Air France welcomes triple Michelin-starred French chef Olivier Chaignon
Air France expands onboard menu offerings with Michelin-starred French Chef Olivier Chaignon
Starting this month, La Première and Business Class passengers travelling from Tokyo-Haneda (HND) and Osaka-Kansai (KIX) to Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) on Air France can enjoy menus specific to each travel cabin, designed by triple Michelin-starred French chef Olivier Chaignon. Chaignon is the head chef at the restaurant L’Osier in Tokyo.
To create his dishes, Chaignon has combined his French savoir-faire with local, seasonal Japanese produce. He has designed all the main dishes on the menu in both cabins, including vegetarian options as well as meat, poultry and fish dishes.
“For Air France customers, I wanted to create elegant, gourmet cuisine, showcasing Japanese produce while retaining a French taste and spirit,” said Chaignon.
As a result, La Première customers will soon be able to enjoy a maki-style seabass with champagne sauce, potatoes with shiso flowers and fresh cheese gnocchi or a blanquette-style veal dish with truffle Yukitsubaki rice and a bouquet of vegetables. In the Business cabin, the menu will include potato gnocchi accompanied by aubergine caviar and stuffed grilled courgettes or prawns, lobster jus with aniseed, with simmered vegetables and green pasta.
Chaignon has created twelve exclusive dishes for the La Première cabin and twelve for the Business cabin to be served onboard beginning this month.
The arrival of Chaignon marks the first time that Air France has teamed up with a top French chef to sign its menus on departure from Japan. This new culinary offer comes in addition to the menus already created by leading French chefs on the airline's long-haul flights departing from CDG. Currently, triple Michelin-starred chef Emmanuel Renaut is joined by Claire Heitzler, Gault&Millau’s elected pastry chef of the year, to serve La Première passengers. In Business Class, triple Michelin-starred chef Jérôme Banctel has teamed up with Nina Métayer, named World’s Best Pastry Chef 2023, and in the Premium cabin, Michelin-starred chef Frédéric Simonin continues to deliver experiences to Air France passengers.
As part of the fight against food waste, the airline is enabling all passengers to pre-select their main dish in the Business cabin, including on departures from Japan. This service combines the guarantee of availability of the passenger's choice with fairer consumption on board.
