This is the opposite flight of the Hong Kong to Milan flight that I wrote about previously, and although the Cathay First Class Lounge was properly amazing (although food sadly wasn’t mind blowing) – the Lounge on offer in Milan was a considerable step down and frankly nothing much on offer apart from a relatively more comfortable place to wait for your flight – the lounge itself is called Sala Montale and overall – it was a bit too dark for my liking.
We didn’t really arrive that much earlier than the departure time so I just enjoyed a bit of people watching before heading off to the gate for boarding – boarding itself was smooth and we got called first – which always relieves a lot of the stress. I got myself comfy and just wondered whether Ms. Buddha will be having the meal with me this time…
Takeoff was very smooth and soon after, we were offered drinks whilst we inspected the menu.
With Cathay First Class, the starter before the actual meal tends to be always the caviar service, and whilst the table was set – the offer to sit and have lunch with me was rejected by Ms. Buddha, who already seemed engrossed into whatever movie she was watching – oh well… That said the caviar service itself was very good, and consistent with our previous flight.
Next that came was the pea and edamame soup – which was surprisingly delicious and not salty at all and had a very good flavour – a highlight compared to the normally salty food you get from Cathay.
For the main, I went for the Lamb, which was cooked well in terms of texture, but sauce was still a tad heavy on the sodium – it was still pink in the middle and the quality of the meat was actually very good.
And with the meal done (didn’t have desserts) – I got myself relaxed and then worked a bit while watching just very random shows. One thing that I did find I enjoy about the Cathay First is that the seats and environment is very comfortable to focus and just get “work” done – by work I meant just writing up drafts for this lovely site!
We were arriving into Hong Kong in very early morning (5am) and straight into work, so I did try to sleep – but unfortunately, try was all I could do – it was though no fault of Cathay since that I’m generally a pretty shocking sleeper and just can’t sleep sometimes – so as it got dark – I just lay there listening to Attenborough talking about finding giant creatures.
Needless to say – I couldn’t sleep and hence was just very very tired and grumpy – when it came breakfast time, the lovely flight attendant asked whether I wanted food – but I just said I don’t think I can keep any food down given that I’m just so exhausted. Ms. Buddha came from a different planet and instead of not sleeping – she overslept to the point that when she woke up – the crew worked their magic and provided a full congee breakfast in the shortest time possible and still managed clean-up before the plane landed – great work crew!!
When you have the fortune of flying first class – it feels bad to try and find fault, especially with the very consistently high level of service like Cathay – my only suggestion would be they really review their food offering and cut down on the salt – otherwise – an almost perfect flight once again (not being able to sleep is not their fault).
Buddha Explores 