AirAsia Malaysia (AK) Inflight Hot Meal Review 2: Pak Nasser's Nasi Lemak

As I open the second entry of this meal review, let me just say Malaysians as a whole love to eat. We live to eat rather than eat to live. Nothing separates us from good food and it's what we identify ourselves in. So naturally, regardless of which spectrum of the multi cultural melting pot you fall upon, we all have this one favorite Malaysian dish. And AirAsia being a Malaysian-born airline is more than obligated to offer nasi lemak on their inflight menus. Now I haven't tried the nasi lemak offered by Malaysia Airlines but hey, you can never go wrong with nasi lemak especially when you're the country's flag carrier.

To be honest I haven't always been a nasi lemak fan. The strong aroma of the santan puts me off and the lingering smell usually indicates somewhere i wouldn't want to be. However I find the aroma of the accompanying freshly cooked sambal much more appetizing. And ever since that one fateful day where I forced myself to have a portion of nasi lemak, I have been an easy convert ever since.

So this is what you get when you pre-book your meals online. Nice little black microwaveable container with the meal wrapping. No illustrations of what you might get inside and of course, ingredients and allergen information.

'Santan', the latest incarnation of the AirAsia inflight meal branding

Tear open the packaging sticky wrap and voila! A nice visual treat awaits you. And when you heat this up in the microwave, the smell is really strong and you can already smell that signature nasi lemak smell so opening this was just releasing everything out into the open. Also, I've noticed whenever I fly with AirAsia and the cabin crew start heating up the meals in the oven, the nasi lemak smell is always the dominant one and the easiest to identify. Seems like it's a hot item!

Ingredients/condiments wise, everything you might find in a good helping of nasi lemak is present. We've got some nice sambal, chicken rendang, half a hard boiled egg and the customary ikan bilis & kacang. I wished they given more kacang though because they stay crunchy and crispy forever! But overall it's pretty much exactly the same as what you will find on the product illustration.

Starting off with the rice, it is properly cooked nasi santan. It has a nice rich coconut milk taste with just the right amount of greasiness without being nauseating. I find overly nasi lemak with a strong santan taste a tad nauseating. 

The spicy stars of the show, nicely portioned on one side really does add a kick to the dish. The sambal is everything you might expect from a good nasi lemak. It is sweet and savory and it sure packs a punch! Foreigners having this might find themselves constantly reaching for water. But for Malaysians, tak pedas pun!

The accompanying chicken rendang does not fare too bad on its own. I was actually expecting beef rendang probably because I'd choose that over chicken rendang anyday but this was a good accompaniment for the sambal. It really is not spicy. It's a tad salty and the flavors gravitate more towards a kari ayam flavor. But as I've said, it can hold its own. It's a good chunk of chicken there but it wasn't as tender as expected.

Now for people who don't take spicy food well and just happens to be someone who doesn't like to waste food, I find eating the sambal together with the rendang dulls the spice. That way, it's easier to finish off everything.

Final thoughts?

Nasi lemak being a Malaysian staple for basically any hour of the day needs no introduction. Having it onboard can either be a feast for locals traveling home from abroad or a final taste of home before they set foot on a foreign land. Malaysians being a picky bunch with regards to food need not worry. AirAsia's nasi lemak has got you covered. I think it will be well worth the RM15 paid. Or you can prebook it before your flight online for only RM10 and get a complimetary beverage with it!

Overall verdict: 4.5/5

AirAsia Malaysia (AK) Inflight Hot Meal Review 1: Ginger Fried Rice with Vegetarian Chicken

Hello readers and welcome to the first of (hopefully) many other hot meal reviews from Southeast Asian LCC giant, AirAsia. 

It's no secret that most of us don't bother ordering food on-board when we fly with AirAsia unless we are really hungry and the sweet aroma of the food being heated in the ovens wafting throughout the cabin surrenders us helpless to the temptation. But why do people not often order food on-board? Is it because they may not live up to expectations just because it's airline food? Or is it because they are pricey? Well I'm gonna give you a little helping hand here, just in case one day you may be flicking through the menu wondering what to try and what to stay away from. Also, if the price of the meals bother you, you can always prebook them online together with your ticket!

AirAsia has revamped their inflight food services menu in what they call Santan. And recently they've come up with the Santan Combo Meal offer with prices as low as RM10 when you book your meals online! Each meal comes with a complementary choice of mineral water, coffee or carbonated drink. Find out more here.

So I will start with something I've never had before and which I assume is less popular. AirAsia's Ginger Fried Rice with Vegetarian Chicken. 

Here's the illustration on the menu:

With AirAsia, prebooked meals and on board purchases have different packaging styles. The on-board purchases usually come in a red aluminium container with an illustration of the meal on the cover. Prebooked meals come in a black microwaveable container with no illustrations of the product.

Allergen information should be very useful to people with allergies. 

Vegetarian Chicken does not sound very convincing to me, given my personal accounts with vegetarian meat. I just can't bring myself to take a huge liking to them. But I was excited and curious about the fried rice.

Safe to say the actual product was represented quite well by the menu illustration. Opening up the package, it did not seem to have a very strong distinct aroma. Keep in mind that I had this microwaved for a good 4 minutes before.

The rice was cooked well. What caught my interest was the presence of capsicums in the dish. A mix of an Asian staple with ingredients normally found in Western cuisine proved to be quite interesting. However I thought it went well with the ginger flavors. The fried rice itself was average. It didn't have any 'wok hei' to it but it did have a gingery taste to it, which it should. The capsicums complement the ginger pieces well and introduced a welcome crunch to the dish. 

The chicken, however got me a little apprehensive. At first glance, the 'chicken skin' looked very convincing. However when you take away the skin, it is just a roll of fake meat. The texture felt slightly rubbery but not hard to swallow. It actually tasted like 'ngoh hiang' (five-spice pork rolls wrapped with beancurd skin). I can reaffirm you this will not change the mind of someone who's not a fan of vegetarian meat.

Overall I find the meal to be rather decent. It tastes like a menu item which you won't bother ordering but at the same time won't mind eating if there aren't much choices left. Just...put some real meat in there please.

Overall verdict: 3/5