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"Travel Notes: EVA Air's Royal Laurel Class from Taipei to San Francisco, Kampai Wagyu Feast"
2024/07
In July 2024, I took EVA Air flight BR8 from Taipei (TPE) to San Francisco (SFO) at 10:15 a.m. The flight took 11 hours and 45 minutes. I chose EVA Air's business class, the Royal Laurel Class, and tried the latest meal launched in July this year, the Michelin one-star Lao Kanbei A5 Japanese Miyazaki Wagyu Set Meal.
After boarding the plane, I sat in the 1-2-1 reverse herringbone configuration window seat. Pillows, blankets, slippers, as well as the day's menu and wine list are already prepared on the seats. The flight attendants successively delivered full-face noise-canceling headphones, overnight bags, pajamas, hot towels and welcome sparkling wine.
Sparkling wine and chocolate were served as a preparation for the 11-hour flight ahead, and a poem was also included to add a sense of ceremony.
Even the slippers are not sloppy. The style used is a collaboration with designer Jason Wu, and is thicker than ordinary disposable slippers.
The pajamas are also made in collaboration with Jason Wu, and are soft and comfortable, including tops and pants. Compared to most European and American airlines that don't even provide slippers, the pajamas and slippers provided by EVA Air are really comfortable!
The overnight bag is a collaboration with Giorgio Armani, and contains basic items such as a toothbrush, eye mask, lip balm, comb, etc. Although the skincare products are not from Giorgio Armani, but from the American brand Malin + Goetz, a Giorgio Armani cardholder is also included, which is a great show of sincerity.
This is the first menu of the day. The in-flight meal selection offers a variety of options, including General Tso's Chicken, Prime Fillet Mignon, and Tender Sauteed Pork Roast. If you want to taste the A5 Miyazaki Wagyu + Signature Chicken Rice from Kanpai like me, you need to select your meal online in advance. There are also four pages of wine lists to choose from.
The first appetizer was a caviar saffron potato tart and a smoked duck and apricot omelette, which I paired with 2015 Veuve Clicquot Champagne.
Next came the appetizer, abalone with mullet roe. I chose a 2019 Bordeaux Margaux red wine from France, which was very delicious. For bread, I chose garlic bread and baguette. The garlic bread was so delicious that I took an extra piece.
The soup was pumpkin cream soup with scallops, warm and satisfying.
The salad is a normal garden salad.
The main course was the highlight of this trip, A5 Miyazaki Wagyu + signature chicken kamameshi, jointly launched by Taiwan's Michelin one-star yakiniku restaurant Lao Ganpai and Evergreen. This steak is very generous, and is served with mashed potatoes and grilled seasonal vegetables. The seasonings include wasabi, fried garlic, kelp salt and salt, which perfectly show the Japanese flavor. Even though the steak was fully cooked due to repeated heating of the airplane meal, this Japanese Wagyu steak was still very tender and juicy. The main course chicken kamameshi next to it was also excellent, the aroma of the chicken was integrated into the rice, and the rice grains were clearly not soft and rotten. Being able to enjoy such a main course on the plane is really a highlight.
After finishing the main course, I had a cup of passion fruit and coconut tea to balance my taste buds.
Then came the fruit, vanilla apricot dessert tart and various cheeses. The vanilla apricot tart tasted particularly delicious, but I was still a little uncomfortable with the texture of the cheese plate.
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After finishing all the meals, the flight attendant helped to make the bed and prepare for sleep.
Since it was an early morning flight, I got up after a short rest and started to watch the movie on the plane. Soon after, I felt hungry and decided to order another snack. There were many choices of snacks. I chose Mushu fried noodles with Wang Dechuan Oolong tea, wanting to taste Taiwanese food before setting foot in the United States. This fried noodles was full of fragrance and the noodles maintained a moderate taste, which was not inferior to the noodle stalls in Taiwan.
As for Evergreen’s cocktails, I personally think they taste just average and aren’t as stunning in appearance as the Starlight cocktails, but it’s still a nice feature.
Then, two hours before landing, it was time for breakfast. I chose the Western-style berry custard waffles. The first thing served was fruit, yogurt and oatmeal. Then came the berry custard waffles and croissants. Although the waffles were a bit dry, the croissants were very delicious with their crispy texture.
For this breakfast, I chose two champion coffees to go with it. One is Taipei Xingbo Coffee, which is extremely popular and often has a long queue; the other is VWI by CHADWANG, which has won the world championship in coffee brewing. These two coffees have excellent taste and charming aroma, which are completely different from the American coffee commonly seen on airplanes.
Finally, I landed smoothly at San Francisco International Airport. The business class experience was excellent. Although the aircraft was old, I was impressed by the service, food and comfort. This experience is one of the best business class experiences I have ever taken. The only drawback may be that the audio and video entertainment system of this aircraft is a bit old.
