The airline’s latest collaborative menu with the Hong Kong-based restaurant offers customers a taste of Italy in the sky
Cathay Pacific is partnering with popular Hong Kong-based Italian restaurant Pirata to offer a taste of the restaurant’s home-style, honest Italian fare in the skies. The menu is now available onboard selected flights departing from Hong Kong.
Cathay Pacific recognises that the difference is in the detail, particularly when it comes to inflight dining, and its commitment to service is centred on bringing its customers quality food. Through meticulous collaboration with partners, airlines strive to provide exceptional dining experiences above the clouds with high attention to detail and options that cater to individual needs and preferences.
The new collaboration is the latest in a series of successful menu partnerships with popular Hong Kong brands, as part of Cathay Pacific’s continued efforts to elevate and diversify the inflight dining offerings available to customers.
Opened in 2014, Pirata is Pirata Group’s flagship Italian restaurant in Wan Chai, specialising in familial regional specialties served up in large plates to share. Long journeys can be physically draining even for the most seasoned of travellers, so being able to impart that taste of familiarity and comfort to passengers goes a long way.
Cathay Pacific General Manager Customer Experience and Design Vivian Lo said: “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. 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 Group Chief Executive Officer Steen Puggaard said: “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.
“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.”
When designing the inflight menus, the culinary teams at Cathay Pacific and Pirata sought to bring the spirit of the restaurant’s honest, authentic Italian fare to each dish, inspired by the large, shared platters that often make up the heart of Italian family gatherings. Each of the dishes has been specifically tailored to bring the home-style fare of a Sunday family lunch to the skies.
The promotional menu is now available for passengers travelling in Premium Economy on selected medium- and long-haul flights departing from Hong Kong.
Embarking on a culinary tour of Italy, customers will be served scrumptious vegetable-laden starters like the Caprese with tomato and bread salad, respectively combining two well-loved classics from Campania and Tuscany.
For a taste of the land and sea, indulge in our take on the summer favourite, “Vitello” tonnato – roast beef with tuna and caper sauce, or the tuna and saffron orzo salad, which draws inspiration from the traditional Sicilian pasta dish featuring short-cut orzo shaped like a grain of rice. Meanwhile, the baby octopus and crushed potato salad is a dish of timeless tradition, starring tender baby octopus braised with tomatoes, black olives and a dash of chilli, served over a bed of lightly crushed potatoes.
From our selection of mains, discover the decadent pork saltimbocca with mushroom jus, our adaptation of a Roman classic that showcases pork loin wrapped in Parma ham and layered with provolone and sage. Or try the chicken pizzaiola with roasted zucchini and saffron rice, which serves up juicy and tender pieces of chicken topped with an oregano-infused tomato sauce and melted mozzarella.
Also available as mains, the Calabrian-style orecchiette pasta with Italian sausage, spicy ‘nduja and cherry tomatoes is a comforting dish that brings together orecchiette pasta with a creamy sauce that provides just a hint of spice. Meanwhile, the classic Italian meatloaf with marinara sauce is a nod to Pirata’s signature M.M.M meatballs blending ground beef and pork, and paired with sautéed spinach and creamy mashed potatoes.
For a truly memorable experience, complete the meal with a glass of Astoria Lounge Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG (classified under the Denomination of Controlled and Guaranteed Origin – the highest level of quality for Italian wines) born from the hillside vineyards of Italy’s Veneto region.
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