British Airways has unveiled the meals which will be served to three million passengers during the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Created by chef Simon Hulstone with mentorship from Heston Blumenthal, the dishes have been inspired by menus from BA’s predecessor BOAC from 1948, the last time the Olympics were held in London.
The carrier says that “popular ingredients from the time have been incorporated into his menu, with some dishes reinvented for a modern day audience”.
A total of four menus have been created for World Traveller, World Traveller Plus, Club World and First passengers, which will be served on long-haul flights from London from July.
The first class menu includes a starter of rillette of mackerel dressed on a pickled cucumber carpaccio with sour dough croutes, followed by a main of potted braised beef, with a potato and horseradish topping served with hispy cabbage, baby carrots and roasted shallots with a rich jus.
Dessert is a chilled chocolate fondant with a salted caramel liquid centre, caramel sauce and spun sugar topped with hazelnuts.
In business class travellers will be served a starter choice of golden beetroot, with goat's cheese and elderflower dressing, or (depending on the month), smoked salmon and Cornish crab roulade with servruga caviar gribiche sauce and summer cress salad (July), smoked salmon tartare with pickled cucumber ribbons radish salad and crème fraiche (August), or Gin & Tonic cured smoked salmon (August).
The main course will be fish pie using sustainable sourced hake, dressed with parmesan pomme puree and a warm tartare sauce, and dessert will be lemon curd cheesecake with raspberry and basil compote.
Passengers will also be able to choose from the regular BA menus during this period. Dishes in World Traveller and World Traveller Plus are set to be unveiled in May.
To compliment the meals the carrier will also feature a “specially commissioned onboard soundtrack which customers can listen to - featuring uplifting music and commentary from iconic British moments from previous Games”.
Last week BA announced it will open a pop-up venue in East London during April, showcasing its Olympic Dove livery, a specially-commissioned dhort film, and the Olympics-themed in-flight menus - for more information see online news March 9.
Visit ba.com.
Report by Mark Caswell
