Cathay Dragon customers can enjoy an array of local delicacies onboard selected flights after the airline announced the latest edition of its “Hong Kong Delights” inflight menu featuring four Hong Kong favourites – puff pastry egg tart, pineapple bun with butter, cocktail bun and Hong Kong-style milk tea.

Wholly committed to providing passengers with a high-quality and wide-ranging inflight dining experience, the airline’s professional catering team is constantly exploring new and innovative culinary techniques in order to delight.  

Renowned for its distinctive Chinese culture and hospitality, Cathay Dragon was officially rebranded in November 2016, which has resulted in numerous customer benefits as it becomes more closely aligned with Cathay Pacific. The award-winning airline is proud of its history and origins and has retained its contemporary Chinese character, which is most clearly reflected in its authentic inflight dining offerings.

Partnerships with renowned Chinese restaurants and local delicacies, such as Chef Nic Cookies Cha Chaan Teng range have long characterised the dining experience onboard Cathay Dragon flights. Seasonal menus, too, play a special role. Throughout the year, a variety of tasty treats – including traditional Poon Choi, winter melon soup and crab roe dishes, in addition hot pot rice dishes, a current promotion – are served, underlining the significance the airline places on its inflight cuisine.

Hong Kong’s reputation as one of the culinary capitals of the world is built on its unique café – or “Cha Chaan Teng” – culture, which provides the inspiration for Cathay Dragon’s “Hong Kong Delights” menu, first introduced in 2011. From 16 March to 15 May 2017, puff pastry egg tarts and pineapple bun with butter will be served to First and Business Class passengers on selected flights to Beijing and Shanghai, while customers across all travel classes can enjoy Hong Kong-style milk tea on most flights originating in Hong Kong. First Class passengers on selected flights to Beijing and Shanghai can also choose to indulge in a cocktail bun, a sweet coconut-filled pastry that has achieved iconic status in eateries across the city.

The Cathay Dragon catering team have gone considerable effort to ensure that these delicacies taste just as great in the air as they do on the ground, adjusting the cooking processes and refining the recipes of the puff pastry egg tarts, pineapple buns and cocktail buns to provide authentic flavours and textures.

For example, the egg tarts are made by mixing fresh milk together with a special combination of fresh cream and egg. The timing of the baking and reheating process is crucial in retaining the crisp texture of the pastry while maintaining the softness of the filling. Similarly, the pineapple bun is baked twice at two different temperature levels; firstly at a high temperature for the dough to harden and then at a lower heat to maintain the bun’s moistness. A careful reheating procedure inflight is then required to give the bun its distinctive crunch.

No egg tart or pineapple bun is complete without a glass of Hong Kong-style milk tea, and Cathay Dragon serves the popular “Chilled Milk Tea” from the noted Tai Hing Restaurant chain, which is known for its rich flavour layers and smoothness.

Cathay Dragon Head of Catering Aaron Claxton said: “We constantly strive to enhance our passengers’ travel experience at every stage of their journey. Inflight dining is an extremely important focus for us and we are committed to providing high-quality, great-tasting and healthy dining options onboard every flight. Our ‘Hong Kong Delights’ menus have been very well received by our passengers in the past, and I’m sure that this new selection of local delicacies will prove extremely popular too.”