First course SFO-ZRH: Grilled shrimp w cilantro, anise daikon, celery & fuji apple salad, and cheese plate. (Chris McGinnis)
Last month I flew on the SWISS “Roche Coach” between San Francisco and Spain in business class. I posted my first report about that journey here.
But since I get such a kick out of the food and wine onboard (and taking photos of it) I’ve decided to start splitting my trip reports into two parts– one about the plane and service, and a separate one about the food.
See how I split up my SFO Dublin trip into two reports here: Aer Lingus flight | Aer Lingus food in flight
The SWISS inflight dining experience is, as expected, very European. It’s also very Swiss, which to me means it’s very filling and satisfying, heavy on cheese and cream, and served in a very sophisticated way.
Meals in both transoceanic legs were really outstanding, but I liked the service on the return (ZRH-SFO) flight best because it’s a long, spread out, relaxed and convivial experience. While the food on the flight to Zurich was great, I always feel in a bit of a hurry to eat lightly and try to get in some zzzz’s on the way to Europe.
So let’s take a look at these tasty morsels!
First off, take a look at that shrimp starter above… then move on to the next courses…
My economy class roundtrip fare was $1,380, but my contacts at SWISS were able to finagle last minute business class upgrades in both directions for this review.
Main course: Swiss spaetzle gratin w mushrooms, leek, fried onions, Gruyere. Heavy, hearty– more sleep inducing than Ambien! (Chris McGinnis)
I chose to go native and have the spaetzle- but other main course choices were seared beef tenderloin or grilled chicken with mushroom cream sauce, rosti and green beans.
A nice light berry tartlet for dessert. (Chris McGinnis)
What seemed strange to me is that the cheese course was served with the appetizer at the beginning of the meal instead of afterwards with liqueurs and coffee. Is that a Swiss thing? To eat the cheese first? I’m not sure. In any case, the berry tart for dessert was delightful and light after that creamy spaetzle.
And of course, a selection of fine Swiss chocolates to end the meal service (Chris McGinnis)
Fine Swiss chocolates served after the meal– which I declined, sadly, because I think chocolate might affect my sleep on the plane. But they sure look good, don’t they?
On this flight I was able to get several hours of sleep on the nice SWISS lie flat business class seat. Details on the SWISS seat here.
Breakfast eggs, mushrooms, tomato and asparagus (Chris McGinnis)
After some good shut-eye, I awoke to a service cart in the aisle with a pile of french pastries, bircher muesli, fruit and these nice little cups of eggy delight. However, I was still full from the night before, so got by on a few bites of muesli and some coffee.
A lovely light supper salmon salad on Zurich-Madrid leg (Chris McGinnis)
After the overnight flight from SFO to Zurich, I changed planes for the trip to Madrid. While it still felt like morning to me, it was about 5 pm in Europe. This light salmon salad was perfect as I was now getting hungry. Note the ever present strip of Swiss Gruyere 🙂
A light spongy and delightful strawberry something-or-other SWISS ZRH-BCN (Chris McGinnis)
That’s it for my flight over. After getting off the plane in Madrid, I spent 4 days there and in Barcelona. Here’s my story about taking a new type of tour in Barcelona here.
Now, let’s take a look at the meals on my Barcelona-Zurich-San Francisco flight, which began at about 9 am in Barcelona and ended around 5 pm in San Francisco.
It was a very long day of eating SWISS food- and taking photos of it!
A very Euro breakfast: Meat, cheese, bread, fruit and bircher meusli (Chris McGinnis)
Breakfast on BCN-ZRH– perfect portions, and yep, more gruyere! 😉 Then it was on to a SWISS A340 in business class for the Zurich-San Francisco leg.
Breadsticks and Bordeaux to start (Chris McGinnis)
Why not try all three of the reds? (Chris McGinnis)
The flight attendant could tell I was very interested in the wine list, so he pulled out two more glasses and said, “Why don’t you try all three?” And I said, “Why not?” We have nine more hours to go 🙂
I tried: Oro Rosso 2011 Tenimento dell’Or – Arzo (a Swiss blend); Red 2013 Heinrich-Gols from Burgenland Austria and Chateau Lauriol 2011, a French Bordeaux.
I really wanted to like the Swiss red the best, but the French Bordeaux clinched the competition.
Starter: Salmon trout tartare with horseradish cream, beetroot and goat cheese (Chris McGinnis)
Corn-fed chicken with Sbrinz sauce, potato puree w truffle, gnocchi & green asparagus (Chris McGinnis)
Other choices for this all day flight included a braised lamb shoulder with dumplings or perch meuniere with lemon and sun-dried tomato butter.
