Pop-Smile Popcorn from Taiwan

Yes, I love snacks, I love popcorn, I love trying unique things from around the world.  Like, Pop-Smile popcorn, from Taiwan.  Have I been to Taiwan?  Nope.  But our monthly snack box subscription featured exactly one item from Pop-Smile, and I was thrilled to try it.

"Established in 2006, Taiwan Smile Food has became one of leading manufacturer in Asia.  By using premium raw materials and non-GMO corn, we have already developed nearby 100 irresistible flavors and export to worldwide customers."

Taiwan Smile Foods carries products under their own brand, Pop-Smile, but they also produce for private labels, including even 7-11 and Costco in Taiwan.

Bagged Popcorn.

Our item was a signature item from Pop-Smile: pocorn!

Pop-Smile produces popcorn in a variety of formats, such as big buckets, boxes, stand up bags, standard bags, and even individual cups.  They make oil popped and air popped varieties.    They carry common flavors like salted, butter, caramel, cheddar, and kettle.  Slight interesting sweet options like chocolate, strawberry, or hazelnut chocolate.  Savory such as seaweed, chili cheese, sour cream & onion, hot & spicy.  Premium options like Peanut Butter Chocolate, White Chocolate with Strawberry Sprinkle, Caramel Pretzel, Rocky Road, and Salted Caramel.  And then ... unique flavors such as cafe latte or caramel macchiato, banana, grape, or mango, coconut milk, sesame milk, or bubble tea, and ... um kimchi, wasabi, tomato, tom yam, curry, corn soup, garlic shrimp .... I think you get my point.

Um, yeah.  Milk tea popcorn?  Tom yam popcorn?  I was fascinated.  Our box had a pretty fascinating flavor picked out for us: Sweet Egg Yolk, provided in a little bag.

I couldn't wait to try it.

Sweet Egg Yolk Flavored Popcorn.

Egg yolk, as a sweet item, is mostly known to us in the US only as a base for custards and rich pudding or ice cream, not as the featured core flavor.  But in Asian countries, egg yolk shows up in  many more forms, such as the places I've seen it before, inside moon cakes.  But on popcorn?  This was a first for me.

It was really, really unique.  Certainly not "eggy", but it did taste strongly of egg yolk, like shaved, cured egg yolk I've had on top of dishes at higher end restaurants trying to innovate.  It was fascinating.  

The kernels were really well coated, sooo much flavor to them.  They were savory, but also quite sweet, as sugar is the third ingredient, after the corn itself, and oil is is popped in.  They also had a cheese power and soy sauce in the coating, adding to the savory element, and MSG to keep me going back for more.

I think I really liked this.  We needed a bigger bag!

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Castronovo Chocolate

Castronovo is a luxury, small batch, chocolatier based in Florida.  The product range includes a few other chocolate based items, such as caramel pralines, or chocolate honey, but for the most part, they keep it simple: bars only, no mix-ins, single origin.  They make a number of award winning chocolates.  

I tried a bar when a friend brought it to our office.  It wasn't the variety I'd select on my own (100%) but it was fun to try, and I can see the quality behind it.  I'd gladly try another of their dark (but 100%!) chocolates, or even their white chocolate, as they seem to take that seriously too.

Honduras Lost City 100%.

I couldn't find out much about this bar, as it is not listed anywhere on their website, clearly a small batch item (although the Honduras 72% is available).

So I just dug in.

I was shocked by how smooth it was, particularly for a dark chocolate.  No grit to it, just incredibly, incredibly smooth.  The mouthfeel was lovely.

And the flavor?  Well, intense.  It is a 100% bar after all.  Bitter, bold, deep flavor.  I detected notes that almost reminded me of something a bit burnt, but not entirely unpleasant.

I enjoy trying 100% bars, and this one was certainly one of the most smooth I've ever tried, but 100% is not my goto chocolate ...

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QF 74, SFO-SYD

Flight Details:

• Flight QF74, SFO-SYD
• Aircraft: 747-400
• Departure: 8:35pm (scheduled)
• Arrival: 6:10am (scheduled)
• Seat: 5J

Cabin & Seat

I like the Qantas seat, for sitting, more than most.  Lots of adjustments you can make, to recline, leg rests, etc. I found it pretty easy to find a comfortable seated position.

For dining too, it isn't bad.  The tray table slides in reasonably close.

That said, the seats have very, very little storage or usable space, besides a water bottle holder.  Or, at least, most of them have very little.

