Müller Dairy

Update Review, 2022

After several pandemic induced years of not traveling to Europe, I finally returned in May 2022 to Munich.  While I was there, in between eating all the Kaiserschmarrn I could, I also took the opportunity to try some more of the products from Müller, conveniently stocked in the microkitchens in my office.

Reis (Rice)

"Müller Rice gives you the power to get the most out of your day. Delicious creamy rice paired with delicious real fruit or indulgent, confectionary flavours such as Salted Caramel and Chocolate Hazelnut make for a delicious Rice pudding dessert. A delicious and low fat way to bridge your hunger gap, anytime, anywhere. Muller Rice Pudding can be eaten cold or heated up in the pot!"

Ok, I'll admit that I forgot that I had tried several of the Müller rice puddings when I was in London before, and found them kinda lackluster then.  So when I saw them in the microkitchens in my Munich office, I just got excited, as, well, I love pudding, and rice pudding in general.

In addition to plain, the rice pudding is available in several fruity flavors (apple, strawberry), plus cinnamon or chocolate varieties.  I didn't try a fruity one, but did opt for the others.

Schoko.

The first flavor I tried was the "Schoko", or, chocolate.  I had it cold.

I was quite surprised when I opened it up to see a pale white/yellow base.  For some reason, perhaps the chocolate forward label, I was expecting it to be chocolate pudding (rice pudding obviously), not plain.  Not that I have ever had actual chocolate pudding as a base of rice pudding, but that is what my brain was expecting for some reason.  The chocolate was there, just, as swirls.

Schoko: Top View.

The base pudding had a rather ... plastic and fake taste to it.  What you'd expect from a generic packaged product.  The rice was al dente, but not in a good way.  The chocolate swirl was at least decent?

This was certainly a letdown, but, perhaps expected for a generic packaged product?  I think with enough jazzing up - fresh fruit added, or perhaps cinnamon and chocolate chips, or perhaps heating it up it might be ok, but it certainly wasn't good as served.

*+.

Plain.

After the letdown of the chocolate, I'm not sure why I tried the plain version, given that the failure of the chocolate really was the base rice pudding.

The plain version was actually considerably better, although still not great.  The rice in this one was a bit softer, not mushy, but not oddly al dente like the previous.  The base flavor was still pretty fake and plastic like, and it was very plain, just, sweet.  Still, for some reason, without the chocolate (that wasn't bad on its own), the base bothered me less.

Overall, definitely not something I'd get again, but, I added fresh fruit and cocoa nibs and enjoyed it enough, unlike the chocolate, which I actually ditched.

**+.

Cinnamon.

Wow.  I seemed to have saved the best for last.  And, kudos to me for not giving up and trying more flavors.

The cinnamon flavor was everything the chocolate version wasn't.  While the base was still plain, and the cinnamon came in swirls like the chocolate, this one was loaded with swirl.  Soooo much cinnamon.  The cinnamon masked the slightly plastic flavor that was dominant in the others, yet wasn't overpowering cinnamon.  

The rice was well cooked (not too soggy, not too crunchy), it was creamy, it was sweet, it was just, well, tasty.  Topped with fresh sliced strawberries and whipped cream it made a wonderful treat.

***.

Update: I had another, and this time, I heated it up (in the toaster oven, because my oven was already hot and I had a ramekin handy).  It was even better!  The flavors balanced out, and it got a film on top that I really liked.  Soooo good warmed up.  I'd gladly have another that way. ***+.

Yogurt

Müller makes several yogurt lines, I only trie done.

Froop

"Perfect variety for sweet fruits: Müller Froop is now available in many new varieties and with a refined recipe. On your spoons, get set, go!"

The Froop line is available in 12 flavors, many of which sound great.  All are fruity of course.  All have a plain base, with fruit layer on top (rather than fruit on the bottom as we see in the US).  They also make a "botanicals" line, with fruit + botanicals, like orange ginger or apple elderflower. 

I wish I'd been able to find more of these, as I really enjoyed the one I had.

Mango.

"Don't be stingy with the charms: Müller Froop Mango doesn't care much about restraint, but seduces with a full fruity taste. It's nice that you can then sink into the fresh yoghurt."

