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ameya

I am posting this in TR section. MODs please move to any other more relevant section.

I was invited for a Chef's table with Executive Chef Arun Batra of TAJSATS and CCO of Vistara Mr.Toh

I was to pay for my own ticket but I expressed my unwillingness and requested for atleast one way sponsorship and the airline offered a DEL-PNQ ticket in premium economy. I redeemed points on 9W for PNQ-DEL. The TRs will come up separately.

The chefs table dealt with airline food, VIstara food philosophy and much more. .

Vistara’s Chef’s Table: With Chef Arun Batra & Giam Ming Toh (Part I)

Vistara’s Chef’s Table: With Chef Arun Batra & Giam Ming Toh – Part II
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sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Ameya Sir, my comments, in no particular order.
My negative comments are about the Vistara focus on Taj-SATS in
general, and Sir, not about your fabulous descriptions, food
pictures, and general comments! Chef Arun Batra and his
experience is unparalleled, and Vistara sure have an ace up their sleeve, food-wise, at least.

- I find the split into two parts, extremely natural, and
interesting. The first deals with the expectation of being
invited to what is perhaps one of the best airline caterers in
the world, and the introduction. Essentially, about the
organisation.
- The second has the main course, and food-specific details.
- As I told you before,
I did not like the idea of your being `invited for an event', with
having to work your way there in one direction. More so, since
you were specifically invited by Vistara, with Taj-SATS catering,
Mr. Ameya Joshi is not just an ace aviation analyst with an
in-depth understanding of the industry, even when being away
from the industry after his long experience in it. His high
status with Zomato shows that he knows his onions as regards
food items, their preparation and presentation, and overall
experience, as well.
It was gracious of you to grace the occassion, and spend your
valuable time with them, and give them your inputs, and points
of view. The term, `invitation' is more like the usage of the
term `guest' by Jet Airways and other airlines, in place of the
more correct `customer', or to put it in a more
not-so-on-the-face way, simply a `passenger'.
I find it very nice that you have explicitly mentioned this in
your introduction, and have called a spade...nothing else.
- I personally think Taj-SATS combines the finesse of one of the
world best bakeries and food factories (the Taj group)
representing the art, with
the modern efficiency and scientific look at food of SATS.
- I wonder how Taj-SATS caters to (pun intended) to recipes of so
many airlines, and yet, keeps them to its own, with different
requirements for each airline. Non-disclosure agreements? Does
that somehow not cause a chef to tilt towards a particular
recipe in order to produce something better?
Taj-SATS does this job with fantastic finesse: catering to
different airlines' recipes and their interpretations, and
requirements.
- I personally found most of the presentation as `a beginner's
introduction to airline food' kind. If Taj-SATS invited food
experts from across, for a PR event, they should have perhaps
omitted most of the basics. They have learnt most from Air
India of the J.R.D. era, when under J.R.D.'s leadership, they took airline
food, especially Indian dishes, to its sublime prime.
Not to speak about this heritage is a gross disservice to the
vision of the great man. Air Asia India has an aircraft
livery in his honour.
- Continuing on the same point, if I do not know about the
numbing of taste buds in a flight, why people prefer salty
tomato juice, why Singapore Airlines breaks eggs and keep them
in special containers to be made by chefs in the air, and the
like, I should not be invited to this event. Why belittle the
knowledge of aviation foodies by laying stress on the basics?
Ameya Sir: if you were the only person in the know about all
this in the gathering, I think Vistara has got it all wrong.
Please read, below.
- I am not convinced about Mr. G.-M.T's claim about enough study
and feedback having been done about the box meal, and `people
willing to pay for something more than the Economy class.'
Load factors clearly show otherwise, and the lack of a proper
sampling, and study. I guess you have put the point softly.
- Mr. G.-M.T. explicitly highlighting that meals for different times of the
day to be different, for a same-day return traveller, is an
affront to common-sense and basic intelligence. As if SQ and Vistara
were the first to realise this. Air India has had this ever
since the heady J.R.D. era. And seasonal food and festivals?
The answer is the same.
- It is true that a large part of Air India's food finesse is due
to excellent execution by Taj-SATS.
- Indian food with a complete accent on primarily North Indian
fare: I personally do not like this bias. I have seen catering
by the Taj group on Air India, of a few South Indian
delicacies, that have been nothing short of excellent, at FL29
and above. Add to it catering by other small agencies as well.
- `Food in a box' is a massive wastage of paper. Paper is
recyclable, but what about an energy audit on recycling paper?
Trays and plastic and metal cutlery (metal is heavy, I know),
can be washed, and washing is not nice for the detergents
released into water bodies, but overall, should be a much
better, and more sustainable option.
- Serving seafood on their first flight: a delight for the
connoisseur for sure, but perhaps not a great move, since the
the number of people allergic to many kinds of seafood is not a
negligible statistic.
- Food picked up from Delhi and Mumbai may be fine for a new
airline with a minuscule network, but this certainly does not
scale up. Mr. Pathak: what did you think?
- Same meals for the crew is almost a no-brainer.
- The meal service changes for long and short segments was interesting!
- There is no credit in serving a chicken-based item with a
mutton-based one. In modern India, it is often safer to go with
white meat, in a non-vegetarian setting. The suitability of red
meat-based Indian delicacies for in-flight meals, notwithstanding.
- The food itself, amidst typically Ameya-esque descriptions, was
a masterpiece. The dishes were great on the eye, and must have
been incredibly tasty as well.
- The Mediterranean meal looks like a great experience. The
seafood meal is exotic. I wonder how Vistara plan to amortise
the costs of a seafood meal.
- The dessert would have blown anyone's senses away!
- Minor point:
`chhAchh/chhAs is a Gujarati-Maharashtrian term.
Delhi'ites know the item better as `maTThA'

Lovely piece Sir, and the food descriptions and pictures leave a
grand taste in the mouth!
Cheers, Sumantra.

ameya · Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 12:03 am Post subject:

stealthpilot · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 2325 Location: BLR, DXB

Bit weird they 'invited' you to their event and didn't want to give you a ticket- and eventually offered a one way ... but anyway Laughing

For short short sectors meals are given at checkin? Interesting.

I agree with most of your points Sumantra but I disagree with a one Smile

I like them being different with meats/seafood starters or meals. If someone is allergic they pick something else? It's a welcome change over the usual (altho yummy) black dal chicken curry which 9W/AI stick with. I think it's nice if they avoid a veg kathi roll as one option and non veg kathi roll as the other.
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