For sleeping though, it was fairly awful.  The style that slides flat, but doesn't have structural support at the foot, and, being an older aircraft, it wasn't capable of staying straight any longer.  Flat, but very sloped.  It was also rock solid, with a very very thin pad provided for sleeping, no real mattress.  And it was fairly narrow.  So for sleep, one of my least favorites.

So, great seat for awake time, horrible for sleep.

Main Business Cabin.

The main business cabin is quite large, a 2-3-2 layout, fairly old school in that it doesn't have direct aisle access for all guests.  The smaller mini cabin in front where first class used to be looked more intimate, but still, seats all in pairs.

There is also an upper deck cabin, with better storage space at window seats, but again, all pairs of seats.

Besides the window seats on the upper deck, the seats have essentially no in-seat storage, besides a well under the seat in front of them where you can put your shoes, and a small magazine rack.

5J: Exit Row.

But there are two special seats on this aircraft, the window seats in row 5.  This is the area where the old first class and business class meet, and also, where the emergency exits are.

The seats are unique in many ways. For one, well, they have all the legroom in the world, due to the emergency exit.  The crew member jumpseat is in this area during takeoff and landing, but otherwise, its just wide open.

Note that the bathrooms are all to the rear of the cabin, as is the galley, so there is no foot traffic nor people congregating in this area either, in front of it is just the smaller mini cabin.

5J: Storage!

But more importantly, these seats are ... singles.  Yes, there are exactly two single seats on the entire aircraft.  And instead of a neighbor, you get storage space, a huge compartment that latches, and a large second compartment that is open.

While these seats do not have a foot well to store your shoes, and they would be even better if the seat was adjacent to the window instead of the aisle, they really are fantastic if you are traveling alone and do not wish to be sleeping next to a stranger, and, if like me, you want to keep stuff at your seat.  I really appreciated the space (and privacy).

 Amenities & Service

A pillow and blanket were waiting at our seats, with a very thin cover already on as a "mattress".  Definitely the thinnest mattress pad I've seen in years.  The blanket was a decent size, but thin and scratchy.  And the single pillow was a surprise, I thought most airlines gave two these days.  The bedding was highly lackluster.  Minus some points here.

Welcome drink of champagne, orange juice, or still water only.  I asked for sparkling water and was denied.

Women's Amenity Kit.

Amenity kits and pajamas handed out as we settled in, featuring a colorful design of fairy bread, which I'm sure was lost on many travelers unfamiliar with this classic Australian treat.

Pajamas the same for all, amenity kits specialized for men and women.  Size Medium and Large only were offered for pajamas, with a basic long sleeve t-shirt and lightweight cotton pants.  The pajamas were comfortable enough, soft, but the pants lack pockets so are never worth keeping for me.

Amenity Kit Contents.

Amenity kits had the basics, ear plugs, an eye mask to match the case, toothbrush, Aspar lotion and lip balm.  Nothing special.

Cuisine

Since this was a later evening departure, the meal served was super, not a full dinner, with real appetizer course.  Breakfast was served prior to landing.

Dinner Menu.

Dinner menus were waiting at the seats, although I had already pre-ordered my selection a week in advance.  I didn't want to miss out on my first choice!  Orders were confirmed, and taken for those who hadn't pre-ordered, about 20 minutes into the flight.

The first two options (cheese or soup) are listed as the "Sleep Sooner" items, served as soon as possible, so you can go to bed right away.

Main

• Selection of cheese served with accompaniments.
• Tomato and basil soup with crème fraîche. 'A robust soup made from ripe tomatoes which have been roasted to deepen the flavour of the soup, garnished with basil and crème fraîche. This dish is best enjoyed with a glass of light bodied white ie Riesling or Sauvignon Blanc."
• Warm salad of mushrooms with sweet potato noodles, fried eschalots and ground roast rice. "Assorted mushroom varieties are stir fried with sweet potato noodles, carrot, baby spinach, capsicum and SESAME then presented on Romaine lettuce leaves that are dressed in a lime and coriander vinaigrette. Garnished with crispy eschalots, roasted rice and fresh herbs. This dish is best enjoyed with a glass of light bodied red ie Pinot Noir."
• Toasted Reuben sandwich on rye with sauerkraut. "A classic New York recipe of rye bread layered with corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Dijon mustard. Toasted and served warm. This dish is best enjoyed with a glass of medium bodied red ie GSM."
• Seared salmon with potato purée, broccolini, leek, broad beans and romesco sauce. "Pan seared steelhead salmon is served with a creamy mashed potato, leeks braised in butter and bay leaves with broad beans and asparagus spears. Topped with a Catalan inspired romesco sauce made from roasted capsicum, tomato, chilli, HAZELNUTS, ALMONDS and extra virgin olive oil. This dish is best enjoyed with a glass of full bodied white ie Chardonnay."
• Malay style chicken and green bean sambal with steamed rice, coriander, and crispy eschalots.

