Mile High Grub

Ok, so it's been a long, LONG time since I wrote a little blog post. I've been reprimanded by the majority of readers, in fact by both of them. My mum, who checks this site every day, is sick to death of seeing the brioche post I wrote in August. My sister's advice was to at least write a short explanation so that people know I'm not dead.


Well, hi mum! Hi Soph! I'm back. You've been waiting 2 months, a little more. So the come back post has to be good, it has to be exciting. It really shouldn't be about ... food I ate on an aeroplane.


I'm just back from a week in Australia. I flew with Korean airline, Air Asiana, because, well, they had the cheapest fare. The service was fine, the inflight entertainment was crap, but I'll be flying with them again (albeit with several movies uploaded to my iPad and an armful of magazines) because of the food. 

The food, in my experience, is generally pretty good on Asian airlines, if you shun the western option and go with what they do best. But it's never been good enough to take a photo of, to talk about to others, let alone write up on a blog (albeit one read only by said sister and mother). 


Except for an incredibly bland chicken porridge (crying out for soy sauce, or any type of salt), the food was great (e.g. a yummy hot and spicy octopus stir fry), but two meals I was served stood out - the beef bulgogi ssambab and the beef bibimbab. The food was fresh, pretty authentic (according to the Korean student sitting next to me on one leg) and, surprisingly (and a welcome change, given you've got 10-12 hours to kill), consisted of a large DIY element. 

Instructions came with each meal. With the bibimbab a little (china, no plastic!) bowl was filled with beef mince, bean sprouts, cucumber and mushrooms. You had to add the steamed rice, pour over a sachet of sesame oil, squeeze a little tube of hot pepper paste, then mix. This was "best served with side dishes of soup", and fortunately both were provided.

My favourite (oh the excitement when I realised I would have it again on the return leg!) was the ssambab. A little cellophane parcel with a selection of leaves was unwrapped, and into a leaf was piled steamed rice, spicy beef bulgogi, a smear of bean paste, and a little kimchi. Excitement and greed meant my leaf was difficult to expertly roll, but I devoured my first, second, third and fourth ssambabs in between slurps of bean curd soup and bites of egg roll. The "western" option was roast poussin with gremolata - as IF you'd choose that!


The best food I've had in the sky - and the lack of on-demand chick flicks meant I finally got around to writing a blog post!