tasteless, was evidently "butterscotch panna cotta with chocolate sauce."
There's not a lot to say here, except that Lufthansa better step it up...and tone it down...in the inflight dining department. I'd like to blame all it on "star chef" David Burke. He meant well, but he clearly missed that episode of "Top Chef" (a shout out to my friend "T" who made a uniformed cameo) where it was proven that some types of food (high-concept, molecular gastronomy and burnt asparagus) are out of their element at 35,000 feet.
Comments
I totally agree. Airlines should focus on serving good food that still tastes delicious up in the air, not all this frilly, artistic crap.
At least the portions aren't skimpy...never tried Lufthansa business...but if they get back to basics not bad. Still waiting for you to unravel the mystery of "DuBarry Sauce" that pops up on the Continental menus. It reappeared on a flight of mine last month after a long hiatus.
Sadly, David Burke's contributions in F were even worse.
I recently flew Lufthansa in both the 1st and business class sections. I did not enjoy the food at all. How do I access Lufthansa's alternative meal options for future flights?
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