SQ A350 Y to Copenhagen: Bicycles, The Little Mermaid, and Lunch at Noma

[yflyer]

Wow. Noma is spectacular. And the place looks better than the previous which was like in a warehouse. The dishes look more colourful than previously too, and more beautiful!

Noma was an amazing dining experience, and yes the location and building etc were all part of the experience. I never got the chance to try the original location. Since you've tried the original, you need to go to the new one and let us know how it compares!

I have been vegetarian for the last few weeks and still adjusting to the taste of meat now and looking at your pictures, my mouth waters ...

Somehow for this meal, I did not miss meat at all! The range and variety of flavours was all that one could ask for...but I would like to head back to Noma again for one of their other seasons, to sample either the wild game & forest season, or their seafood season...or both!

The radish pie looks exceptionally delicious. Is it savoury? What was the taste like? Like sashimi? So lately in Mumbai, Peruvian and Japanese-peruvian have been trending and they have been using fruits like watermelon to make vegetarian "fish" and I don't know how they cook them, but they become the texture of sashimi and they work perfectly in ceviches and tiraditos. This dish looks like that (like tuna sashimi). Yumm.

The radish pie was a savoury dish, with both the taste of the radish, and also a crunch from the base. It was very delicious!

I really like Ceviches and Japanese/Peruvian style sashimi -- the real deal, not the vegetarian versions. That said, I did go to a HK vegetarian restaurant once, and they did serve a very convincing vegetarian sushi that could have fooled me into thinking it was made of fish...

[SQueeze]

Wow. Noma is spectacular. And the place looks better than the previous which was like in a warehouse. The dishes look more colourful than previously too, and more beautiful!

I have been vegetarian for the last few weeks and still adjusting to the taste of meat now and looking at your pictures, my mouth waters ...
The radish pie looks exceptionally delicious. Is it savoury? What was the taste like? Like sashimi? So lately in Mumbai, Peruvian and Japanese-peruvian have been trending and they have been using fruits like watermelon to make vegetarian "fish" and I don't know how they cook them, but they become the texture of sashimi and they work perfectly in ceviches and tiraditos. This dish looks like that (like tuna sashimi). Yumm.

[yflyer]

Interesting trip report. Nice to see trips to Scandinavia. Those are actually Swedish subtitles.

Thanks for reading, hybridace101! And thanks for clarifying that the safety video has Swedish subtitles, rather than Danish...what a newbie / ignoramus mistake! Will correct the post!

[hybridace101]

The familiar Journey through Singapore safety video was played. Time flies...I sometimes still refer to it as the "new" SQ safety video, although it has been in use since 2017. Today's version had Danish subtitles...

Interesting trip report. Nice to see trips to Scandinavia. Those are actually Swedish subtitles.

[SQfanatic]

Thanks, SQfanatic! Yes a very nice country, which reminded me of Singapore in some ways, for example small and safe city, law-abiding people, great public transport infra, superb quality of life, and yet was so different in so many other ways: the lack of crowds, the fairly homogenous society (Though there is a growing immigrant population), and liberal attitude towards graffiti and some substance abuse (e.g. in Christiana)...



It is quite a long way to the F gates from T3, and agree it's a pain. I guess they are running short of gates...



I was pleasantly surprised to see that the plans were time-based as well. Data-based plans are just ridiculous, as it is impossible to judge the amount of data your phone/tablet/computer uses these days. Hope it is not a trial, and something permanent. Not sure if this is fleet wide, but I sure hope so.




Yes, the A350's that do the SIN-SFO-SIN routes have the new 2017 Y. Coincidentally I just did SIN-SFO-SIN on SQ32/31 too, and will be doing a TR on that shortly! Note that 3-3-3 on the A350 is definitely more spacious and comfortable than 3-4-3 on a 77W. There are few cabin products out there worse than 3-4-3 on the 777. I think 3-3-3 on the 787 is not great either, though SQ's 787-10 Y, in 3-3-3 is the best of the worst...




