Only One Meal on ANA – Jakarta to Tokyo and Back

I had been excited about flying with ANA since I booked my flight from Jakarta to Tokyo weeks earlier.

I had never flown with them before and was looking forward to my first experience with an airline that got 3rd position in The World’s Top 100 Airlines in 2023, after SQ and Qatar (I only flew with Qatar once, in 2011, and for the love of me I can’t recall the experience).

My excitement only grew when we boarded the flight.

I couldn’t wait to see what they offered for inflight dining, for Amma to try Japanese food on air, and whether it would be better, or at least on par with JAL, my second favourite airline after Emirates, which came in 5th and 4th, respectively.

Seated, I was taken aback by how outdated the entertainment system was. The limited movies and TV show had to be chosen in iPod shuffle style (how’s that for a throwback), with no pictures or genre classification.

Alas, I told myself that it was past midnight; I’d better off sleeping after my meal.

The good thing was that the inflight dining was served almost immediately after the flight took off, and they had actual silverware instead of the biodegradable disposable wooden cutlery that gets on my nerve.

The bad thing: the meal was oh-so-basic.

No frails – no hint of the typical Japanese hospitality.

We were given laminated pictures of the two choices – beef or chicken.

We chose chicken.

It came with a plain omelette, a questionable-shaped potato and half semi-burnt tomato. We also got soba noodles with separate dipping sauce, basic-B salad, bread and three slices of fruit.

I took one bite of the unseasoned omelette, gave up (time and time again, I regretted not packing Indonesian sambal into my carry-on when I travel) and moved on to the soba noodle. It was pretty good, and I ended up finishing both Amma and Perima’s soba, as they didn’t like it.

The worst thing: the supper was the only inflight dining we were served on the 7-hour 35-minute flight (+ 30 minutes or so delay during take-off). I was worried for Amma and Perima that I requested bread an hour before we landed.

Update (13 Aug 2023): The inflight dining on our flight from Tokyo to Jakarta was much better and pretty filling.

We were given a choice of white fish or beef for the main.

We chose fish.

It came on a bed of yellow rice and was accompanied by a piece of sushi, four pieces of edamame, kani salad (YUMMY!), Coleslaw (Amma ate mine), bread, crackers and butter. I asked for green tea and veg soup (pretty nice), which made the stewardess unhappy (why??). Close to the end of the meal, we were also given Vanilla Hagen-Dazz ice cream, but with no spoon.

If you wonder whether the outbound inflight dining had redeemed ANA’s experience for me, the answer is no. I have decided not to fly with them again if I can help it.

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