SQ A380 Y to New Delhi: Butter Chicken & The Art of the Seat Swap

[yflyer]

I browsed the menu...



There was a choice of 3 mains...

The international selection was pan-fried fish fillet...



There were 2 Indian selections...



One was an Indian vegetarian selection, but what do you know, on the DEL-SIN sector, the other non-veg Indian choice was also butter chicken!

This would be a great opportunity to compare the ex-SIN version with the ex-DEL version, catered out of Delhi's inflight kitchens.

[yflyer]

The slightly dry, slighty bland flavours of the ex-SIN butter chicken from a few days ago was still fresh in my mind when the dinner tray for my DEL-SIN dinner was served...



By contrast, today's dinner looked to be a mouthwatering spread...



The starter was Chana Samosa Chat, described as a savoury and sweet samosa with chutney and spices...



This was quite delicious, with tangy, sharp flavours.

Rather than regular yogurt, the meal came with authentic Indian dahi from Mother Dairy...



The main course of butter chicken itself, with basmati rice and black lentils, was wonderfully aromatic and absolutely mouthwatering...



This was the real deal...quite close to what you could get on the ground...



...the chicken was tender and flavoursome, in a fragrant and creamy sauce...

Dessert was quite delicious.



No question about it: the difference was night and day. The ex-DEL butter chicken dinner beat the Singapore-catered version by a large margin! And I thought the starter and dessert were better too!

[yflyer]

After that very satisfying dinner, I raised the armrests, lay down, and slept very well for the remainder of the flight.

I was only awakened when the pilot came on the PA to announce that we were about to commence our descent into Changi.

I took the opportunity to stroll around the cabin now with lights on, to take a few pictures of the main deck...



This was a wide, spacious cabin. A very comfortable way to fly in economy.



We landed on time in Singapore and I emerged from the plane into pre-dawn Singapore, at 6.15am...



There were no immigration queues at that hour...



I was in a taxi and on my way home in no time...

[yflyer]

Final reflections...

Short red-eyes from India to Singapore always present challenges when it comes to getting enough sleep (Whatever the class of service!). Having 3 economy seats to myself to lie down on my DEL-SIN sector was a rare luxury. That said, the SQ Y experience to and from India is top notch.

As for catering, I've found that while SATS catering out of Singapore is generally good, there are several destinations where the outstation Y catering is superior to SQ's by some margin. The superb catering out of BKK, and also Japanese or Korean airports come to mind. As for SQ's Indian destinations, I have also been very impressed with ex-DEL and ex-BOM catering. Certainly the butter chicken on the DEL-SIN sector in this report was outstanding!

The A380 remains a very comfortable plane to fly, and it was great to experience this equipment type on the SIN-DEL-SIN sector. Who knows what the post COVID-19 situation will be. Will we see the A380 deployed on flights to India again?

Stay safe and thanks for reading!

[balajih67]

The food out of indian airports for SQ is catered by Taj if im Not mistaken. Indian food is always better from indian kitchens. Another experience from my travel would be the chicken briyani i had on SQ from Maa and the one from Sin. Both were on different worlds.

Another pleasant read

[SQueeze]

I miss India

And butter chicken

I think Indian food generally tastes very well on planes. It's very good reheated and reheated, if not taste better that way.

Btw, do you eat your dahi together with the rice? This will set apart the foreigner from the Indian / the indianised foreigner (aka me). But once you try it, you will get hooked to it. Rice and yoghurt after a spicy curry is wahhh comforting.

Anyway, I don't think the A380 will be back to India .... very very sad

[yflyer]

The food out of indian airports for SQ is catered by Taj if im Not mistaken. Indian food is always better from indian kitchens. Another experience from my travel would be the chicken briyani i had on SQ from Maa and the one from Sin. Both were on different worlds.

Another pleasant read

Thanks, balajih67! Have usually been quite happy with the Indian veg and non-veg meals ex-SIN and ex-India. Agree the ex-India Y meals are usually quite excellent.

[yflyer]

I miss India

And butter chicken

I think Indian food generally tastes very well on planes. It's very good reheated and reheated, if not taste better that way.

Btw, do you eat your dahi together with the rice? This will set apart the foreigner from the Indian / the indianised foreigner (aka me). But once you try it, you will get hooked to it. Rice and yoghurt after a spicy curry is wahhh comforting.

Anyway, I don't think the A380 will be back to India .... very very sad

Hi SQueeze! Yes, something about the rich, spicy flavours of Indian cuisine that work very well inflight. I often ask for the Indian veg meal onboard even if I have not pre-ordered it, and there is usually one available.

Yes, I do eat the rice with dahi...delicious!

[SQfanatic]

Great TR as always. I'm a vegetarian as you already know, but it's pretty sad that COVID-19 has paused travel and movement of doing a lot of things we are used to doing in our day to day lives.

My India trip on SQ is unfortunately canceled due to that reason, but I am hopeful and optimistic things can return back to normal after the vaccine. It'll be a while.

Hope you and everyone are safe.

[yflyer]

Great TR as always. I'm a vegetarian as you already know, but it's pretty sad that COVID-19 has paused travel and movement of doing a lot of things we are used to doing in our day to day lives.

My India trip on SQ is unfortunately canceled due to that reason, but I am hopeful and optimistic things can return back to normal after the vaccine. It'll be a while.

Hope you and everyone are safe.

Thanks, SQfanatic! Trust you are well too. Hopefully travel will resume, and that you can do your trip to India sooner rather than later. Stay safe and healthy!