10.230
24 (Sat) August 2019
Wonton Noodles in Soup
3.0
at The Noodle Bar
(The Pier – Business Class Lounge)
-Hong Kong International Airport, Hong Kong SAR-
solo
Mission to Fiji, Day 15.
- Day 1 (10.217 Stir-Fried Salt and Pepper Tofu)
- Day 2 (10.218 Mapa Tofu + Choysum with Garlic + Steamed Rice)
- Day 3 (10.219 Roast Chicken Tikka Masala)
- Day 4 (10.220 Grilled Lobster)
- Day 5 (10.221 Bibimbap)
- Day 6 (10.222 Grilled Lobster)
- Day 7 (10.223 Chicken Tandoori Pizza)
- Day 8 (10.224 Whopper with Cheese)
- Day 9 (10.225 Cheeseburger)
- Day 10 (10.226 A Pear)
- Day 11 (10.227 Grilled Fish)
- Day 12 (10.228 Tavu Snapper)
- Day 13 (10.229 Lobster Stir-Fried Ginger & Spring Onion)
- Day 14 (10.230 Seared Humpty Doo Barramundi)
In transit. On my way home after wrapping the Fifth Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentarian Forum on Global Health, which was held in Nadi from August 20 to 22 (yesterday). Having spent 40 days in/to/from Fiji over the past year across 5 missions to prepare for the meeting (see most recently 10.192 Rourou Moci), then another 3 days to execute the meeting itself, I traveled 2 days to get home for a total of 45 days devoted to this one activity – not counting the seemingly infinite time spent in the office. Anyway, it’s done.
I had a couple hours to explore, but the food options were limited due to the early hour.
The Bridge
Only Western-style breakfast items, fruit, and dumplings.
As such, I give the Bridge an initial ranking of #38.
The Pier
The Pier was one of the biggest lounges that I’ve encountered, arranged as a series of modules with different food and beverage offerings: a tea and coffee module with pastries, a bar module, a module with savory Western-style breakfast, and a Cantonese module with stir-fries, dumplings, and made-to-order noodle bar.
The buffet food wasn’t too bad, even for breakfast.
The noodles were awesome, as good as any quick-fix noodle shop in the city, which is my favorite city in the world for quick-fix noodles.
In assessing a business lounge, I look for the following 3 elements, in order of importance:
- Good quality whisky
- Tasty foods, freshly prepared, well-balanced in variety
- Made-to-order items, preferably local in nature
The Pier satisfied the 3rd element, partly the 2nd (though dinnertime probably would’ve been better). I don’t drink whisky in the morning.
With that, the Pier settles into the #19 spot (see BEST IN LOUNGE), along with other Cathay Pacific lounges that serve made-to-order noodles.
As always, I am grateful for and respectful of the opportunity to travel, especially via business class, including lounge access. Any comments here, even the negative ones, are simply relative to other business class experiences, not complaints per se.
CX 901 (Hong Kong to Manila)
For the 3rd consecutive time, the food on Cathay Pacific has been disappointing – and for the the 3rd consecutive time, I express my puzzlement that one of the greatest food cities in the world should do so poorly with its in-flight business class meal service (see BEST IN FLIGHT).
Or maybe it’s just the Hong Kong -to- Manila route?
