Review of the Finnair Airbus A350 XWB – Part 3 (in which I eat reindeer)

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This is the final part of my review of the new Finnair A350 aircraft which I flew recently on a test flight from Heathrow to Helsinki and back.

Yesterday was the ‘proper’ review of what you will find if you take the Finnair A350 on a long-haul flight to Asia. The food they served on my short hop was their standard European business class food – but I know you will still want to see it.

Here was the menu for the outbound:

Luckily it was translated overleaf! It was a one tray meal consisting of:

Smoked salmon with terrine of artichoke and goat cheese

Ravioli filled with cheese, grilled zuccini and tomato fennel sauce

Traditional Finnish dessert with bluberry and raspberry

It wasn’t the best in-flight meal I have ever had, but more than satisfactory by the standards of European business class.

Champagne was Nicholas Feuillatte:

For the return I was offered my first ever bit of reindeer:

Smoked reindeer mousse with lingonberry coulis

Warm smoked artic char, potato terrine with leek and sour cream sauce

Blueberry and raspberry cake with vanilla cream

I found this preferable – the fish tasted better than the ravioli and the tray simply looked better.

Finally, it is worth noting that, simply because they could, Finnair has designed a series of light shows for the A350 cabin to show off the LED system. On the outbound we were treated to a recreation of the Northern Lights, which doesn’t really photograph well:

…. but you get the idea!

The first two parts of my Finnair A350 series can be found here and here if you missed them.

Category

Finnair and Finnair Plus

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Gavin says:

3 Dec3 December 09:23

Reindeer is very rich – I had a Reindeer main course at a fairly reasonable but by no means upmarket local restaurant somewhere near Hardangerfjord, Norway in 1997, back then it cost £20! God knows what it would be now!
- rich says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 11:40
  
  Bear is a strange meat. Had it on a flight in russsia once
Aeronaut says:

3 Dec3 December 10:03

I had some reindeer a few days ago day at a friends, they’d bought it at Lidl. I thought it tasted pretty good, though I’m no reindeer expert.
- Aeronaut says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 10:05
  
  I should add, it was just a little cold smoked starter.
  - Andy says:
    
    3 Dec3 December 14:55
    
    I think that Lidl tend to sell it every Christmas and it sells out pretty quickly, no idea if that’s a testament to the quality or the novelty value.
  - James67 says:
    
    4 Dec4 December 00:42
    
    Thanks for that, guess I’ll need to go to lidl now 🙂
Oleg says:

3 Dec3 December 10:29

Had reindeer at Helsinki Hilton last christmas and it was absolutely delicious! First couple of bites took a bit getting used to but once your pallet is familiar with the taste it was really good.
Joe says:

3 Dec3 December 20:04

used to live in Finland and we would eat reindeer at least once a week in fact everyone owned at least 2 reindeer (but don’t ask how many as its considered rude FYI). I would recommend it the traditional way – Flaked pieces in a gravy, with cranberries (lingonberries if you are being proper) and lots and lots of mash – Wash it down with some Karhu and a shot of Koskenkorva at the start and end straight from the freezer…. Delicious