Those are very comfortable flights. SQ33 has a perfect departure time of 10pm out of SFO. You have a good night's sleep on the plane, then maybe wake up a bit early, and you arrive in Singapore about 5.30am in the morning in Singapore and start your day. Perfect! The non-stop from SFO-SIN is now typically 15+ or at most 16 hours. In the good old days, SQ1 SFO-HKG-SIN was my favourite: You leave late at night, then sleep on the plane, and arrive in HKG in the morning. Of course after that you have a 3+ hour hop to Singapore, but at least you could stretch your legs and have a nice breakfast in the airport in HKG. Much more convenient now with the non-stop. But I also have such treasured memories of SQ2/SQ1 operated by 744's in the days of Kai Tak Airport with its amazing landing.

That may be so, but that could change since T2 has opened and more certain flights could slowly move to that terminal.

Well, I'll report back on the Wifi situation in my upcoming December trip if it's really on the A350. All A350's as far as I know long haul will have Panasonic wifi. The 787-10's from what I heard have the same Panasonic wifi, too. Not 100% sure if I'll use the wifi on the 787-10 on the 3-4 hours flight to and from Chennai, but I'll report back what I find.

I'm looking forward to your TR on SQ32/31. I was referring to the style/shape of the seats which are pretty identical to CX's 77W seating in 3-4-3, also meaning no touch-screen remote, but everything has to be touched on the screen. On SQ, saw some pictures, and looks like the call button and a few buttons are on the seat itself, that's what's a little different. I flew UA's 77W transcon to New York and back to SFO in July and everything has to be controlled on the screen including the call button.

[yflyer]

Another Great TR yflyer! Once again, yr words and pics vividly transported me through yr journey. For the aviation and travel geek that is me, and having not flown A350, those detailed accounts of yr flight are useful references.

Thanks very much for reading, jammed! Really appreciate your kind comments and feedback! SQ has such a huge A350 fleet these days, if you are heading anywhere on SQ these days, you are bound to eventually find yourself on one!

I appreciate the amount of pre-planning and efforts devoted o items to cover, angle of photos, details to focus, etc, having tried to write a few TRs myself.

These days, after so many TR's, whipping out my phone to take photos of the seats and aircraft cabin, is almost like an automatic reflex :-) ... the moves are already in my muscle memory, haha...

Your report of CPH cemented my conviction to head there one day - many of yr pics confirmed conversations with my Danish neighbour. As a side note, I’m amazed that this 60+ chap continues to draw teh equivalent of SGD2,500 from his Danish pension, though he pointed out his 30+ % taxes paid thoughout his working life back in CPH. Were you able to speak with any locals to get sense of this?

That's a good point there...while I didn't go into any deep discussions of the system, I did get the impression that Denmark was a fairly egalitarian society, without a huge gap between the haves and have nots. I believe there is a very strong social safety net, I am not surprised that your neighbour draws a generous pension.

I did speak to the taxi driver who brought me to Duck and Cover, who was South Asian by origin, but born in Denmark, and he was very happy with life in Copenhagen. I asked him point blank: Was Denmark a good place for him? And he nodded and said yes without hesitation. In some other countries, you ask an immigrant taxi driver what he thought of life and society in his/her new home, and you get a long story about what is good and often what is bad, but this gentleman was in happy.

noma is lovely - all the flowers just made the food so instagramable I’m surprised not to find more younger digital natives there. Though the price-point must have been a high hurdle. I’m a small eater - these days - and dont think I’ll be pulled that way, but you have persuaded me with yr report that Noma certainly a connoisseur’s milestone.

The Noma meal was quite special! Yes my fellow diners were all avid Instagrammers (Not influencers, mind you, but folks with regular lives, who also happen to post regularly on Instagram) and the pics looked great! More importantly, they were more than pretty pics, but offered up something very satisfying to the tastebuds and senses too. These days there is so much stuff on Instagram that is just over the top and there to impress/shock/awe... while the Noma dishes were photogenic, the focus was on the cuisine and not how to make a big impression on social media...

Quantity wise I didn't feel overly full at the end because, while there were many courses, it was spread over 2.5 to 3 hours. I am not a big eater either (Really! :-) ) and I managed to finish it all..