Green leaf salad with Neil's vinaigrette.

To Finish:

• Selection of cheese served with accompaniments
• Baked chocolate, almond, and coffee tart with date cream
• Ice cream
• Seasonal fruit
• Chocolates

Mid-Flight

• Smoked leg ham, swiss cheese, tomato and rocket sandwich
• Bacon and egg tart with slow roasted tomato and caramelized onion relish
• Whole seasonal fruit
• Oat cookie with chocolate ganache
• Boulder Canyon kettle chips
• Chocolate bars

Nothing particularly exciting, although the bacon and egg tart, available anytime, did sound interesting, or, at least, the slow roasted tomato and caramelized onion relish did!

The dessert line up made me particularly said, since I didn't want caffeine before trying to sleep on the flight, and the one real dessert item had not only chocolate, but coffee too.  Darn, because the date cream sounded good!  Ice cream on flights is always enjoyable, but I knew Qantas serves only vanilla, no toppings, and just Häagen-Dazs.  Luckily, I came prepared ... more on that soon.

The back of the menu listed the drink lineup, basic spirits, beer, "Australian wine" with no details given, "soft drinks" (again, no details, not even what brand), "juice" (yup, no details).  I was a bit annoyed that they didn't even list the brand of soft drinks?

The wine and food were mediocre.

Chardonnay, Shiraz, Sparkling Water.

Wine was served from a cart 45 minutes into the flight, along with an offer of the salad with vinaigrette and two types of bread. Two whites (chardonnay, sauvignon blanc) and two reds (Shiraz, something else). My FA was very clear that the shiraz was the winning wine of the night.

I skipped the salad and bread since I had eaten a fair amount in the lounges, but did ask to try both a white and red wine, opting for the chardonnay at her suggestion since it was less acidic, and of course, that shiraz).

The chardonnay was ... fine?  It was a little bit apple cider tasting, and not particularly buttery as I hoped.  But, it wasn't acidic, and that is what I asked for.  It made me miss Air New Zealand wines.

The shiraz was served really, really cold.  As cold as the white wine.  I was glad to have the white to sip on while I waited for it to warm up a bit and open up.  Once it did, it actually was big and bold, and not really my style.  Again, I missed the Air New Zealand wines.

Warm salad of mushrooms with sweet potato noodles, fried eschalots and ground roast rice. 

"Assorted mushroom varieties are stir fried with sweet potato noodles, carrot, baby spinach, capsicum and SESAME then presented on Romaine lettuce leaves that are dressed in a lime and coriander vinaigrette. Garnished with crispy eschalots, roasted rice and fresh herbs. This dish is best enjoyed with a glass of light bodied red ie Pinot Noir."

I had no idea really what to expect with this dish.  But, I love interesting mushrooms, and the crispy eschalots and roasted rice did sound interesting.  The sweet potato noodles and lettuce though, I wasn't particularly sure about.  Since I ate in the lounges and just wanted something light, I figured this would be fine, if I hated it, I'd at least eat a few vegetables.

It was somewhat what I expected, although, I was sad that the mushroom certainly did not play a staring roll.  There were mushrooms, sure, but they were not the focus of the dish.

The romaine lettuce base was decently crispy, but it was very irregularly dressed, some pieces were coated in the viniagrette, others were fairly bare.  There was also fresh herbs in the mix, mint which I liked, but then also tons of parsley.  Too much parsley.  So, fairly sloppy construction.

Above the lettuce was the sweet potato noodles and stir fried vegetables.  I didn't really care for the noodles, soft, slimy things.  The baby spinach and capsicum were negligible but added good flavor.  I didn't detect the carrots nor sesame.  The mushrooms though ... while more dominant than the other veggies, were certainly lost among all the noodles and lettuce.  I did like what I found, slices of meaty mushrooms, and some slimy enoki.  But, there wasn't nearly as much as I wanted.

On top was delicious crispy eshalots, that I gladly would have taken more of.  In fact, I added some wasabi peas from the lounge on top to give it more crunch.  I have no idea where the roasted rice was, I certainly didn't find that.

Overall, this was fine, but not great.  I didn't really care for the noodles, I wished for more mushrooms, and I wanted a different dressing, perhaps something soy based, or sweet chili, or even creamy.

Eh.

Vanilla Ice Cream.

As I mentioned, the dessert lineup was particularly sad for dessert loving me, just a caffeinated tart, or plain ice cream.

