Woohooo! We have just returned from a short and memorable trip to AirAsia SANTAN Food Festival, held on Monday, May 22, 2017, at AirAsia’s RedQ headquarters located just outside the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) yesterday. Not only the first but AirAsia SANTAN Food Festival is also the largest in-flight food tasting event in Asia. In this event, AirAsia hosted major media and key influencers from 16 countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Brunei, India, China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and India. No wonder it was very crowded when we got there! Wow!
So, why are they using ‘SANTAN’ as their in-flight food brand? That was the first question in my mind! SANTAN refers to coconut milk in Bahasa language, and AirAsia Group Chief Executive Officer, Tony Fernandes said that it’s one of the key ingredients of Asean cuisine because of its rich flavor. They want to bring the wonderful flavors of Asean into SANTAN to create a unique food experience for passengers, with a vision to replicate the on-ground gourmet experience onboard. “The flavor profile and pricing of inflight food has always been a challenge, but we believe that with Santan, we can create the first restaurant brand in the sky that is both tasty and affordable.”, said Tony Fernandes.
AirAsia’s award-winning Santan menu offers the most extensive variety of inflight meals for guests to choose from both onboard and via online pre-booking. These include tantalizing hot meals, kids meals, savory snacks, healthier selections such as wraps and sandwiches, and local desserts personalized to suit the preferences of guests traveling across AirAsia’s extensive route network. However, from my experience, it’s best for you to pre-book your meals so you can save more with the Santan Combo Meal, and you can choose from a wider variety of meals. Also, you can be sure of meal availability, and you can enjoy priority meal service onboard.
Here in this event, they showcased the gastronomical delights of SANTAN hot meals from across AirAsia’s network, including the latest signature dish; Thai Green Curry with Rice (from Thailand), an aromatic chicken curry infused with authentic Thai spices served with fluffy fragrant white rice. We were treated with a variety of their in-flight meals, from Miso Chicken with Garlic Rice (Japan), Thai Green Curry (Thailand), Nasi Kuning Manado (Indonesia), South Indian Delight (India), Korean Kimchi Stir-fried Chicken (Korea), Chicken Rice (Singapore), Nasi Lemak Pak Nasser’s (Malaysia), Pad Thai (Thailand), Chicken Adobo (Philippines), and Roti Jala with Chicken Curry (Malaysia). My personal favorite among all was the Pad Thai, Miso Chicken with Garlic Rice, and all time favorite Pak Nasser’s Nasi Lemak which consists of delicious chicken rendang, crunchy fried anchovies, toasted peanuts, and spicy chili sambal.
The coconut rice was fragrant and flavorful, yet it’s a bit hot and spicy, which I like. It tasted great, and I highly recommend it to anyone who flies with AirAsia. And, I just figured out that now they also bring T&Co premium handcrafted coffee onboard.
Mr. Tony Fernandes also explained that besides working with local ASEAN enterprises and farmers in developing F&B products, they also explore the use of green packaging to create better and more innovative in-flight offerings for everyone who onboard with AirAsia. Well, I like the idea,
but I really don’t mind with the current packaging used, because I’m satisfied with the quality of the food by Santan AirAsia. In addition to food tasting session, attendees took part in interactive activities, including a cooking demo of the Thai Green Curry with Rice meal by AirAsia Regional Manager of Group Inflight F&B Chef Calvin Soo, a performance by AirAsia X cabin crew, Assraf Nasir, and more. Guests are also welcome to join in photo contests where all the props are prepared already by them and available at one table.
At the end of the event, they announced the winners of the photo competition. And guess what? My husband turned out to be one of the winners, yay! The other winner was from Taiwan. I was shocked when I hear his name, but then I cried after the interview session with the AirAsia’s Group CEO, Tony Fernandes finished. He gave me two return flights tickets to wherever I want, as a birthday surprise gift from him. Oh my gosh!!! He’s not kidding, and we can’t thank enough for this surprise! He’s so humble and generous, and words can’t describe how thankful we are!
Last December 2016, AirAsia won the World’s Leading Inflight Service title at the World Travel Awards Grand Finals, and was also honored with the Catering Innovation of the Year award by Onboard Hospitality earlier last year. Congratulations!! Though it was just a short trip, it was a great opportunity to be part of AirAsia SANTAN Food Festival event. To be able to meet the VIPs; Datuk Kamarudin Meranun (Executive Chairman, AirAsia Berhad & Group CEO, AirAsia X), Tan Sri Tony Fernandes (Group CEO AirAsia), and Choudhury Hassan Peter (Group Head of Ancillary Revenue, AirAsia), and exploring the spacious and fun working space at RedQ headquarters, was truly a memorable event for both of us. Thank you, AirAsia for having us!
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