JL 2, Tokyo to San Francisco, Business Class

Flight Details

Flight: JL2.
Departure Time: 7:50pm.
Aircraft: 777-300.
Class: Business.
Seat: 9K

This flight from Tokyo was exactly the same as I had done 2 years prior, same exact timing.  You can read all about that experience here.

Since I've reviewed the route before, I'll skip all details of the seat, and focus only on the parts that were different this time around, and of course, the food.

Seat 9K.

It was a fairly standard flight, and my feelings on the aircraft and seat remain unchanged.  Amazing privacy even in the 2-3-2 setup, due to the large divider and staggered seats.  Very nice to have aisle access, and essentially no neighbor (I was only aware of him during takeoff and landing when we had to have the divider open).

The window seat really doesn't have much place to put anything though, and can feel a bit claustrophobic.  Still, I was happy enough with my seat, and it was comfortable enough for sitting and sleeping.

Amenities are standard and basic, no pajamas provided, but I brought mine from my Japan Airlines First Class flight to Tokyo, which I still really loved.  Service was polite.

The flight was fine, but of course, after flying First Class there, it was obviously a downgrade.

Dinner Service

As with my previous flight, for the main meal service, you have the choice of a Japanese or Western menu. Both have the same amuse bouche, but different first courses, mains, and desserts.

Japanese Menu.

Sakizuke
Deep-fried Eggplant with Grated Yam Sauce / Matsutake Mushroom & Turnip Flan

Crimson Sky 〜Selection of seasonal colorful delicacies〜

• Scallop &Vegetables marinated in Vinegar Sauce
• Chicken Teriyaki / Scrambled Egg / Green Beans
• Simmered Prawn /  Spicy-simmered Konjac / Roasted Chestnut
• Mushrooms dressed with Tofu & Sesame Sauce
• Tuna "Sashimi"
• Béchamel Sauce & Caviar

Dainomono
Beef Sukiyaki with Slow Cooked Egg
Grilled Salmon "Yu-an" Style

Steamed Rice
Miso Soup
Japanese Pickles

Kanmi
Matcha Green Tea Flavored "Ukishima"
〜Ukishima is Japanese style steamed cake made with sweet bean paste〜

There were elements in here that sounded good - scallop! Chestnut! Béchamel Sauce & Caviar! - but overall the menu didn't jump out.

I was sad to see the dessert was matcha based, and thus caffeinated, something I needed to avoid to have any hope of getting some sleep on the flight.

Western Menu.

The Western had an option for the main course (seafood, beef, or vegetarian), but everything else was fixed:

Amuse-Bouche
Deep-fried Eggplant Grated Yam Sauce / Matsutake Mushroom & Turnip Flan

Hors-d'œuvre

• Dauphinoise Potatoes with Truffle
• Pickled Radish
• Lobster rolled with Lardo Sunchoke Purée
• Snow Crab mixed with Celery Root
• Sautéed Lotus Root & Quail

Main Dish (Choice)

• "Wagyu" Beef Sirloin Steak / Burdock Flavored Madeira Sauce /Chicory
• Salmon & Common Orient Clam /  White Wine Cream Sauce / Watercress Purée

Special Bread from MAISON KAYSER

• Petit Pumpkin Ekmek
• Petit Pain de Campagne

Dessert

• Matcha Green Tea & Mandarin Opera

I was tempted by this menu, as I do like lobster and crab, and I actually tried to order the main dish salmon instead of the Japanese main, but alas, I was turned down.  I loved the look (from the photo) and sound of the cream sauce, salmon, and clam!

This dessert also sounded marginally better, but since it too was caffeinated, I had to be careful.  Again, no mix and match.

Dinner Feast.

In the end, I picked the Japanese mostly for the fascinating sounding Béchamel Sauce & Caviar ... as, well, those are delicious things.  I also was able to try both desserts (accidentally), and added on more dessert from the Anytime menu.

The meal was a mixed bag, but, a fun dining experience regardless.

Sakizuke / Amuse Bouche

.

"Deep-fried Eggplant with Grated Yam Sauce / Matsutake Mushroom & Turnip Flan created by Chef Shinobu Namae."

The little starter duo was the same for both menus, and actually sounded quite appealing.  It was served 1 hour into our flight, along with drinks.

Unfortunately, I ... hated it.

The eggplant actually add a smoky (hmm, not fried ...) quality to it that was nice, but the grated yam sauce had a consistency I just couldn't stand.  It was like slime.  So unappealing.

The flan I was particularly excited about, but ... it was bitter, very very bitter.  I know turnips are bitter but it just tasted ... bad to me.  Even the mushrooms on top weren't really enjoyable, and it had a strange layer of goo on top too.

