8am in the morning, the daily Singapore Airlines A380 just arrived in Zurich. I was filming the busy unloading and loading catering into the plane. They have only 1 hour to finish loading and cleaning of the SuperJumbo jet.
Then I was given a backstage tour inside Gate Gourmet flight kitchen in Zurich to see how airplane meals are made. All the meals are made in precision to recipe, with the same portion and quality.
I flew out of Zurich the next day, on Singapore Airlines A380. I have a choice of both Western and Asian cuisine designed by the chef at Gate Gourmet. I chose my favorite dish after seeing all the meal options on-board.
This video gives an insight from menu design to cooking, execution, delivery and finally tasting on-board!
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In this exclusive fly on the wall documentary and behind the scenes special, I investigate what goes in to making sure that every on-board meal served by Singapore Airlines on their super jumbo-jet Airbus A380s is fresh, tasty, filling and consistent. I film and work alongside the Swiss airline catering company Gate Gourmet as they use sophisticated methods within their factory in Zurich to produce restaurant quality cuisine for the hundreds of passengers aboard these flights and also as they prepare the environment of the A380 for such brilliant dishes!
I start by experiencing what it’s like to work on board the Gate Gourmet catering trucks. These special trucks are equipped with a nifty little on-board elevator to bring the prepared food up to the level of the aeroplane’s passenger entrance for simple, level loading of the food. Gate Gourmet have just one hour to load everything on board but everything is ordered within the truck for a logical and seamless disembarking of the dishes.
After witnessing this masterclass in aeroplane preparation, I head to the Gate Gourmet factory in the Swiss capital to see where all of this food comes from and how Gate Gourmet ensure that hygiene is maintained from start to finish. At the start of the food preparation factory tour, I see the cataloguing, washing and storing of all of the raw ingredients which are received from vegetables to meats to spices and the intensive and meticulous washing of the dishes, cutlery and metal trolleys and trays used in food service aboard the flight. None of the washing of the dishes is done by hand - instead, all of the dishes are washed in a huge dishwasher at high temperatures and with antibacterial chemicals, which sees a whopping 14,000 glasses cleaned at the factory per day.
The Gate Gourmet facility produces in the region of 65,000 aeroplane meals a day. To maintain consistency across that many dishes, the factory makes use of its own invented coordinated recipe assembly procedure, with all of the ingredients pre-weighed, cut and segregated for the chefs to be able to work their magic and cook and prepare things such as chicken breasts and delicious rhubarb crumbles in their in-house patisserie and bakery - it is a great source of pride for Gate Gourmet to have their dessert production completely in-house.
In the final assembly of the meals, regular sampling ensures that the weights of the meals comply with strict consistent weight rules set by Singapore airlines - each meal must weigh the same as all of the others of its type to the gram.
Back at Zurich Airport, I take a flight out of Switzerland with Singapore Airlines aboard one of their A380s which has been stocked, loaded by Gate Gourmet. I am lucky enough to get a bulkhead seat with unlimited leg room and, during the meal service on board, I am delighted to try both the Western and Asian main meal offerings of Gate Gourmet on this particular flight and you can see footage of me having fun in the development kitchen of Gate Gourmet with chefs Dennis Puchert and CK trying to make both.
Let me know whether you think you would have preferred the Asian or the Western dish in the comments!