Fine dining remains one of the best ways to explore a new destination in style. Whether it’s sampling Montreal’s chic European bistros, the vibrant tapas bars of Barcelona, or Singapore’s lively hawker centres, good food is most definitely worth travelling for, but why delay the indulgence until after landing? Here’s what Jacqueline had to say:
Air Canada recently announced an exciting revamp of its menus. What’s new for premium travellers? That’s right! Our biggest ever menu upgrade brings more than 100 new rotating, seasonal recipes with an emphasis on bigger, bolder flavours and fresh, local ingredients we know our customers love.
For a tasty teaser, international travellers in Air Canada Signature Class can indulge in dishes like succulent chicken thigh with mandi rice and Emirati bzar sauce or roasted salmon in teriyaki sauce with Shandong noodles. And, of course, what better way to toast your trip in style than by unwinding mid-flight with a glass of bubbly? We’ve debuted amazing new Champagnes in premium cabins we’re excited for connoisseurs to discover, including Haton Cuvée Classique and Duval-Leroy Brut Réserve.
Sounds delish! Tell me about your process when it comes to crafting these delectable dishes—do you work with culinary partners? Absolutely. Fine dining-level taste and flavour are always top of mind whenever we’re developing any new recipe, and we worked closely with our award-winning culinary partners, Chef David Hawksworth and Chef Jérôme Ferrer, on this latest evolution.
A lot of product optimization and re-engineering went into the new recipes, with a big emphasis on globally inspired flavours we haven’t necessarily served to our customers before. Vancouver-based Chef Hawksworth (of Hawksworth restaurant fame) and Montreal’s famed Chef Ferrer (of Europea par Jérôme Ferrer) in particular were instrumental in focusing on specific proteins and sauces that work well together at cruising altitude.
Their rich and diverse influences are perfectly complemented by wine selections from award-winning Quebec-based sommelier Véronique Rivest (whose wine bar Soif I can’t recommend enough!) curated to showcase new and classic wines from Canada and the rest of the world.
How will the new offerings vary from route to route? We rotate our menus so our customers can enjoy as many new gourmet dishes as possible. In Business Class, our menus change every month, and you can expect a wide range of options, from our beloved parsley omelette with pan-fried chicken sausage with parmesan and spinach to garlic ginger chicken with vegetable stir-fried rice. On our shorter-haul Business flights, smaller dishes change every week and now feature fresh, warm options like comforting chicken tenders with BBQ sauce or Margherita flatbread with arugula and sun-blushed tomato.
We’re also really proud of how our new menus are influenced by and reflect the diversity of our global network. Each menu now has at least one option featuring international flavors. For example, in the past, we might have offered butter chicken only on inbound flights from India to Canada; now travellers can enjoy this cherished Canadian favourite on routes across our network.
I always discover cool new Canadian brands when I fly Air Canada, which I love, of course! How are you championing local with this latest upgrade? I’m so glad you mentioned that. We’re incredibly proud to be our country’s flag carrier, and representing Canada means so much to all of us.
A particular area of our focus has been snacks, and we scoured the country to find delicious new Canadian favourites for our customers to discover. We recently added TWIGZ buttery herb and garlic craft pretzels from an incredible, family-owned, female-led business in Alberta. We love when we can find a great-tasting product that’s a homegrown success story—even better if it’s women-led. When we first tried TWIGZ, we were blown away by the taste, but when we met co-founder Ashley Ehmann, it was a done deal!
And for those who prefer sweet over savoury, we’ve also added nostalgic Sweet Sixteen candy to our snack lineup from Mondoux Confectionary, a third-generational family operation in Quebec that started in a garage and grew into one of the largest candy distributors in the country. Your readers may also recognize Montellier, a homegrown brand of delicious sparkling water founded by Quebecer René Coulombe, which also debuted recently in our premium cabins.
We’re exploring more collaborations with Canadian brands, and we’re excited to share more soon, so stay tuned!
There’s nothing better than a dining experience that starts at the airport. Tell me more about your lounge experiences… I couldn’t agree more. We’re continuing to work hard to make sure the on-ground experience matches the in-flight experience, and of course, a big part of that is having a diverse selection of food and drinks on offer to help customers start their trip in style.
Across all 29 of our global lounges, including those at Montreal’s Trudeau airport, you’ll find an abundance of fresh, locally sourced ingredients complemented by a selection of premium Canadian and international wines. You can enjoy a variety of fresh salad choices, like Greek orzo or artichoke salad, alongside hot dishes that include potato wedge poutine, Montreal smoked meat sandwiches, chicken tikka masala, and falafels served with butter rice.
We’re constantly innovating. Take our latest addition, the Maple Leaf Lounge at San Francisco International Airport, for example. It boasts an incredible outdoor terrace offering panoramic runway views, where passengers can savour delicious cocktails, wines sourced from Canada and California, and a selection of craft beers. Our menu showcases locally inspired sliders and seafood delicacies, including the iconic San Francisco fish stew, cioppino.
We also recently opened the Aspire Air Canada Café at Toronto Billy Bishop Airport, featuring a hot and cold buffet curated by local chefs with fresh baked breads and pastries, offering elevated comfort and convenience.
There’s clearly so much to love here… Any personal favourites to share? My colleagues and I personally taste-test every single recipe, and there are countless mouthwatering options to choose from! But if I had to pick just one, it would have to be the garlic butter shrimp scampi served on noodles, garnished with julienne sundried tomatoes. It’s an exceptional dish that I believe everyone should experience.
For a delightful pairing, I suggest enjoying a tequila and soda featuring Canadian-owned Tromba, a 100% agave tequila sourced from Jalisco, Mexico. Or complement the dish with a dry wine selected from Véronique’s rotating lists, which showcase a diverse range of op- tions, spanning cherished Old World classics to exciting new favourites. I absolutely loved the Heinrich Naturtalent Zweigelt & Blaufränkisch from Austria that I tried on a recent flight.
For more on this new and exciting culinary revamp, visit aircanada.com/bonappetit.
For other exciting Air Canada updates, visit aircanada.com.