Crimson Sky 〜Selection of seasonal colorful delicacies〜

The first course is a beautiful box full of goodies.  I knew to expect this presentation, but I was still blown away by it.

Along with the box, I had fun origami bird shaped chopstick rest, and soy sauce.

Crimson Sky: Inside the Box.

The presentation inside the box was lovely too, with delicate glass bowls in nearly ever compartment, not just dividers.

Scallop &Vegetables marinated in Vinegar Sauce

.

Well ... I do love scallops, but this one was odd.  I like cold scallops even, but, once I uncovered the scallop, it just looked ... kinda strange.  Sorta ... gray?  I still tried it.  And ... it was just odd.  Fishy in a way I've never experienced with a scallop.  I did not like the scallop.

I did like the marinated onions, basically, pickles, and I like pickled onions.  Tart, sour, and tasty.  Meh to the bell peppers, which is how I feel about bell peppers in general.

Second favorite of the dishes, just for the pickled onions.

Chicken Teriyaki / Scrambled Egg / Green Beans

.

I don't like chicken, but, I do like Japanese eggs, and I do like teriyaki.

And I did kinda like those things.  The egg was, well, cold scrambled eggs, which mostly reminded me of chopped hard boiled egg like you'd get in a salad bar.  I liked it enough.

And the teriyaki sauce, although a cold congealed lump, was flavorful.  I didn't try the chicken, it too was kinda gray though.

Third pick, for flavorful sauce and egg.

Simmered Prawn / Spicy-simmered Konjac / Roasted Chestnut.

This trio was boring, and yet turned out to be my favorite.

The prawn was entirely inoffensive. Not fishy. Not chewy. Cleaned well. Really decent, but, it had no sauce or anything, so was quite plain.

The konjac was ... ok.  Not spicy as advertised, and just not something I really love, texture-wise, and it had no flavor.

The roasted chestnut however was FANTASTIC!  Huge, flavorful, <3 <3 <3.  But I love chestnuts.

So, first pick, for that chestnut, and the decent enough prawn.

Mushrooms dressed with Tofu & Sesame Sauce

.

Well, just like last time, I disliked the sesame sauce.  So close to good, but somehow, just not a flavor that does it for me.  And I do like sesame.

I also was horrified to see pine nuts (sorry, I once got pine nut syndrome, I can't deal with them still).  But there was one little bean-like thing I did like.  Uh ... 4th pick for the bean thing?

Tuna "Sashimi"

I've just been anti-raw fish lately, and this was no exception, although it really was presented nicely, wasabi on the side.  Rather hard to use soy sauce with it though, besides just dribbling over the top.  Least favorite.

Béchamel Sauce & Caviar

.

And finally, the dish I was looking most forward to ...

Well, it turns out, even I, the girl who loves sauces, who loves béchamel ... doesn't really just want cold béchamel by the spoonful.  Or maybe I would if it were better?  Not that there was anything wrong with it, but ... it was just kinda heavy, and I really wanted bread or something to dunk into it.

The caviar ... was flavorless.  I guess 5th pick?

Dainomono

.

"Beef Sukiyaki with Slow Cooked Egg / Grilled Salmon "Yu-an" Style / Steamed Rice / Miso Soup / Japanese Pickles."

The main dish was a duo of proteins, plus a slew more sides.  Again, nicely presented.

I'm not a rice eater, but, this seemed fine, sticky rice style.

Miso Soup.

The miso soup was ... kinda a disaster.  It was lukewarm.  It had a HUGE clump of miso paste just in the middle entirely not mixed in.  Not good.

Slow Cooked Egg.

The slow cooked egg was ... well, a soft egg, chilled.  The whites were very runny, but the yolk was nice.  It wasn't particularly flavorful, and I wanted salt, pepper or something with it.  I kinda used the sauces from the other dishes to help it out.  It was extremely hard to eat with chopsticks.

Pickles.

The pickles were fun - I didn't care for the white vegetable, just not very crisp, but I loved the kelp (?) and the little sour plums.

Beef Sukiyaki / Grilled Salmon "Yu-an" Style.

And finally, the proteins.

The beef was a mixed bag.  The flavor was great, and I did like the onions with it, and some bits were quite tender and nice, but other bits were extremely fatty and others were chewy.  So, some good bits, some not so good bits.

The salmon was ... fine.  Not mushy, not fishy, but also not particularly good.  Not much flavor on it.  I really wished I had been able to order the Western salmon with its cream sauce!

None of this was nearly as memorable as the last time I flew this route.

Kanmi (Japanese Dessert).

"Matcha Green Tea Flavored "Ukishima."

〜Ukishima is Japanese style steamed cake made with sweet bean paste〜"

This was my first encounter with Ukishima.

