Philippines AirAsia offers delectable new deal with Santan inflight menu concept

Source: AirAsia. Santan is Philippines AirAsia's new
inflight menu concept.

Philippines AirAsia has begun serving hot meals from its newest inflight menu concept, themed Santan. Halal-certified Santan replaces AirAsia Café as part of the airline’s latest offerings to enhance customer experience while flying. The name refers to an essential ingredient in Malay cooking, the liquid obtained from pressing shredded coconut meat. Santan is thick, creamy and often use as a substitute for butter, cream or soup stock in ASEAN cooking.

New items include bangus sisig, a Filipino dish made of chunks of boneless milkfish sautéed in onions seasoned with salt, pepper and spices; buffalo chicken strips and barbeque cola beef, grilled meat with smoky sauce paired with tomato rice or roasted potatoes; and the low-calorie vegetarian chickpea curry and classic Maan’s pasta arabiata. The dishes are available for onboard and prebooked purchases on all Philippines AirAsia flights to/from Manila, Kalibo/Boracay, Palawan, Bohol, Cebu, Davao, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau and South Korea.

Other dishes on the menu also pay tribute to ASEAN flavours. These include nasi lemak, chicken rice, beef caldereta and adobo. Guests can also choose from sweets such as lemon torte, banoffee cake, sinful chocolate cake and chocolate chip cookies from as low as P80 for onboard purchase.

Philippines AirAsia Commercial Head, Gerard Peñaflor said, “We value customer experience at all points of the journey – from the purchase of the ticket to leaving the airport, on board, and onto the destination. This latest enhancement in our inflight menu makes flying with us also a delightful dining experience.”

Interested?

AirAsia guests are encouraged to prebook their meals to save up to 20% as compared to purchasing their meals on board, with a guarantee that their preferred meals are available during their flights. Guests who have booked their flights without meals, meanwhile, can easily add them in via the ‘Manage My Booking’ option after logging in to www.airasia.com.

AirAsia, AirAsia X introduce enhanced inflight menu

Source: AirAsia.

AirAsia and AirAsia X have launched a new inflight menu concept themed Santan, replacing AirAsia Café as part of the airline group’s move towards being a high value carrier and providing its guests with an enhanced gourmet experience while flying.

There are new items such as nasi dagang* and chicken curry, a Malaysian dish from the East Coast which is now available on for on-board purchase and pre-book on both AirAsia and AirAsia X flights. Other items available for on-board purchase on AirAsia flights include teriyaki chicken rice cake, smoked chicken pizza sandwich; while new pre-book meals are tomato rice with ayam percik*, chicken satay wrap and vegetable pasta with roast chicken.

AirAsia X has also included mee goreng mamak* in its pre-book selection as part of introducing more Malaysian and Asean dishes to its guests.

Tony Fernandes, Group CEO of AirAsia commented, “Food is a big thing for us. Look at how we have made Pak Nasser nasi lemak* into a brand itself. We have people travelling from all across the region wanting to order our nasi lemak and this Malaysian dish is a standout in our inflight menu. 

"Our food is as good as restaurant food – it’s not just inflight food and this is what we want to achieve with Santan – introduce a new gourmet inflight dining experience which features cuisines from across ASEAN. We are starting with AirAsia and AirAsia X flights after the launch... but we will be implementing this across the whole group by October.”

Apart from the new pre-book meals on AirAsia Berhad (AK) flights, guests are now able to add a sweet ending to the meal of their choice with the introduction of the Maximise Your Meal option which includes a salted caramel cookie bar and a Kit Kat for RM7.

Those travelling with children on both AirAsia Berhad (AK) and AirAsia X Berhad (D7) flights can now pre-book the Kids Meal which consists of two mini chicken burgers and Ribena.

“While we continue to give low fares to our guests, we are increasing the value with new product offerings such as Premium Flex, Premium Flatbed, and the introduction of this new gourmet experience on board is part of us moving in that direction,” added Fernandes.

Interested?

All AirAsia and AirAsia X guests are encouraged to pre-book their meals to save up to 20% as compared to purchasing their meals on board, with a guarantee that their preferred meals are available. Guests who have booked their flights without meals can easily add them in via the Manage My Booking option after logging in to airasia.com.

*Food glossary
Ayam percik is grilled or roasted spiced chicken.
Mee goreng mamak is fried noodles, Indian style.
Nasi dagang consists of rice steamed in coconut milk, fish curry, and other dishes.
Nasi lemak consists of rice steamed in coconut milk, fried fish or chicken, and other dishes.

