Self-taught Australian cook and restauranteur Bill Granger has designed a special menu for economy passengers on All Nippon Airways’ (ANA) new Airbus A380 Tokyo-Honolulu services — and it comes with a free drink in Waikiki.
The Japanese carrier is collaborating with “bills”, the chain that began with a restaurant in the inner-city Sydney suburb of Darlinghurst after Granger dropped out of art school in 1993.
The chain went international in 2008, starting in Tokyo and moving on to London, Honolulu and Seoul.
The ANA menu will feature two economy options that will rotate every three months for a year starting May 24. Passengers will receive a special card for a free drink at bills Waikiki as part of the collaboration.
It is part of an all-out effort by ANA to mark the start of Japan’s first A380 service, which begins May 24 with three return services per week and is due to move to 10 a week in July when a second superjumbo arrives.
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“ANA has worked with bills to create a healthy, high-quality menu in tune with the demands of modern airline passengers,’’ said executive vice president Hideki Kunugi.
“ It perfectly complements our Japanese-style offerings, which we hope will cater to all tastes and preferences.
“The dishes were designed by bills specifically for ANA, and combine bills’ signature sunny style with ANA’s food technique, and incorporate the flavors of Japanese, Australian and Middle Eastern cuisine.”
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ANA says each dish was designed to harness the latest in-flight food preparation technology and create flavors “that resonate even at altitudes even as high as 35,000ft”.
The first meal option initially available from May 24 features a classic Australian-inspired dish of pork schnitzel with mashed potato, green beans, poached egg, and parsley and caper butter as a main.
The side dishes – jasmine tea smoked salmon, edamame and pickled cucumber salad, and sticky miso aubergine, shredded kale and lettuce, tomato and tofu salad – are tweaked with Japanese flavors.
The second meal enters the rotation in September and includes grilled chicken and steamed bok choy served with a curry sauce based on bills’ popular “yellow fish curry”.
The sides include roast pumpkin, olive labneh and toasted spiced sunflower seeds which combines seasonal Japanese pumpkin with classic Middle Eastern flavors, and marinated prawns, pickled carrot and white radish.