What is it about yogurt in other countries that makes it just so much better?  Or at least, I enjoy it so much more.  The base yogurt to this was smooth and creamy, not thick Greek yogurt, but not runny, a nice texture, clearly full fat, luxurious.  While it was sweet, it was also plain, and the flavor wasn't artificial tasting, like many in the US.

And then the fruit layer, which I honestly thought would be kinda gross, sorta an odd mango gel, but even that turned out delightful, vibrantly mango flavored, and again, not fake tasting.

I added chopped kiwi and fresh mango to this and enjoyed it as much as a pudding based dessert, but, for a mid-morning snack, and it didn't feel like I was going something rebellious.  I'd love to try more flavors.

****.

Original Review, 2019 Tastings

Last week I reviewed a few items from Emmi, a Swiss dairy producer that sells all over Europe.  This week brings another brand brand, Müller, the largest dairy producer in the UK.  Anyway, yadda yadda, Müller started in Germany, expanded rapidly, super successful, yadda yadda.  In addition to supplying 30% of the UKs milk, they also produce cream, yogurts, puddings and other dairy based desserts, and the like, along with butter.

When I was in London my office had some of their items stocked in the microkitchens, and I was pretty thrilled to have easy access to pudding at all times.  Really, why does my office have only yogurt here in the US?

Müller Corner

Müller Corner is a line of yogurt products, each with a separate side corner to mix-in (hence, the produce name).  The "Corner" range breaks down further into Fruit Corners (with the side corner filled with fruity compotes), Crunch Corner (with crunchy toppings like chocolate flakes, biscuit bits, and the like), Corner Creations (with not one, not two, but 3 different toppings to mix-in), and finally, Corner Skyr (made with Icelandic Skyr yogurt and granola mix-ins).

"Mmmh… Crunch Corner, that creamy yogurt you love, with a crunch on the side! Will you go for Vanilla Chocolate Balls? Or maybe Strawberry Shortcake? Actually, Banana Chocolate Flakes is yum too… Is it OK to try them all?!"

I only was able to try one Crunch Corner, but I love the concept, and would gladly try more. 

Corner: Dessert Inspired Banoffee Pie.

Banoffee!!!  I love banoffee, and definitely rarely get to enjoy it as its pretty rare in the US.  Even though I knew this product was yogurt, and not a real dessert, it was "dessert inspired" and had a mix-in corner filled with crunchy white chocolate balls, so, um, healthy yogurt this was not.

The yogurt itself was ... well, yogurt.  Runny style, very sweet, with a caramel banana flavor.  Not something I'd really want on its own.  The crunchy white chocolate balls however were awesome, much like crispearls if you've ever had those.  They added a creamy-sweet-crunchy element to it.

Was it banoffee?  Absolutely not.  What it lacked most of all was a whipped cream topping, as the banana and caramel were captured well with the yogurt flavor, and the crispy pearls did a decent job of mimicking the crumble biscuit base.  It was still clearly yogurt, not pudding or custard.  But for a yogurt?  It really was quite enjoyable, and what's to stop me from putting whipped cream on top of yogurt after all?

***+ for uniqueness and crispy things.

Müller Rice

Stepping away from dessert-pretending-to-be-yogurt, and closer to real dessert, is the rice pudding line, Müller Rice.  Müller also makes a protein enriched version.

"STOP grab your spoon and listen, when hunger is grabbing your attention choose Müller Rice it's nice and creamy, with fruit that’s light and dreamy. #RiceRiceBaby"

The rice comes in several fruity flavors (strawberry, apple, raspberry), plus chocolate or custard, in addition to a classic original.  I tried several.  All have instructions for serving chilled or warmed.

Creamy Dairy Rice with Vanilla Custard.

"This ones for all the custard lovers out there… .  Delicious creamy rice with an underlayer of bangin' Vanilla custard flavour sauce. Certified by Tasty B. It's the ultimate hunger-beating comfort food. "

The first one I grabbed was the vanilla custard version.  I was pretty excited for this, as I love a good rice pudding.

The rice pudding layer was good - really creamy, nice vanilla flavor.  The custard however was not very good, really quite runny.  Luckily it was all at the bottom of the pot, so I was able to avoid it for the most part.