It was a fairly boring cake, not really flavorful in any way.  Not too dry, but not particularly moist.  It had a layer of generic red bean, and a thin layer of matcha paste.

Not particularly exciting, but the better of the two desserts.  Not worth eating though really.

Western Dessert.

"Matcha Green Tea & Mandarin Opera."

I was accidentally given this, but I didn't object, even though I did stash it away, since I couldn't eat at 10pm when I was trying to go to bed due to the matcha.

I didn't care for it.  Thin layers of dry cake, matcha buttercream, and a mandarin flavored gel.  The buttercream was decent, but everything else, meh.  Basically, not fresh, and not a very quality item.

Ice Cream: Custard Pudding.

Since I couldn't have either of the desserts after dinner due to caffeine, I opted for the custard pudding flavor ice cream then.  I don't think we have this flavor in the US.

Custard Pudding: Top View.

It was a small serving, just served in the Häagen-Dazs container, no additional plating.  Decent custard flavor, and unexpected sweet caramel-like swirl.  If you got a bite with lots of caramel, it was sweet and quite lovely, like an ice cream sundae built in.

I really did like this, certainly more interesting than vanilla, served hard but not too hard.  Basically, a pretty solid option.

Ice Cream: Topped!

I added my own toppings, of course, and paired it with a baked good from the lounge (sssh), and was happy enough with my dessert creation.

Drinks

Wine List.

The first page of the drink menu is dedicated to wine, with a fairly standard lineup of offerings: single champagne, 3 whites, 2 reds.  Nothing nearly as notable as those I had on my first class trip over to Tokyo (hello, Cristal!)

Friedrich Becker ”Doppelstück” Pinot Noir 2016.

"Freidrich Becker is cultivating wines in Germany’s Pfalz region in vineyards that straddle the border between France and Germany, in a completely natural way without using any chemical fertilizers. Becker is widely known as a producer of some of the top Pinot Noir wines of this area. Delight in the nuances of ruby-red cherries and the faintly sweetscent of oak.  ”Doppelstück” 2016 offers you a fresh, juicy palate mingled with an amiable bitterness and lingering flavors of cloves and fruit."

I wanted a white wine to start my meal, but when I looked up the options, all sounded more acidic than I like, and, well, pretty cheap (one $8 bottle, and the others ~$20).

So I went for the Pinot Noir, and it was decent.  Some complexity, not too much tannin, light but not boring.

Sake / Shochu / Spirits / Cocktails / Non alcoholic.

More interesting is the sake, shochu, cocktails, etc list, at least to me, as there are items that aren't on most flights, like, plum wine, and the JAL signature "Sky Time Kiwi" non-alcoholic drink.

Kamonishiki Junmai Daiginjo JAL Original

"This Junmai Daiginjo was brewed exclusively for JAL’s passengers so that you can enjoy just-pressed sake onboard. Savor the mild sweetness and freshness that evoke the best quality fruits, on top of the delicate scents inherent in Ginjo sake. Kamonishiki’s JAL Original sake makes a good marriage with a variety of cuisine thanks to its crisp flavor."

To go with the course of little Japanese dishes, I opted for sake, remembering that I had enjoyed it before.

I enjoyed it again.  Smooth, slightly sweet, and so very clearly alcoholic.  Perfect to pair with the Japanese menu, really.

Anytime You Wish Service

After the main meal service, dining is on-demand, until 2 hours before landing, dubbed "Anytime you wish".

Anytime You Wish Menu.

The "Anytime you wish" menu had a few interesting options too, but nothing spectacular.  It was mostly a lineup of just lighter meals, pasta, noodles, curry, sandwiches, etc.

"Otoriyose" in the Sky
Japanese Jack Mackerel with Steamed Rice & Sesame Sauce

Light Meal

• Colorful Vegetable Salad with Five Grains & Beans Beet Dressing 〜Recommendation for light vegetarian〜
• JAL The Curry 〜JAL original chicken curry super vised by "Hashimoto" in Kumamoto, listed as a 1-star restaurant in the "MICHELIN Guide Kumamoto and Oita 2018 special edition."〜
• Fettuccine Carbonara / Bacon & Spinach

Noodles
Noodles are accompanied by Chinese rice dumpling.

• JAL Original "Japanese Soba Noodles Tsuta" Ramen Noodles in Soy Sauce Soup 〜Please enjoy rich aroma of truffle oil〜
• Japanese Hot "Udon" Noodles /  Edible Wild Plants

Sandwich

• Wasabi Flavored Smoked Salmon Sandwich
• "Sangenton" Pork Cutlet Sandwich

Cheese
Selection Assorted Cheese

Refreshment

• Fresh Fruits 
• Yogurt / Fruit Sauce 
• Häagen-Dazs Ice Cream:Vanilla / Matcha Green Tea / Custard Pudding

I was sad to see the swap from Dean & Deluca ice cream to Häagen-Dazs though, as I loved it so much, but the flavors at least sounded interesting.

