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While flying home from Palermo’s Falcone Borsellino Airport (PMO) yesterday, I got to try some decent food in Polaris® for once. United Airlines has this flight catered in Sicily and while it was not without a few flaws, it was much better than what the airline is usually serving in its most premium cabin.
There were several choices on this flight for both the main meal and the pre-arrival service. I was impressed that United mostly kept an Italian theme since the menus are generally a hodgepodge of cuisines and whatever is leftover in the catering facility’s kitchen.
This flight offered the following choices for the main meal:
- Braciolone Beef Roulade
- Pan Roasted Sicilian Chicken
- Grilled Swordfish
- Rigatoni With Calabrian Chili Tomato Sauce and Ricotta
I went with the pasta option.
The meal began with mixed nuts and a choice of beverage. I ordered half cranberry juice and half club soda.
The tray included a bread roll, a choice of Sicilian Charcuterie or Caprese Salad (I chose the former), and a green salad. This was all tasty and it was impressive that United moved away from its basic salads to something with Italian flare.
For the main, my pasta arrived way undercooked. The pasta was so al dente that it was difficult to cut with a knife. The flavors were fine, but there was no hint of Calabrian chili.
The meal ended with a choice of more cheese, an ice cream sundae, or what was listed as a Sicilian Almond Biscuit. I selected the last one to see what it was and was disappointed that it was as dry as the Sahara. That’s powdered sugar caked onto it.
The pre-arrival service was the best part of the in-flight catering. It included a choice of these entrées:
- Palermo Timbale Anelletti Pasta with Beef Ragu
- Sicilian Eggplant Caponata
- Vegetable Citrus Tabbouleh Salad
The tray came with a bread roll, a citrus and fennel salad, and an amazing cannolo from a Sicilian bakery. The pasta looked like SpaghettiOs, but tasted quite good and was properly cooked.
The cannolo stole the show. It was creamy, chocolatey, and delicious.
Anthony’s Take: This was one of the best (and most relevant for where we were) Polaris® meals I’ve ever been served. While the first pasta was undercooked, the rest gets high marks. I also learned something cool from the flight attendants. Apparently, pasta is catered wrapped in cabbage leaves. This helps to keep in moisture when cooking.
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
