LUFTHANSA WELCOMES ME ABOARD AND

PAMPERS ME FROM MUNICH TO NEW YORK

WITH DAVID BOULEY'S “STAR CHEF“ MENU AND EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE

 

Lufthansa

Not too long ago, I had the treat of being invited to celebrity Chef Extraordinaire David Bouley’s Test kitchens in the Tribeca district of New York City, not far from his famous restaurants. The occasion was the tasting of the “Star Chef” menus he had created for Lufthansa’s First and Business Class service on all International flights out of Germany. Lufthansa has formed liaisons with International celebrity chefs to create special menus to enhance the culinary experience for their passengers;
 

Bouley's Test Kitchens in New York City ~ Bouley and D. Polan ~ Bouley Cooking

As a follow-up to my New York tasting, Lufthansa invited me to sample Bouley’s menu 37,000 feet over the Atlantic to check out the transition from testing kitchens to airline catering kitchens to airline galley. My business class menu kept me dining for hours: for starters, tangy tiger prawns with maize and peas and pastrami on coleslaw with pickled vegetables . . . followed by a crisp and crunchy radicchio/ endive salad, then my choice of savory beef goulash with spatzle and herbed carrots . . . fried slices of salmon with a meaux sauce, celery and apple puree and steamed savory cabbage… or mixed mushrooms a la crème with chive dumplings and vegetable potpourri. The cheese and desert course was equally luscious. For a snack half way through the flight, there was a choice of smoked marlin and Argentinean beef sandwiches served with an exotic orzo pasta salad, dressed with herb crème fraiche, or a spinach and cheese spatzle with onions, mornay sauce and diced tomatoes. A yummy apple crumble with whipped cream topped the meal. David Bouley’s gourmet menu translated well, winning the challenge of maintaining the high standards his loyal patrons expect, and Lufthansa‘s discriminating passengers demand. For me, time spent in “ Lufthansa’s gourmet heaven” lived up to its reputation, and thanks to clear sailing, we climbed even higher.
 

Chef Bouley and Thomas Stets ~ Star Chef David Bouley and other LSG Sky Chefs

Lufthansa was the first airline to bring gourmet cuisine to their Business and First Class discriminating passengers with special menus created by a roster of hand selected world renowned celebrity chefs. The theory was to combine innovative culinary talents with Lufthansa’s award winning in-flight service. Lufthansa and Thomas Stets, executive chef for menu designs, unveiled menus created by master chefs: Paul Bocuse (Lyon, France), Daniel Boulud, David Bouley (New York) Thomas Keller (Napa and New York), and Dideter Muller (Bergisch, Glad and South Africa). Some of the more exotic dishes served: saddle of venison with herbal crepe in mountain pepper sauce, halibut with shrimp soufflé on couscous in shellfish stock and kaffir lemon sauce and seasoned tuna on fruit chutney. To compliment and harmonize with the exquisite food, World Champion Sommelier Markus Del Monego was been brought on board to develop a Vinothek Discoveries wine list which changes every two weeks.

Starter: Pastrami on coleslaw with pickled vegetables

Lufthansa's Gourmet Food

2008 got off to a savoury start with one of France’s top-ranked chefs, Anne-Sophie Pic from the Maison Pic restaurant in Valence. Highlights from her First Class menu include: artichoke terrine served with seafood sauce, and roasted pigeon in nut crust served with quinoa grains with dates and mint . . .  and in Business Class: such delicacies as porcini marinated roast beef and grilled zucchini, smoked marlin with basil crème fraîche accompanied by ratatouille salad or almond-crusted tilapia served with onion endive fondue and rice. In September 2007, Anne-Sophie was voted “Chef of the Year” by 8,000 of her fellow chefs, making her the first woman in France to receive her country’s highest culinary achievement.
 

Lufthansa’s premium fine-dining program has also received recognition from the culinary world for their participation in The Food Network reality series, The Next Iron Chef. Lufthansa helped orchestrate the fourth challenge, taking Kitchen Stadium and four final chef contestants to Munich, challenging them to use the airline’s catering facility and high-quality local ingredients to prepare the ultimate meal for Lufthansa’s First-class passengers.

One of the world’s largest airlines, Lufthansa flies to some 192 destinations in 78 countries. For more information or reservations, visit www.lufthansa.com or call 800-645-3880.