You are rushing to the check-in or baggage drop counter, then you remember you have not eaten anything before you arrived at the airport. You look at the unappetizing local fares, easily 3 or 4 times more expensive than eating in the city and you finally grab the easiest and cheap fast food. Sound familiar? This is all too familiar to me, even though I know I am not doing good to myself with the fried and salt-laden food.
When I was invited for a food tasting at Flight Club, a dining establishment launched in Dec 2015 by Plaza Premium Group at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), I kept my fingers crossed that they will be true as their proclamation of healthy dining (and tasty, of course) with price that will not bleed my purse.
Flight Club is the only one serving cold pressed juice after checking into Departure Level in Satellite Building, with 6 menus plus made-to-order combination of your choice. There are something for most ailment linked to long travelling – jet lag, indigestion, low immunization et cetera. My personal recommendation will be Go With The Flow with beet root, which is very good for our liver. I do hope that Flight Club will soon introduce their juices in bottles because there are always some people (cough, cough) who are always running late for their flights.
After the juices, our session started with the appetisers. Most of the menus are fusions of western and international cuisine, featured with herbs and seeds. The 6 degree Fresh Cameron Highland Tomato Soup (RM12) is a welcoming change from conventional hot soup, served with homemade calamansi sorbet that gave additional tang. The usual portion is bigger and served in soup dish instead of small glasses as shown in the picture.
Hydrophonic Baby Cos “Caesar’s Style (RM16), as its name suggested, is caesar salad but given a twist with crunchy baby cos leaves, thinly sliced beef bacon and anchovy topped with slow cooked blackened chicken breast.
On the other hand, the shredded papaya in Home Grown Farmer Tomatoes (RM12) were a little overripe for salad as I was expecting a distinct sour unripe taste, similar to Som Tum.
Tropical Fruit Cocktail (RM16) was beautifully done with cocktail sauce of chia seed, honey-glazed walnut and dried sultanas. Flight Club got it right by listing it as an appetiser instead of desserts. Latest health buzz dictates that fruits should always be eaten before meal for better digestion and absorption of vitamins.
East Meets West (RM16) is an unlikely combo of avocado, cheesy mornay sauce, smoked chicken ham, fresh coconut milk and mixed herb crouton that turned out surprisingly well. It was so rich and creamy that even the avocado-hater CS likes it.
Lamb Stew (RM35), minced lamb cooked to tender, served with seasonal vegatables, salad and soft tortilla was a tad too salty for me.
Prawn Risotto (RM30), despite its parmesan cheese- rich appearance, turned out to be quite clean taste, probably attributed to the use of lemon and orange zest.
Squid Ink Pasta (RM25), homemade pasta flavoured with squid ink, cooked with squid, tomato julienne, virgin olive oil and cilantro.
Vegetarian Fried Rice ala Flight Club (RM20) is best eaten after mixing all the accompanying chia seed, pine nut, sunflower seed, sesame, assorted vegetables and raisins. It was the most fiber-rich food of the day.
My favourite was the Grilled Sutchi Fillet (RM30), grilled to perfection, firm textured with slight crisp at the edges. It comes on a bed of refreshing tomato mint salsa, seasoned with zesty lemon juice.
With the Englishman’s Fish & Chips, Chef Danny had made improvement to the usual batter to produce its lasting crunchy crust. However, maybe because of the use of river fish in this recipe, it was lacking in briny taste that I seek for. Also, it did not hold up well the deep-frying and became too soft inside.
Grass Prawns Thermidor (RM38), creamy mixture of cooked prawn meat served with oven-browned cheese, vegetables, potatoes and garlic bread.
Pot Roast (RM39), Australian Black Angus beef brisket was fork tender and wonderfully succulent.
It seemed like a long journey but we finally got to the dessert. I was stuffed to the brink at that moment but could never say no to the beautiful desserts. Beetroot Ice Cream with Cheese Cake (RM15), where the cheese cake’s creaminess balance the earthy taste of beetroot.
Cempedak Ice Cream and Sesame Ice Cream (RM10 each scoop). Cempedak is my kryptonite, having eaten only twice in my lifetime and fallen very ill after that, so I gave it a miss.
Double Valrhona Chocolate Lava Cake (RM15). I was holding my camera while CS cut through the cake, expecting to catch the food porn of the day with melting lava oozing out, but the cake was a quite dry and no melting lava.
I know it’s unbelievable, but I decided to complete my food tasting experience with a routine dose of caffeine.
Overall, it was a great gastronomic experience and Flight Club is a refreshing place as good as the premium lounge with the charging station, flight information board, variety of magazines and newspapers and complimentary Wi-Fi made available for all guests.
My food tasting session at Flight Club was complimentary, all opinions are my own.