Cheese plate, natch, and dessert to finish- that jammy looking item is a super hot fig mustard (Chris McGinnis)
In the background is Tiramisu Tentazioni with salted chocolate crumble. YUM!
My sophisticated European dining experience was marred by this sight (Chris McGinnis)
Just as I was feeling like I was dining at a classy European restaurant, these feet popped up across the aisle. I could not resist taking a photo.
After a few hours of digestion, a nap and some work, flight attendants rolled out a cart of ice cream. I’ve had ice cream sundaes, but never a cone inflight.
A few hours later…. Ice cream cones! (Chris McGinnis)
A little mid flight strawberry ice cream, then back to work on the blog (Chris McGinnis)
After all that, flight attendants fit in one more very nice meal service just as we were flying over northern California before landing at SFO.
Final meal: Panzella salad with cold sliced roast beef (Chris McGinnis)
What do you think? How do you think the SWISS meal service you see here compares to your business class dining experiences? Please leave your comments below!
Last month I flew on the SWISS Roche Coach between San Francisco and Spain in business class. I posted my first report about that journey here.
Disclosure: Paid economy class fare on this flight was $1,380 and SWISS provided Chris with a complimentary standby upgrade to business class.
Thanks, John! Great to hear from you– you are sure getting around a lot with that new job! Take care — chris
I agree with your review Chris – spot on. I’ve flown Swiss business many times and I think they have the best catering of the European carriers (except Turkish). My friend works for a US airline managing the inflight experience and will take benchmarking trips from time to time and I recommended the return leg of ZRH-SFO, as like you, I think the experience is better. First, I love that on arrival into ZRH from SFO, you have both hot and cold breakfast options available. For those that want a light breakfast you can just opt for fresh fruit or museli, but those that want a hearty breakfast can have eggs, cold cuts, cheese, etc.
Returning, I LOVE the movenpick ice cream cones mid flight and the pre-arrival meal is very filling. They always have nice wines and the Taste of Switzerland menu is a nice touch since it changes periodically. Even though Swiss is owned by Lufthansa, I think they are still small enough that they can keep their service level high without it getting watered down like the bigger carriers. Great Work!! (P.S. I’m always surrounded by colleagues on that flight)
Hey Friendly– regrettably not! But I bet it will be on those new B777s that come into service next year. Thanks for for question. I’ve updated the post with that info. –chris
the food looked alot better than my last biz class atl to paris via DL..and to top it off the white wine was HOT i kept asking them to put it into some ice–was told it was in ice???? it tasets much better COLD at least the wine selection to EU is better than domestic hot white(bad) wines on DL
Was Wi-Fi available in flight ? if there was how much? -Thanks
Hey Sal: We write about business class for several reasons, first, this blog is written primarily for business travelers whose companies have the means to fly them in business class. These travelers also have large pots of frequent flyer miles that they use to experience business class and need to know what they are getting for their miles. There are also many people reading who like to know what goes on “behind the curtain.” Plus I’m not sure we could come up with a whole post about an economy class meal 🙂 Thanks, Chris
I look forward to the Biz/1st class reviews. When we fly, coach is coach. But, as we work towards special trips and maybe getting Biz… want to know who will make it an “experience”. Yea, coach reviews would be nice, but I love these. To each their own, right?
this food look absolutely dreadful (to be expected of a Swiss airline): cheese, cheese cream and more cheese, ice cream, chocolate – yuk! Perhaps that is just my reaction as I don’t eat chocolate, and don’t like heavy foods. And this is what Swiss food is like in general, it is just very heavy compared to Italian for example. And perhaps there were lighter choices available? I’ve eaten better food than this in LH business class and that’s saying something!
Honestly the tiny IFE screens are terrible also (but LH also has bad screens). Swiss does have an acceptable lie-flat seat product (it has restricted foot space which makes the comfort is not quite at the level of the staggered Etihad/Alitalia/Air Berlin seat.) which makes it a decent way to fly large distances, if not a luxurious way.
Swiss does also give chocolates in coach and food is very decent. Service is also very friendly as well.
Not to be rude, but for the rest of us that can’t afford the $5,000 price how is coach?
Is it a test of patient to be in such a small seat with food that probably isn’t as nice. Guess there aren’t any Swiss chocolates and ice cream for the poor stiffs in Coach?
I have always wondered why not write about your coach experience, which basically I would say that at least 80% of your readers will experience?
Every site seems to write about something that none of us can afford and never tell us and show us what we can afford.
Again not to be rude, but for a lot of viewers we aren’t going to pay for all of this.