Roy and I were flying from London Heathrow Terminal Five to Toyko Haneda with friends Debbie and Nigel. They were flying premium economy (they have a huge house, dogs, top of the range cars and daughter with expensive tastes): we were business class (no children or pets, a modest house and clapped out banger). At check in, we tried to blag an upgrade for them but were told business class was full (in fact as it was one over, one lucky person would be upgraded to first). We then tried unsuccessfully to get them into the lounge as our bronze executive club status doesn’t allow us guests. However the check-in guy suggested Gordon Ramsay’s “Plane Food Restaurant”:https://www.gordonramsayrestaurants.com/plane-food/ was much better than the lounge anyway and not terribly expensive.
As Debbie and Nigel had got caught up in snarled Monday morning traffic, we managed a quick and complimentary drink and bacon roll in the lounge before meeting them in Plane Food.
The restaurant is modern, light and bright with a good view of the runways for plane spotters. They both indulged from the breakfast menu: a bacon and egg roll (£6.50) and a small eggs benedict which usually comes as one egg but came with two on a single muffin (£7.50). Both looked good and were quickly polished off.
As it was a long time since we’d been away together, a bottle of fizz was the order of the day even though it was only 8.30am. We were surprised to find a bottle of English pink fizz (Balfour Rosé, Hush Heath) was a reasonable £52.50 as supporting the British wine industry is usually very expensive.
The atmosphere was excellent with lots of excited travellers and although service was pretty swift in case people were tight for time, we didn’t feel compelled to rush. In fact they promise to serve a two course meal in 25 minutes (£18.95) or three in 35 for an additional £3.
If you’re travelling with a young family, children up to 12 years old eat for free and three course Plane Picnics can be ordered for £14. Bearing in mind how a couple of drinks and packet of Pringles can cost on Easy Jet, a shared picnic sounds like good value if you’re not getting fed on board.
And a final bonus, Plane Food has their own loos unlike many airport outlets which simply rely on the public ones in the terminal which can often be a long trek.
All in all, it was a very positive experience and a great start to our trip.
