- New members bring total of experts creating fine dining in-flight meals to 18.
- Flights departing Germany and Belgium to see new culinary collaboration menu.
TOKYO, JAPAN, 2018-Nov-30 — /Travel PR News/ — All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan’s largest and 5-star airline for six consecutive years, today (Nov. 28, 2018) revealed it has signed four more culinary masters to its acclaimed in-flight line-up THE CONNOISSEURS and will also be launching its first collaboration menu for Business Class flights departing Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Munich and Brussels.
The new additions to THE CONNOISSEURS program, launched by ANA in September 2013, bring the total number of members to 18. They comprise renowned chefs and beverage specialists from both inside and outside Japan; each works closely with ANA’s own chefs to demonstrate their craft and create 5-star gastronomy for passengers on board international and domestic flights.
Each in-flight meal is created to represent the area from which THE CONNOISSEURS are from, providing passengers with a truly unique and authentic culinary experience on-board. The four new masters include one French cuisine chef, two Japanese cuisine chefs, and a Japanese sake advisor:
- •Alexandre Gauthier, chef owner of the renowned La Grenouillère in northern France
- •Hiroyuki Kurosu, owner of Kagurazaka KUROSU restaurant in Shinjuku, Japan
- •Tomiya Hirota, owner chef of Ginza Hyakuraku
- •Yasuyuki Kitahara, restaurant manager of Cerise and Collage in Conrad Tokyo
The award-winning airline has also announced it will for the first time be offering a collaboration menu for Business Class flights departing Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Munich and Brussels. The new menu, available from December 2018 until February 2019, will be curated in partnership with NAGAYA, the only Michelin-starred Japanese restaurant in Dusseldorf, Germany.
ANA already has collaboration menus in Business Class on flights from Singapore (with Regent Singapore, A Four Seasons Hotel), Taiwan (with Regent Taipei), Los Angeles (Patina) and India (Taj Mahal Palace Mumbai). Each represents the area from which the flight departs.
THE NEW CONNOISSEURS
Alexandre Gauthier
Alexander Gauthier is chef owner of the renowned La Grenouillère restaurant, near Montreuil-sur-Mer in northern France. He is internationally recognised for his contemporary French cuisine, featured by the Omnivore guide in 2006 and earning a Michelin star in 2008.
Gauthier will be producing a French cuisine menu for Business Class passengers for ANA flights departing to Europe and North America, served from December 2018 until May 2019. Passengers will also be able to access an in-flight video about his fascinating background and culinary story.
Dishes from his menu include Braised beef cheek meat and carrot confit with its braised sauce, Steamed monkfish with courge sauce, and Pumpkin gnocchi and mimolette. All dishes will also be served with French beer Grand Cru, of Brasserie Castelain.
Hiroyuki Kurosu
Hiroyuki Kurosu is the owner of Kagurazaka KUROSU restaurant in Shinjuku. Kurosu is from the Niigata prefecture and began his culinary journey at a young age, with his family running a local sushi restaurant. Having refined his skills at restaurants and hotels, he became head chef of Japanese cuisine at the Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo in 2007, before opening Kagurazaka KUROSU in 2012.
Kurosu will be producing the domestic flight’s Premium Class Japanese cuisine for evening flights departing from New Chitose (Sapporo), Fukuoka, Itami and Okinawa Airport to Haneda Airport. His dishes are inspired by his passion for combing modern and traditional cooking methods. Dishes from his in-flight menu include Pork kakuni, served with rice and minced sea bream.
Tomiya Hirota
Tomiya Hirota is owner chef of Ginza Hyakuraku. He will be producing the international flight’s Business Class Japanese cuisine for flights departing to Asia, available from March until May 2019. Hirota is from Tokushima prefecture and his dishes are inspired by his local region, incorporating seasonal ingredients from the area. Details of his menu will be available on ANA SKY WEB in early February 2019.
Yasuyuki Kitahara
Yasuyuki Kitahara is restaurant manager of Cerise and Collage in Conrad Tokyo. He will be the Japanese sake advisor for ANA lounges, international and domestic flights. Along with expertise in sake, Kitahara is a connoisseur in champagne and wine, winning the 4th World Kikisake-shi (Japanese sommelier) competition.
NEW COLLABORATION MENU FOR FLIGHTS FROM GERMANY AND BELGIUM
Courses on the new menu created in collaboration with NAGAYA include Poached sliced beef, simmered beef and brussels sprouts roll with wasabi butter and turnip. This menu will also offer Hide’s Wine 639 Black Gutsriesling 2016, a white wine from winemaker Hideki Asano who specializes in German wines which perfectly complement Japanese cuisine.
About ANA
Following the “Inspiration of Japan” high quality of service, ANA has been awarded the respected 5-Star rating every year since 2013 from SKYTRAX. ANA is the only Japanese airline to win this prestigious designation six years in a row. Additionally, ANA has been recognized by Air Transport World as “Airline of the Year” three times in the past 10 years – 2007, 2013 and 2018, becoming one of the few airlines winning this prestigious award for multiple times.
ANA was founded in 1952 with two helicopters and has become the largest airline in Japan, as well as one of the most significant airlines in Asia, operating 84 international routes and 119 domestic routes. ANA offers a unique dual hub model which enables passengers to travel to Tokyo and connect through the two airports in the metropolitan Tokyo, NARITA and HANEDA, to various destinations throughout Japan, and also offers same day connections between various North American, Asian and Chinese cities.
ANA has been a member of Star Alliance since 1999 and has joint venture partnerships with United Airlines, Lufthansa German Airlines, Swiss International Airlines and Austrian Airlines.
Besides the full service and award winner carrier ANA, the ANA Group has two LCCs as consolidated subsidiaries, Vanilla Air Inc. and Peach Aviation Limited. The ANA Group carried 53.8 million passengers in FY2017, has approximately 39,000 employees and a fleet of 260 aircraft. ANA is a proud launch customer and the biggest operator of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
For more information, please refer to the following link.
https://www.ana.co.jp/group/en/
Contact:
ANA Corporate Communications
TEL +81-3-6735-1111
publicrelations@ana.co.jp
Source: ANA Group