British Airways launches £80 first-class cabin DIY meal kits

In January, British Airways launched economy food by two-Michelin-star chef Tom Kerridge. Now it’s rolling out another mouthwatering food offering – a cook-at-home meal kit that mirrors the airline’s first-class dining experience.

MailOnline Travel was sent one to try out that contained Loch Fyne smoked salmon with mustard dressing; slow-cooked British beef cheeks in herb jus with chimichurri; golden Cenarth, black bomber, Harrogate blue and kidderton ash cheeses with fig chutney; and dark chocolate and orange liqueur bread and butter pudding with vanilla sauce. How was it? Read our review in the boxout below.

Each meal kit costs from £80, serves two and customers can choose vegetarian, fish and meat dishes.

British Airways is rolling out a cook-at-home meal kit that mirrors the airline’s first-class dining experience. Pictured are the DIY dishes that MailOnline Travel was sent (as prepared by a professional) –  Loch Fyne smoked salmon, British beef cheeks in herb jus, a cheese plate and dark chocolate and orange liqueur bread and butter pudding

They will receive the full ingredients – as used in the first-class cabin – to cook the meal at home, along with a recipe sheet and an information card in the form of a passport.

Both the outer and interior packaging of the meal kits consists of recyclable, compostable or biodegradable materials.

Five-hundred kits, made in partnership with Do & Co and Feast Box, will be available for delivery in the first week. To celebrate the partnership launch, deliveries in the first week will receive a bottle of Hattingley Valley English sparkling wine – currently served in British Airways’ first-class cabin and made exclusively for the airline.

Both the outer and interior packaging of the BA meal kits consists of recyclable, compostable or biodegradable materials

IS BA’S FIRST-CLASS MEAL BOX… FIRST-CLASS? 

I am lucky enough to have flown BA first class twice – on an A380 to Johannesburg and on a 747 to Miami. And the meals were exceptional.

And so was the BA first-class meal kit the airline sent me to try.

It has quality ingredients and instructions that even a woeful cook like me can follow.

Ted’s salmon starter. His partner thought it came with too much sauce…

Ted’s beef main course, which came with potato gratin, a herb jus, broccoli and chimichurri 

The box contained everything I needed to serve Loch Fyne smoked salmon with mustard dressing; slow-cooked British beef cheeks in herb jus with chimichurri; golden Cenarth, black bomber, Harrogate blue and Kidderton ash cheeses with fig chutney; and dark chocolate and orange liqueur bread and butter pudding with vanilla sauce.

There were a lot of ingredients, but a colourfully illustrated instruction card listed them all, with allergens bolded up. A thoughtful touch.

There were 13 steps altogether and I was told the preparation time was about 50 minutes.

It took me a bit longer because I got waylaid in a parsley and coriander leaf-picking vortex.

The unboxed BA first-class cheese course. There are also some Peter’s Yard sourdough crackers to accompany it

With some help from my partner, who stepped in after rolling her eyes at my amateurish leaf-wrangling, I eventually plated up the dishes in a manner not too dissimilar from the instructions’ pictures.

The taste verdict? Five stars throughout.

The Loch Fyne salmon and sauce was divine and the beef melt-in-the-mouth delicious. I really liked the tang of the chimichurri and the herb jus was verging on magical.

Ted’s bread and butter pudding with vanilla sauce – and all the garnishes

The cheese course offered a flavoursome variety of textures and the bread pudding was wonderfully comforting.

And the Hattingley Valley English sparkling wine? Sublime.

So was it perfect? I thought more or less, yes. My partner thought there was too much sauce with the salmon, but I disagreed. I enjoyed mopping it all up with bread.

I think it’s a great-value concept that’ll take off. 

Ted Thornhill 

Rating:

Visit feastbox.co.uk/collections/british-airways. 

Hamish McVey, Head of Brands and Marketing at British Airways, said: “We hope that this exclusive First experience will allow our customers who are missing flying to enjoy an amazing dining experience at home. Although it might appear a little different being delivered to a customer’s door rather than at 38,000 feet, we hope it will be just as exciting.’

Jyoti Patel, Feast Box CEO and founder, said: ‘Food is a wonderful way to explore the world and helps to shape our fondest memories. Offering people the chance to travel the world through food is at the core of everything we do, so working with British Airways on this First experience has helped to bring Feast Box to life in a very special way.’

Robert Williams, Do & Co UK Managing Director, said: ‘At Do & Co we pride ourselves on offering outstanding and innovative dining experiences to our customers around the world. 

‘Working on this First dining experience has been a fun way to bring some of what we usually do in the skies with British Airways into people’s homes and we look forward to them enjoying it. We’ve ensured that dishes such as our slow-cooked 48-hour beef cheeks in a port wine jus are easy to assemble and of course delicious to enjoy.’

Go to feastbox.co.uk/collections/british-airways to order. Customers can share the images of their dining experience at home with the airline on its social media pages using #BAFirstFeast.