Always Prepared!

But I knew this, and I came prepared.  With toppings for the ice cream.  Yes, I carry them in pill bags.  My drug of choice.

I brought lots of toppings: candied walnuts, sprinkles, white chocolate chips, crunchies.

Sundae!

This was much better, but it was still just mediocre plain vanilla ice cream.

Baked chocolate, almond, and coffee tart with date cream.

I also accidentally ordered the tart.  I was asking for a chocolate "bar", to keep for morning to have alongside my coffee (such a good pairing! I do this every day!), and got the tart instead.  Oops?

I thought the date cream would be great to add to my sundae though, but, alas, it was awful.  The texture was really odd, it was strangely grainy, and I didn't like the flavor.

The tart shell was super sweet and a hard style.  Not buttery really, not shortbread, just, hard sweet tart shell. Eh.

I stashed the tart away to have alongside coffee in the morning, which, I gleefully did.  The chocolate layer was basically a thick, smooth ganache,  I did not taste almond nor coffee, and the actual packaging said "Chocolate wattleseed tart", not "Chocolate, almond, coffee tart", so I'm wondering if it indeed wasn't the almond coffee one.

Either way, the ganache was good, thick, rich, chocolately, but this wasn't a particularly remarkable item.

Breakfast Order Card.

Breakfast order cards collected while still on the ground.  I appreciate the increased sleep time by pre-ordering, but I always struggle with deciding what I'll want that far in advance.  Maybe I *would* be in the mood for cereal or yogurt?

The menu was the same as my previous Qantas flights, with continental selections of muesli, fruit, yogurt, toast, croissants, and a breakfast pastry (apple crumble danish this time), and three hot items, two egg based, one hot carbs.  You can also choose to not be woken at all, no express option offered this time.

Drinks

• Orange juice
• Apple juice
• Pressed juicery cold pressed green juice with celery, cucumber, kale, parsley, and ginger
• Coffee and decaffeinated coffee
• Hot chocolate
• Dilmah Tea (Jasmine green, peppermint, oolong, chamomile, earl gray, ceylon ginger, english breakfast)

Continental Breakfast

• Fruit salad
• Yoghurt
• Brookfarm macadamia toasted muesli with cranberries (with low fat or full cream milk)
• Toast
• Croissant
• Apple crumble danish
• Berry jam, marmalade, honey, vegemite.

Full Breakfast

• Free range scrambled eggs with Applewood bacon, pork sausage, and roast tomatoes.
• English muffin with smoked salmon, poached eggs, baby spinach, and chive sour cream.
• Ricotta pancakes with caramelised berries and maple syrup cream.

Breakfast Tray: Pancakes, Danish, Coffee.

Since the flight was schedule to land at 6:10am, and I hadn't been really into any Qantas breakfast items before, I opted for just a danish and pancakes, to try them out of curiosity, but planned to have real breakfast on the ground.

Breakfast was served just over 2 hours away from Sydney, starting at the back of the cabin, so I had plenty of time from when the lights went on to when I was served to go put in contacts and stretch a bit.

Coffee:
The regular coffee was very watery.  It wasn't bitter at least, but it also just tasted like nothing.  In the bottom of my cup was sludge.

I moved on to decaf, and it was clearly instant, tasted stale, and not really like coffee.

Note to self: bring my own coffee in the future, or just wait until I land.

Apple Crumble Danish.

I knew not to expect a quality baked good on the flight.  The danish was decent enough.  Served warm, which I appreciated.

The pastry wasn't fresh, flaky, buttery, amazing croissant dough or anything, but it was sweet, not stale, not dried out.  On top was a bit of cream, and thin sliced apples, with plenty of cinnamon.  I didn't find the "crumble", and I didn't actually want apples, but the pastry and cream, plus the toppings from the pancakes, made an excellent treat alongside my tart.

Ricotta pancakes with caramelised berries and maple syrup cream.

The pancakes themselves were not very hot, hard around the edges, not fluffy, and basically, what you'd expect from thin reheated pancakes.  They did have a decent base flavor, but, eh.

The berries were tasty though, sweet stewed little blueberries, strawberries, and blackberries.  Warm, sweet fruit.

And then, the cream.  It wasn't whipped cream as I was expecting, it was a thicker, clotted style cream, a bit of a strange consistency, and not really "maple" as advertised, although it was sweet.  I didn't love it, but I did like it, particularly with the fruit and pastry and ganache.

So, in the end, I had pastry + warm stewed fruit + cream + ganache tart, and enjoyed it enough.  Nothing was great, but it got me through the morning.

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