The flight lands at 1:30pm, but, it does so after the night, so I usually like to have a breakfast item after getting a little non-sleep.  The only breakfast-like item was yogurt and fruit, which made me quite sad, particularly as I had loved the waffles so much before.

My "Breakfast" Lineup.

Of course, I knew the menu in advance, and came prepared with my own baked goods for breakfast, but I still tried a few menu items when I was woken up at basically exactly 2 hours before landing.  You know, 3.5 hours after I went to sleep, and 4 hours after eating a feast.  Totally time for another meal ...

Colorful Vegetable Salad with Five Grains & Beans Beet Dressing.

"〜Recommendation for light vegetarian〜"

I started with the salad.  

It did have a decent assortment of vegetables, although they weren't really things I like, such as blanched cauliflower and bell peppers.  The lettuce was decently crisp, although almost seemed ... frozen? I think it had been kept a bit too cold.  I liked the pile of colorful shredded cabbage on top.

The grains were decent too, not what I normally want, but they were mostly just crunch and texture, not a dominate item.  I'm not sure entirely what the 5 grains were, but there seemed to be lentils, beans, and some other hearty grains.

Unfortunately, I didn't care for the beet dressing, and it coated everything.  I wished I had asked for it on the side.  I almost asked for another salad without dressing, but, I didn't really need it.  The beet dressing was chunky, thick, tasted like beets, but also just had a flavor I didn't care for.

Overall, probably a decent healthy option, if that is your thing.

Fettuccine Carbonara / Bacon & Spinach.

The most tempting thing on the anytime menu for me was the fettuccine carbonara.  I knew it wouldn't be restaurant quality or anything, but, it was the only real comfort food on there, at least, western style comfort food.

Not that it was appropriate for breakfast, but, the egg and bacon kinda was?

Anyway, it was ok.  The fettuccine was green, I guess spinach, although I didn't taste spinach.  It wasn't mushy, but obviously wasn't fresh pasta.

The sauce was creamy, and that I did like.  The bits of bacon were nice with the sauce, and again, sparked the breakfast thing for me.  There were only ... 6 (?) little bits though.

There were some tasty mushrooms in the mix too, only a few, not listed on the menu.  And ... I think, literally, two pieces of spinach (besides I guess what colored the pasta)?  So not quite what I expected.

Overall, fine, but still airplane food.

Ice Cream: Green Tea.

To round out my breakfast, I ordered the green tea ice cream.

It was funny, I asked if they had any ice cream left, and the FA told me that no one besides me had ordered any, the entire flight (!).  I almost volunteered to just take it all home with me, or at least, a few more, in my vacuum mug ...

This one came straight from the dry ice, clearly, and was rock solid.  Took a while to be ready to eat, but that was fine, as I had my salad, pasta, and baked goods I had brought along to eat anyway.

The green tea flavor was really, really good.  I quite liked it, and asked for a second one, knowing that they had plenty, and it would go to waste.  My neighbor followed my lead and also got ice cream, but everyone else was ordering "normal" food.  Silly people.

Anytime You Wish: Set Menus.

And finally, a choice of Western or Japanese Set Menu, if you wanted something more designed as a full meal.

FUMIKO's Japanese Set Plate
Dainomono: Grilled Mackerel "Yu-an" Style / Boiled Garland Chrysanthemum & Chrysanthemum Petals / Lemon
Soup: Japanese Clear Soup Sea Lettuce, "Fu", Yuzu Flavored Somen Noodles
Steamed Rice Japanese Pickles & Soy-simmered Kelp

FUMIKO's Western Set Plate
Main Dish: Frillice Lettuce Salad with Fricassée of Japanese Beef Sirloin & Mushroom Truffle Vinaigrette
Fig Compote
Special Bread from MAISON KAYSER: Pumpkin Ekmek Smoked Pain de Campagne.
You can enjoy your breads with butter. We are pleased to offer you jam. Please ask your cabin attendant.

Western Set Plate
The following set plate is also available.
Spanish Omelette with Sweet Potato / Tomato Sauce
Iberico Bellota Ham Salad & Caprese Salad / Lemon Dressing
Sweet Corn Mousse with Jellied Crabmeat
Special Bread from MAISON KAYSER: Pumpkin Ekmek Smoked Pain de Campagne

None of these menus really seemed like what I'd want after only 4 hours of sleep, although I was curious why the salad came with fig compote, and the sweet corn mousse with jellied crab (?!) might be interesting.

I didn't see anyone else order these either.