So, great creamy vanilla rice pudding, but the part I was eager for, the custard, was a letdown.  I only tried it chilled, but I'd love to try it warmed up as well.

*** overall.

Strawberry Rice Pudding.

"Tasty B's number 1 hit is Strawberry Müller Rice. Delicious creamy rice with an underlayer of bangin' Strawberry sauce. Certified by Tasty B. It's the ultimate hunger-beating comfort food."

Next I tried the strawberry one.  Somehow, the rice pudding layer was totally different.  It was runny and didn't have a very good flavor.  The vanilla one from the custard version was considerably better.

But just like the custard one, the weaker element lay beneath the rice pudding, in the strawberry sauce layer.  The strawberry sauce was just crazy sweet goo.  I hated the strawberry sauce.  Think of all the bad American yogurts you have had that have sauces you mix in, and, well, that is exactly what this was.

I tried to work around the strawberry sauce and just get some rice pudding, but even that was not very good.  Do not recommend!

**.

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Fillings and Emulsions, SLC Airport

Airports.   Definitely not where anyone expects to find good dining, let alone high quality desserts and baked goods.  And yet, I found just that, in the Salt Lake City airport of all places.  At a little shop next to a Panda Express (which, don't get me wrong, I do kinda love, but, isn't exactly setting a high end vibe).

Now, my "discovery" wasn't exactly accidental.  I did a brief amount of research when I saw that I'd have a very short connection in the Salt Lake City airport, and one place, Fillings and Emulsions, sprang right to the top of the list.  While it was fairly new in the airport, the main location, in downtown Salt Lake, somehow had a perfect 5 stars on Yelp, even with nearly 1000 ratings.  That doesn't happen by fluke.

I looked at the online menu for Fillings & Emulsions, and I was totally and completely sold.  I knew that my layover must include a stop there.  Of course, things went awry when my inbound aircraft was very delayed, and I feared I wouldn't make my connection at all, let alone not have time to seek out the goods.  I still managed to literally run from one plane to the other, with a <2 minute stop to pick up goodies at Fillings & Emulsions (miraculously, no line!).  I really wished I could have had a bit more time to actually browse and make better decisions, but I was thrilled I succeeded at all.  I also had no time to even snap a photo of the shop, sorry, but, they had beautiful patisserie style glass displays, and everything, really, everything, looked as good as I had seen online.  Again, I say, it does not look like it belongs in an airport food court.

I don't even care much for macarons, but I was even tempted to try theirs - the unique flavors and fillings alone made them worthy of a try.  And of all things, they seemed most likely able to survive a bit of transit.  The savory creations also really called out - puff pastry wrapped hand pies, in a variety of flavors, including their play on a cubano.  If I had any extra time, I would have gotten one of those - I'm certain it would have been better than my onboard meal.  I didn't think I had the time though, as they weren't a grab n go item.  With a bit more thought, I also probably would have picked one of the viennoiserie, because, zomg, they had a dulce de leche stuffed cruffin, guava cream pastries, kouign amann ... literally, all the best things, but, it was late in the day, and I wasn't sure how fresh they'd be by then.  Those items also seemed maybe a bit too messy to eat on my flight?  And then there were the stunning tarts (I know, not what you normally hear me rave about, but, they had beautiful torched meringue!), and custards (flan, pots de creme, panna cotta) ... and cheesecakes, and individual cakes.  OMG.  The custards were my top choice, but, alas, they weren't available for a quick grab either.

My choices were fairly odd ones for me, but, I made very rushed decisions, opted for the quick to grab items, and also wanted items that would keep a day or two if I needed (I had a cooler bag with ice packs with me of course!).  My treats were beautiful, and they definitely got the attention of the flight crew and my seat mate, all of whom wanted to know where on earth I got such elaborate creations.   I liked them, and could certainly tell the quality of the bakery, but I'd like to visit again and pick items that I'd be even more likely to enjoy.  You know, next time I'm in the Salt Lake City airport ...

Petit Gâteaux

The Petit Gâteaux section of the menu is perhaps the most extensive (besides the slew of unique macarons that is).  Most of the items had caffeine - a beautiful triple chocolate mousse cake, a chocolate decadence (flourless chocolate cake with chocolate mouse!), classic tiramisu, or a double chocolate roll, and I didn't want caffeine to make my impending jetlag even worse, so that limited me considerably.  

