South African Airways brings r

South African Airways brings restaurant-style cuisine to the skies

South African Airways wined and dined guests at Claridges to welcome their new gourmet catering partner and celebrate their move to the new Terminal 2 building at Heathrow and several Skytrax awards.

South African Airways brings r
SAA had much to celebrate at their recent food and wine tasting event held at Claridges Hotel in London.
SAA had much to celebrate at their recent food and wine tasting event held at Claridges Hotel in London.

Coinciding with the recent move of South African Airways to the new Terminal 2 building at Heathrow, SAA has teamed up with gourmet catering company, DO & CO as their new onboard catering company.

To mark this partnership SAA hosted an event at Claridges in Mayfair last week where guests had a chance to sample DO & CO’s food from the SAA onboard menu together with South African wine pairings. Thankfully these were not the types of dishes one would usually associate with airline food — quite the contrary in fact.

Gary Kershaw, General Manager, SAA UK (left) and Michael Winner of new caterers DO &CO toast to a new partnership.
Gary Kershaw, General Manager, SAA UK and Michael Winner of new caterers DO & CO toast to a new partnership.

“It’s not often that one of the finest hotels in the world allows another caterer to provide the food on their territory,” remarked Gary Kershaw, SAA UK’s General Manager.

SAA will begin flying out of their new home in Terminal 2 on 22 October. “This is an exciting move for SAA UK. T2 is T5 with all the teething problems ironed out,” said Phillip Ariss, Corporate sales at SAA.

It has already been a successful year for South African Airways. For the 12th consecutive year, SAA has won the Skytrax Award for Best African Airline and, with their focus on the overall on board experience, their next award is not surprising: This week Skytrax rated South African Airways in the Top Ten in the World’s Best Business Class Airline Catering at the 2014 World Airline Awards.

It is in this atmosphere of expectation and merriment that guests found themselves at the St James suite at Claridges, on a meltingly-hot summer day in London, sipping chilled sparkling wine and mingling with some high flyers.

Michael Winner of DO & CO explained that with their new SAA menu, DO & CO are catering for an international market and so aim for a “taste of the world” for both their business and economy travellers. “People who travel in Business Class know everything and they are hard to please,” added Winner.

Truffle Tortellini with Grilled Artichoke and Parmesan is one of the  Business Class dishes from the new SAA menu.
Truffle Tortellini with Grilled Artichoke and Parmesan is one of the Business Class dishes from the new SAA menu.

After mouth-watering canapés, guests sat down to a gastronomical dream date as each delicious dish on the menu was sampled along with a wine pairing. Though the new SAA menus reflect a wide range of cuisines and tastes for an international palate, all wines are sourced locally in South Africa.

Bongi Sodladla, SAA’s Senior Food and Beverage Manager and Sommelier noted that her team tastes “over 300 wines each day for three days (and) only the very best wines from South Africa finally make it on board, with a selection of 60 wines on a monthly rotation.”

Bongi Sodladla asserted that her aim is to “assess the ability of the food and the wine to maintain flavour and shine even at 30,000 feet.”

A selection of award-winning South African wines have been chosen for the new SAA menu.
A selection of award-winning South African wines have been chosen for the new SAA menu.

“Wines on the flight are chosen for boldness of taste because at altitude our sense of taste is diluted by up to 30%,”  explained Melanie Melvill of SA Wines Online.

As each dish arrived at the table, Melvill explained how the wine and food worked together to bring out robust flavour and character. Every dish was beautifully presented and equally delectable — a foodie’s dream. Starting with Loch Fyne Scottish Smoked Salmon, guests were wowed by Braised Beef Cheek, Viennese Paprika Chicken with Spatzle and broccoli, and my personal favourite, Truffle Tortellini with grilled artichoke.

IMG_3044a (Medium)“Research has shown that in Terminal 2, business class passengers spend on average £97 on food before boarding and economy spend £37, but my advice is that you don’t want to eat before going on board one of our aircraft,” said Kershaw.

Flying with South African Airways promises to be a truly epicurean experience.

Following on from the success of Capture South Africa competition last year, SAA launches Taste South Africa on 22 July. To participate in this competition to with a holiday with SAA, visit