Cathay Pacific serves up Italian comfort cuisine onboard
The Cathay Pacific x Pirata offering
Cathay Pacific has announced a partnership with Hong Kong-based Italian restaurant Pirata to bring home-style Italian fare to its passengers. The inflight menu featuring the restaurant’s cuisine is now available onboard select flights departing from Hong Kong.
The airline said in its press release that the collaboration is the latest in a series of onboard menu partnerships with local Hong Kong brands. The efforts are part of an initiative to diversify the inflight dining experience for passengers.
“We are very pleased to be partnering with Pirata in Premium Economy to bring our customers more new and exciting culinary delights when they fly with us,” said Vivian Lo, Cathay Pacific General Manager Customer Experience and Design. “This collaboration underpins our commitment to enhance the inflight customer experience by working with renowned Hong Kong dining brands that share our care and passion for delivering exceptional cuisine. This carefully curated selection of dishes channels the spirit of Italian cuisine by focusing on sophisticated simplicity, traditional flavours and quality ingredients, bringing the rich and vibrant tastes of Italy to the skies.”
Pirata has been operating in Hong Kong since 2014 in Wan Chai. It specializes in regional Italian cuisine served on large, shareable plates. The signature flavours of the restaurant are set to elevate the onboard dining experience for Cathay Pacific’s passengers.
“It's an honour to be able to bring to the skies the warmth and comfort of Italian family gatherings, which are hallmarks of our flagship restaurant, Pirata. With this specially curated menu, we hope passengers will feel and taste a sense of unity and togetherness, even at thousands of feet in the air,” said Pirata Group Chief Executive Officer Steen Puggaard.
“As a Hong Kong-born restaurant group, a partnership with Hong Kong's own home carrier is a milestone for us. This collaboration enables us to expand on our commitment to deliver extraordinary dining experiences beyond the walls of a traditional restaurant, creating lasting memories for travellers around the world,” he added.
Cathay Pacific and Pirata focused on integrating the restaurant’s authentic Italian spirit into designing the inflight menus. Each dish offered onboard represents the home-style fare of a Sunday family meal.
The starters on the menu are vegetable-laden dishes like Caprese with tomato and bread salad, combining two well-loved classics from Campania and Tuscany. The menu also features a take on a summer favourite called “Vitello” tonnato which is roast beef with tuna and caper sauce, or the tuna and saffron orzo salad, inspired by a traditional Sicilian pasta dish made with short-cut orzo shaped like a grain of rice. The baby octopus and crushed potato salad is a classic dish featuring baby octopus braised with tomatoes, black olives and chilli, served over a bed of lightly crushed potatoes.
The main courses on the menu include pork saltimbocca with mushroom jus, a take on the Roman classic that showcases pork loin wrapped in Parma ham and layered with provolone and sage. The chicken pizzaiola with roasted zucchini and saffron rice offers juicy and tender pieces of chicken topped with an oregano-infused tomato sauce and melted mozzarella.
Another main on the menu is a Calabrian-style orecchiette pasta with Italian sausage, spicy ‘nduja and cherry tomatoes which is a comfort dish combining orecchiette pasta with a creamy sauce (with a hint of spice). Classic Italian meatloaf with marinara sauce is on the menu as a nod to Pirata’s signature M.M.M meatballs blending ground beef and pork; it’s paired with sautéed spinach and creamy mashed potatoes.
Drinks onboard that pair nicely with the new menu include the Astoria Lounge Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG (classified under the Denomination of Controlled and Guaranteed Origin which is the highest quality for Italian wines).
The promotional menu is available now for passengers travelling in Cathay Pacific’s Premium Economy on selected medium- and long-haul flights from Hong Kong.
