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ANA Introduces Premium In-flight Menu by ‘The Connoisseurs’

First and Business Class passengers can pre-order meals from a menu carefully selected by a team of renowned chefs

by Fergus Cole

March 13, 2024

Photo: First Class menu. Courtesy of ANA

All Nippon Airways (ANA) has updated its highly acclaimed in-flight menu, presented by a renowned group of culinary experts known as “The Connoisseurs.”

The airline is committed to providing its passengers with world-class hospitality and culinary experiences, and this update reflects that commitment.

The Connoisseurs is a group of celebrity chefs, sommeliers, and liquor professionals from Japan and other countries who collaborate with ANA’s chefs to create food and drink menus for international flights departing from Japan.

The group comprises notable members such as Ryuta Iizuka, the owner and head chef of Tokyo’s renowned French restaurant ‘Ryuzu,’ Yoshihiro Takahashi, the 15th-generation owner-chef of Kyoto’s three Michelin-starred restaurants ‘Hyotei,’ and Olivier Poussier, who was named The Best Sommelier of the World in 2000.

The Connoisseurs offer a wide range of international dishes and special meals, including vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and low-fat options, as well as traditional Japanese cuisine.

Photo: Courtesy of ANA

First Class and Business Class passengers can also choose their preferred meal using ANA’s Pre-Order Meal Service, which can be accessed on the airline’s website up to 24 hours before departure.

“The Connoisseurs collaboration reinforces ANA’s commitment to quality in-flight meal service, a key component of the passenger experience of flying with ANA,” said Tomoji Ishi, Executive Vice President of Customer Experience Management and Planning at ANA. The expansion of the Pre-Order Meal Service demonstrates our continuous efforts to exceed passenger expectations.”

In First Class, highlights include a main of black rockfish accompanied with steamed seasonal vegetables and freshly harvested seaweed soup, deep-fried chicken wings marinated in salted rice malt and stuffed with egg, cod roe, and tofu, and Wagyu beef ribs marinated in brown sugar and garnished with fiddleheads of ostrich fern.

Photo: First Class menu. Courtesy of ANA

International options for First Class passengers include an appetizer of Wagyu beef rillettes with duck thigh confit and liver pâté, a crab and scallop salad served with a jar of caviar, a main of grilled Wagyu beef fillet with morel mushroom sauce, or John Dory fish wrapped in yuba tofu and lettuce.

ANA First Class passengers flying from Tokyo Narita (NRT) or Haneda (HND) to Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO), Washington Dulles (IAD), New York (JFK), Houston (IAH), Chicago (ORD), Honolulu (HNL), London (LHR), and Frankfurt (FRA) can pre-order these meals.

Meanwhile, Business Class passengers on select flights to Europe, North America, Mexico, Oceania, and Southeast Asia can choose from a similarly wide range of dishes.

Photo: Business Class menu. Courtesy of ANA

These include an appetizer of snapper kosode sushi accompanied by colorful tofu and salmon sashimi, and mains like braised beef skin with burdock root and bamboo shoots, grilled Spanish mackerel marinated in Saikyo Miso, or beef fillet steak with aromatic Madeira wine sauce and spring vegetables.