Although a lot smaller than the lounge at Helsinki Airport, it did the job. Comfortable leather armchairs, high speed complimentary wi-fi and a selection of flat screen televisions showing news channels. There was also an extensive magazine collection:

…however it seems as thought they took the term ‘businessman’ too literally, as only one of the approximately eight publications were aimed at women, but at least there was a wider selection of languages. I was also impressed by the amount of food and snacks puts out for passengers to choose from.

My only real complaint about the lounge was the overwhelming use of air fresher, which left most of us in the room coughing and spluttering!

The longest keg of this journey was by far my second flight, which was approximately 8:15 minutes from Helsinki to Seoul. Sitting in Business Class, I was given the opportunity to sample one of Finnair’s new ‘superfood’ menus which they are rolling out. The whole concept is to offer passengers a new dining experience with menus that have health and well-being in mind. I can’t say that the quality of the food was hugely different to the normal food served in Business Class (which is pretty good anyway), but the ‘healthy’ slant was definitely successful. Dinner was a prawn and bean salad with a side salad and selection of fresh fruit.

I’ll admit that I didn’t actually eat this dish as I happened to be sitting next to somebody from Finnair Head Office who I knew from Helsinki and we decided that I would have the Superfood breakfast and she would have the dinner (there were only two meals on board as they are still testing the menus and the other one was given to another passenger). But she says it tasted good and I believe her! I was more swayed by the Korean bulgogi on the normal menu and since I am such a huge fan of Korean food, I couldn’t give it a miss. I wish I had.

It tasted really bland and nothing like the bulgogi that I’m used to. I appreciate that the airline is trying to recreate the national cuisine of its destination, but please, do it properly! I was, however, sated by the small pot of kimchee that accompanied my meal:

Breakfast on the other hand was much more pleasant. As I had the superfood option, I was presented with a healthy porridge, a mini-smoothie (which I think was supposed to be a vitamin shot), an omelette with tomato and mushrooms and fresh fruit and raw vegetables.

It might sound odd, but the best best part of the meal was the raw vegetables and fruit. This goes back to what I was saying in a previous post about believing that passengers just want simple, fresh food. It doesn’t get more simple then broccoli and carrots (although I’m not sure why there were pomegranate seeds with my vegetables. Surely they should have been with my fruit?)!

Usually in airline food, veggies are boiled to the point where they loose all flavour and become unpalatable, but these were perfect, proving that you don’t need to mess around with food and complicate things in order to create something tasty. Just work with what mother nature gave us!

What do you think? Are simple vegetables and fruit your thing, or would you rather that airlines pushed the boat out when it comes to food?

Stayed tuned for Seoul!