Yes, this should definitely be on your list if you are heading to Copenhagen. In fact, I would even suggest getting a reservation first, than planning a trip around the date!

Finally yr Run Reports. That’s almost yflyer signature isn’t it; and you have outdone yrself this time with the run-map of the Kastellet. Out of curiosity (actually envy) how long did you clock for yr various runs? In my earlier yrs i was able to clock 40min for a 10k but more like 80min nowadays; you on the other hand are able to retain solid breath control to snap sharp pics amidst such distances.

The runs in Copenhagen were great! Perfect weather to run, and great footpaths too, although one thing I had to remember was never to set foot on the cycling paths! I was loudly reminded several times to stay on the pedestrian path while jogging, as cyclists whizzed past.

Your timing of 40 min for 10k is amazing! That is incredibly fast! You must have been an athlete! These days I typically do 10k in 60 min when in Singapore (6 min per km pace), which is comfortable, but on these sightseeing runs, I often go slower as I stop to take pics etc, so these runs typically end up 65-70 min for 10km. Quite slow, so breathlessness is not an issue when taking pics!

The only times I nearly killed myself on a run were on hot summer days in Dubai and Tampa, Florida, where I was foolhardy enough to do midday or late morning runs... and also a run in Lisbon, where I thought I had to reach my end point by a certain time in order to enter the attraction before closing time.

I’m afraid you might have raised the bar upon yrself - i for one am expecting an even more detailed and picturesque TR next round, ha ha ha. Well done, yflyer!

Thanks again, jammed! 12 hours after I landed from CPH, I was back at the airport to catch the nonstop to SFO...TR up shortly! The trips are coming up thick and fast now, so expect more Trip Reports between now and the end of the year!

[yflyer]

Very nice TR yflyer. I really enjoyed the pictures of the SQ A350 and Copenhagen. Denmark looks like a very nice country, I would like to try to visit it once in my life.

Thanks, SQfanatic! Yes a very nice country, which reminded me of Singapore in some ways, for example small and safe city, law-abiding people, great public transport infra, superb quality of life, and yet was so different in so many other ways: the lack of crowds, the fairly homogenous society (Though there is a growing immigrant population), and liberal attitude towards graffiti and some substance abuse (e.g. in Christiana)...

Funny story, as some of you probably know, my dad went to India last month. Took SQ31, then SQ528 to Chennai. His flight SQ31 landed in T3, no problem. But normally India flights will also depart from Terminal 3. He told me he had to go all the way to Terminal 2 (Gate F58)

It is quite a long way to the F gates from T3, and agree it's a pain. I guess they are running short of gates...

As far as the Wifi, looks like they brought back time based plans. Is this true for all flights with Panasonic wifi now? Hard to believe the last time I flew with SQ was in 2016 and flew the 77WN via HKG with the time-based wifi which really helped passed the time and cured my boredom

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the plans were time-based as well. Data-based plans are just ridiculous, as it is impossible to judge the amount of data your phone/tablet/computer uses these days. Hope it is not a trial, and something permanent. Not sure if this is fleet wide, but I sure hope so.

I'm flying SQ33 in December, returning on SQ32 (first time on the A350, but the A350's that fly to SFO nonstop will have only the 2017 Y class seats, which by telling in the pictures or videos I've seen, looks comfortable, but it's really identical to CX's 10-across seating on the 77W and even their A350).

Yes, the A350's that do the SIN-SFO-SIN routes have the new 2017 Y. Coincidentally I just did SIN-SFO-SIN on SQ32/31 too, and will be doing a TR on that shortly! Note that 3-3-3 on the A350 is definitely more spacious and comfortable than 3-4-3 on a 77W. There are few cabin products out there worse than 3-4-3 on the 777. I think 3-3-3 on the 787 is not great either, though SQ's 787-10 Y, in 3-3-3 is the best of the worst...