PastaMania introduces limited edition fusion menu for SG50

Mum’s Salted Egg Soft-Shell Crab at
12 o'clock, Prawn Sambal-Pura at 2
o'clock, Shiok & Spicy Chilli Crab at 7
o'clock and Hei Bi Hiam Barramundi at
10 o'clock.

PastaMania fans in Singapore can now enjoy their fusion pasta from now till August. The SG50 Menu consists of pasta with a local touch, featuring the winners of the annual internal Chef Mania competition in celebration of Singapore's 50th anniversary.

Hana Lee, Director of Domestic Retail Business, PastaMania said, "PastaMania has always prided itself on providing the whole experience of wholesomeness, range of dishes, ingredients used and in-store ambience and we wanted to combine this with the unique celebration of the nation’s birthday. It’s our very own ‘Truly Singapore’ concept.”

There are four ‘Singapore meets Italy’ fusion pastas, three appetisers, two desserts and three infused drinks to try. The mains are all seafood based:

Shiok & Spicy Chilli Crab
Chilli crab is a 'must try' for tourists to Singapore. Chilli crab sauce flavours this al dente pasta dish, which is topped off with breaded crab claws. The dish is the brainchild of Chan Kar Jung, Outlet Chef. Chan has been with PastaMania for eight years. It is his first time creating a winning dish at Chef Mania.

Mum’s Salted Egg Soft-Shell Crab 
Salted egg sauce has always gone well with soft-shell crab. A zi-char (Editor's note: local stir-fry) favourite, expect thick, fragrant salted egg sauce tossed with spaghetti and fried soft-shell crab. Wong Seng Kit, Assistant Outlet Chef, has been with PastaMania since 2011. It is also his first time creating a winning dish.

Hei Bi Hiam Barramundi. The raw hei bi hiam are at the bottom right.

Hei Bi Hiam Barramundi
This textured fish dish stars Barramundi from PastaMania's own fish farm for absolute freshness, paired with fried spicy dried shrimp. The tiny shrimp are called 'hei bi hiam' (虾米) in Chinese. Lim Yong Siong Calvin, Outlet Chef, has been working at PastaMania for eight years. While he has prior F&B experience, this is his first Italian restaurant.

Prawn Sambal-Pura
This dish is all about crunchy deep fried silver fish, also known as ikan bilis, large prawns and a sambal sauce that packs a punch. Ng Sook Enn (Ann), Senior Cook, has been with PastaMania for four years. This is her first time participating in Chef Mania.

Chop Chop Chicken Salad.

Appetisers include Prawn Salad Stuffed Tau Pok, which are deep-fried chewy tofu pockets, Chop Chop Chicken Salad which includes pineapple rojak, a local salad, as well as Nenek’s Secret Rojak - a mouthwatering mix of rojak and vegetable pickles called achar.

Sago Manis Gelato.

To round off the meal, sample two gelato concoctions: Goreng Pisang Gelato, inspired by the local deep fried battered bananas. or Sago Manis Gelato, a spin on a soupy coconut milk dessert with sago pearls. PastaMania offers a refreshing combination of sago, brown sugar syrup and gelato for Sago Manis Gelato, while Goreng Pisang Gelato features crunchy banana cornflake balls oozing chocolate topped off with gelato.

To drink, there are three Freezers: Apple Lychee, Milo Dinosaur, a twist on a local chocolate-flavoured powdered beverage with more powder sprinkled on top, and Limau (lime) Mint, a mocktail take on a Mojito, with basil and mint.

Apple Lychee Freezer.

Prices start from S$6.50 for appetisers, desserts or drinks, go up to S$16.90 (ala carte) for each pasta, and while a four-course meal will cost S$29.90.

Established in 1998, PastaMania is a 54-unit halal-certified chain of corporate and franchisee-owned restaurants; based in Singapore with presence in Malaysia, China, Brunei, Kuwait, UAE and Egypt. The brand seeks to bring great tasting Italian cuisine to the world at everyday prices.

Committed to offering high-quality dishes, only the “in-house PastaMania” brand of whole-peeled Roma tomatoes from Italy are used, and all pastas and pizzas are made from scratch at each outlet. The chain also provides delivery and catering services.

Interested?

Look for your nearest PastaMania outlet
Check out the local food terms at this Singlish Dictionary

*All pictures from PastaMania.