This was published 12 years ago
Chefs in cabin crew for first-class meals on Etihad
By JANE REDDY
New horizons ... Los Angeles airport.
Etihad's first-class feasts
Chefs are in first-class kitchens on Etihad Airways flights to Sydney, Melbourne, London and Paris, and alongside the staff is a new menu from the airline's Mezoon Grille.
The menu includes rib-eye steak, hammour and beef tenderloin. There's a choice of desserts (warm cheese souffle, lemongrass panna cotta, triple chocolate cake, pandan sago with passionfruit coulis) or warm Middle Eastern semolina pudding with saffron lemon syrup.
The degustation menu available to first-class passengers has been replaced with a Taste of Arabia theme that includes a mixed grill with aromatic rice, harissa and yoghurt sauce.
The airline won the Skytrax award for first-class catering last year and will introduce chefs on its Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Geneva, Narita, Seoul, Brussels, Milan, Munich, Casablanca and New York flights this year. First-class fares from Sydney to Abu Dhabi cost from $10,970 and Melbourne from $10,951.
See etihad.com.
Terminal revamp
Los Angeles, the only airport to claim a hit song, is in the midst of a $US1.5-billion ($1.48 billion) redevelopment of its Tom Bradley International Terminal, part of the largest public works project in the history of the city.
Construction started in 2008 and will include 18 new boarding gates - nine of which will be able to accommodate aircraft such as the A380 and Boeing 787 Dreamliner - dual passenger loading bridges, and secured corridors between TBIT and terminals 3 and 4 for connections.
Of the 32 airlines that land at the terminal, Qantas is the only carrier that flies direct to the Tom Bradley International Terminal from Australia.
The airport operator, Los Angeles World Airports, says it will be able to accommodate 4000 passengers an hour (at present it's 2800).
The airport's great hall will have 13,000 square metres of dining and shopping areas and a children's play zone. The project is expected to be complete by December next year, which is good news for the 60 million passengers who pass through LAX each year.
Those who arrive early for a flight before March may wish to check out Terminal 1's contemporary art exhibition, featuring mixed-media installations, photographs, paintings and drawings.
See lawa.org.
Real-time reviews
A website devoted to passenger experiences in-flight and on the ground, airlikes.com, is harnessing the ire of (mostly) disgruntled air travellers. Paris-based site founder Nicolas Pellier says airlikes.com is a place for passengers to share their experiences in real time, via a mobile phone version of the site.
"Most travellers review the in-flight service and are complaining about the indifferent service they receive from the staff," he says.
Opinions about airport design and reviews prompted by flight cancellations and the way airlines deal with them is an important part of the website, he says. "Charles de Gaulle Airport is sadly famous for being one of the worst, with an incomprehensible layout and staff who are not helpful ... Singapore's Changi Airport seems to be one of the most liked by travellers and is even considered as an attraction of the city."
Australians represent 20 per cent of total visits to the site, ahead of travellers from the US (17 per cent) and Britain (11 per cent).
See airlikes.com.
On the road again
Camping and driving on Highway 1, Route 66 or the road to nowhere are all possible with Intrepid's new self-drive journeys in the US.
The itineraries cater for road trippers ranging from singles to families. Vehicles include a four-door Dodge Charger or a seven-seater Chrysler. Trips include a 13-day journey from San Francisco to Los Angeles visiting Yosemite, Joshua Tree and Zion national parks ($930 a person); a six-day Los Angeles to San Francisco tour stopping at Santa Barbara, Malibu and Monterey ($480); and a 16-day south-west trip taking in the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley and Las Vegas ($1025).
The cost includes campsites and entry to national parks, tents, sleeping mats, camp chairs and cooking utensils, cooking stove and a cooler bin. The self-drive itineraries come with maps and a satellite navigator for an additional $US11 a day.
See intrepidtravel.com.
Food trucks conquer Manhattan
The mobile food-truck phenomenon, which uses Twitter and Facebook to alert would-be diners to truck locations, is said to have had its genesis in the US. Now, a new food-kiosk pilot program is fixed firmly in Times Square in Manhattan.
Four custom-built kiosks have opened in the square's plazas, allowing the food-truck groups to add a permanent point-of-sale outlet. Rickshaw Dumpling Bar, Salumeria, Snackbar and Nuchas are serving customers without running foul of traffic police. Nuchas's Argentinian-born founder, Ariel Barbouth, says the flavours offered are beyond a traditional empanada, with a menu of six rotating choices.
Empanadas cost $US3 a pop and include the traditional Argentinian variety (ground beef, onions, peppers in white dough) and portobello mushrooms or pork shoulder braised in a rosemary dough. All are good choices en route to a Broadway show. Nuchas kiosk is open 7am-2am.
See nuchas.com.
Send news items to smarttraveller@fairfax.com.au.
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