I'm flying SQ33 in December, returning on SQ32

Those are very comfortable flights. SQ33 has a perfect departure time of 10pm out of SFO. You have a good night's sleep on the plane, then maybe wake up a bit early, and you arrive in Singapore about 5.30am in the morning in Singapore and start your day. Perfect! The non-stop from SFO-SIN is now typically 15+ or at most 16 hours. In the good old days, SQ1 SFO-HKG-SIN was my favourite: You leave late at night, then sleep on the plane, and arrive in HKG in the morning. Of course after that you have a 3+ hour hop to Singapore, but at least you could stretch your legs and have a nice breakfast in the airport in HKG. Much more convenient now with the non-stop. But I also have such treasured memories of SQ2/SQ1 operated by 744's in the days of Kai Tak Airport with its amazing landing.

[jammed]

Another Great TR yflyer! Once again, yr words and pics vividly transported me through yr journey. For the aviation and travel geek that is me, and having not flown A350, those detailed accounts of yr flight are useful references. I appreciate the amount of pre-planning and efforts devoted o items to cover, angle of photos, details to focus, etc, having tried to write a few TRs myself.

Your report of CPH cemented my conviction to head there one day - many of yr pics confirmed conversations with my Danish neighbour. As a side note, I’m amazed that this 60+ chap continues to draw teh equivalent of SGD2,500 from his Danish pension, though he pointed out his 30+ % taxes paid thoughout his working life back in CPH. Were you able to speak with any locals to get sense of this?

noma is lovely - all the flowers just made the food so instagramable I’m surprised not to find more younger digital natives there. Though the price-point must have been a high hurdle. I’m a small eater - these days - and dont think I’ll be pulled that way, but you have persuaded me with yr report that Noma certainly a connoisseur’s milestone.

finally yr Run Reports. That’s almost yflyer signature isn’t it; and you have outdone yrself this time with the run-map of the Kastellet. Out of curiosity (actually envy) how long did you clock for yr various runs? In my earlier yrs i was able to clock 40min for a 10k but more like 80min nowadays; you on the other hand are able to retain solid breath control to snap sharp pics amidst such distances.

I’m afraid you might have raised the bar upon yrself - i for one am expecting an even more detailed and picturesque TR next round, ha ha ha. Well done, yflyer!

[SQfanatic]

Very nice TR yflyer. I really enjoyed the pictures of the SQ A350 and Copenhagen. Denmark looks like a very nice country, I would like to try to visit it once in my life.

Now a couple of notes I observed here which I do want to point out.

Funny story, as some of you probably know, my dad went to India last month. Took SQ31, then SQ528 to Chennai. His flight SQ31 landed in T3, no problem. But normally India flights will also depart from Terminal 3. He told me he had to go all the way to Terminal 2 (Gate F58), reminds me of the old SilkAir to Trivandrum days and those days when I took SQ to India (Delhi or Chennai). He was pissed because it felt rushed but thankful he made the flight. So that was a similar scenario. Hopefully for December, it'll be within the same terminal 3. Flying to/from Chennai both ways so expecting that the flight at least departs from T3. Returning, that would be good too just so it's a reasonable walk to the next flight.

As far as the Wifi, looks like they brought back time based plans. Is this true for all flights with Panasonic wifi now? Hard to believe the last time I flew with SQ was in 2016 and flew the 77WN via HKG with the time-based wifi which really helped passed the time and cured my boredom.

I'm flying SQ33 in December, returning on SQ32 (first time on the A350, but the A350's that fly to SFO nonstop will have only the 2017 Y class seats, which by telling in the pictures or videos I've seen, looks comfortable, but it's really identical to CX's 10-across seating on the 77W and even their A350). But I'll have to endure it on the 787-10 to/from Chennai, so no problem with that. Hopefully SQ8/7 (SFO via HKG) will return with the 77W, but I would not hold my breath, so will have to figure out how to survive the almost 18 hour flight.

[yflyer]

Hi yflyer, great TR! Enjoyed reading it. Glad you were able to go to Noma and enjoy a michelin star meal. I have not gone myself but I hope to sometime in future.

Thanks for reading, RedEyeflight! Noma was amazing. There are many restaurants with Michelin stars, but even among the so called top restaurants, I would say Noma is quite unique. Definitely worth a visit!

Actually on the subject of Michelin stars, I think the Michelin Guide serves a useful purpose, but I am not one of those folks who picks restaurants primarily based on number of stars etc. Lots of great food out there without Michelin stars...and conversely a small minority of restaurants with stars that probably don't deserve them. The Michelin Guide is just one data point that helps in making a restaurant selection.

I find Tripadvisor very useful for doing a first cut look at the eating options in any given city, and and eater.com as well.

[RedEyeflight]

Hi yflyer, great TR! Enjoyed reading it. Glad you were able to go to Noma and enjoy a michelin star meal. I have not gone myself but I hope to sometime in future.

[yflyer]

The first course was served, with each course introduced by a different staff member....



This was a summer salad, a light and beautiful medley of fresh and tasty vegetables and fruit, all in a cold, savoury sauce that had such depth and umami...the interplay of flavours was like nothing I had ever tasted...

When I mentioned to fellow SQTalker 9V-SIA that I was going for a meal at Noma, he mentioned that the new head chef at Noma was a Singaporean. I was really impressed to hear that.

What I didn't realise till after I returned to Singapore was that the head chef, Kenneth Foong, was the one who came over to introduce the first course of our meal! I wish I had mentioned the Singapore connection then! That's Kenneth in the pic above. What a great achievement on his part to take on this role at Noma!

And in other news, Noma announced 2 days ago (on Oct 18th) that the restaurant would be doing a residency in Kyoto from 15 March 2023 to 20 May 2023. Details have just been published on this website, with reservations opening on 7 November at 1pm CET. Exciting news indeed!

[yflyer]

Great trip report yflyer. Felt Iike I am next to you on the trip

Thanks very much, SQ218! Glad you enjoyed reading it!

[SQ218]

Great trip report yflyer. Felt Iike I am next to you on the trip

[yflyer]

Fantastic trip report, yflyer! Your description of lunch at Noma made me feel as if I was there. Having sat through a few "Michelin-type" tasting menus, you sort of know the drill. But the food looked really inventive and quite novel. I can see why it was quite the experience. I might be tempted now to follow in your footsteps :-)

Thanks very much, SQ777! I enjoyed reliving lunch at Noma by writing it up...I think the write-up took almost as long as the lunch... :-)

I think even by rarified Michelin standards, Noma offers something quite unique and original. Yes most definitely worth a visit...in fact at least 3 visits, since they have 3 seasonal menus a year...

Those German potato noodles are known as Schupfnudel (the word "Schupf" is "old German" for rolling, ie a reference to how these noodles are made)

Thanks for enlightening me on this! I am quite a fan of all kinds of German noodles and dumplings! Very different in concept from the Asian variety. Have a trip to Frankfurt coming up in late Nov, and hope to indulge in more of these while there, while bearing in mind there are so many regional styles of noodles and dumplings as well.

I gotta say either it is your descriptions / pictures or the actual product, but long-haul SQ Y looks pretty great! And I don't get bored reading them, tho you must have posted countless of reports of the same product.

Long haul on SQ Y is actually pretty impressive. The planes are usually quite new, and catering is pretty good compared to US / European airlines (Although Japanese and Asian airlines do give them a good run for the money!). Good point re the number of SQ Y TR's I've done over the years. I have to constantly remind myself not to write the same TR 50 times :-) Although I've covered the same A350 Y product before, there was a big gap during COVID, so it has been good to revisit them, and I also realise, as I re-read my old TRs, that the cabin product has evolved over time, for example the old printed menus, which listed the Y cocktails and beverages in full, as well as Y meal trays with starter, ceramic casseroles, and (gasp) real glassware in Y!

Do take Mrs yflyer to CPH, I am certain she will love it there -- the city has a great mix of food, culture, and history in a laid back sort of way. I don't know why but there is something about Copenhagen which reminds me of Amsterdam, tho I have never been too much of a fan of the latter, even after multiple visits.

The deal I have with Mrs yflyer is that, wherever I go, and whatever I eat, if I do it alone on business, I have to plan to bring her there in future, so yes, definitely CPH, and most definitely Noma, have been added to our to-go / to-eat list.

Thanks again for this great write up. Looking forward to the next one.

Thanks so much for reading and commenting on this TR, SQ777! I really appreciate it! More TR's on the way!