Interestingly, it was one of the roll cakes that called out to me.  Yeah, a roll cake.  The girl who never really cares for cake (I mean, its fine, but, why ever pick cake when there are other dessert options?).  Oh, and to make it even more surprising, the roll cakes are all gluten-free too.  Why would I gravitate towards that?  Roll cakes come in 3 flavors: the aforementioned double chocolate, a pineapple yuzu one, or, the one that jumped out at me, the tres leches.  I assure you, this was no standard tres leches though.

Tres Leches. $6.30. 

"Tres Leches soaked gluten free sponge, rolled with homemade strawberry preserve wrapped in Chantilly cream. Glazed and topped with torched meringue and white chocolate."

As I mentioned, I don't normally go for cake, particularly when there were soooo many great other options, but, this looked really good.  I was definitely drawn in by the very generous strawberry and chantilly cream filling, and the mirror glaze and white chocolate ... and I had been craving tres leches randomly.

I liked this, but, it wasn't quite what I was expecting.  First, I really didn't get much tres leches vibes from it.  The cake was moist, and there was lots of cream elements, but, I  wouldn't have recognized it as a tres leches, as it lacked the strong signature sweetened condensed milk element. The cake was fairly average white cake, but at least didn't seem gluten-free or have an odd consistency as can often happen with gluten-free items.

The strawberry element was strong - this really was a fruity dessert.  While it was a thin layer, the strawberry preserves inside was quite sweet and fruity, and definitely the dominant flavor.  The cream inside was also lightly strawberry flavored, and I think the glaze was too? You needed to be in the mood for strawberry to enjoy this.  

I liked the white chocolate decoration and crispy balls, but mine didn't seem to have any of the described torched meringue?  I think that would have been a nice element.

Overall, this was good - cream, cake, fruit all fine - but not remarkable, and I really wanted some actual fresh fruit with it.  Far above average for a roll cake, don't get me wrong, but not extraordinary.  ***+.

Cheesecake

Fillings and Emulsions offers up 3 cheesecakes, none of which are remotely traditional.  In fact, they do *not* have a standard, simple, plain New York, nor Italian, nor even a trendy Basque cheesecake.  Nope, the cheesecakes are all quite elaborate, and very much not plain.  I do like cheesecake, but, I'll admit that none of them sounded very good to me.  Perhaps it is because I had just had cheesecake a few days prior, but mostly, because the options were not ones I was that drawn by: chocolate raspberry (I like both these things alone, but, rarely as cheesecake), passionfruit key lime (I love passion fruit, but, usually it winds up pretty fake tasting, and I really don't care for key lime), and, key lime (again, key lime).  But the key lime cheesecake is their top item, a signature, and I decided to just take a gamble.  I was getting two items after all, if I hated it, hopefully the tres leches would still work out?

Key Lime Cheesecake.  $6.55.

"Lime cheesecake wrapped in key lime pie filling, glazed and topped with Meyer lemon gelee and Chantilly cream. The number one seller."

Even if I don't like key lime, and even if I didn't really want cheesecake, I mean, look at this!  Again the glaze, the chantilly cream, the elaborate decoration!  What a beautiful item.  And, from an airport?  I mean, really.

The whipped cream on top looked a bit much, but actually was a nice balance to the rest of the dessert.  The crispy pearls were obviously a stunning decorative element, but they also added to it, I liked having the bit of crunch too.  The cheesecake actually had no real base, just a very thin layer that I barely noticed, and so these were really the only not creamy element.  While I don't love graham cracker bases used in traditional cheesecake, I did find myself wanting something for texture, something other than just different cream and rich elements.  I think a macadamia or coconut based crust would go wonderfully with the lime ...

Speaking of the lime, yes, there was no doubt this is a lime based dessert.  The gelee wrapping it, technically Meyer lemon I guess, was very strong in the slightly sour, slightly acidic, slightly tart, standard citrus realm.  Meyer lemon usually is a touch sweet and more tart I thought?  This really tasted more like lime, or regular lemon, to me.

Key Lime Cheesecake: Inside.

And then, inside, more lime.

In the center, the cheesecake.  It was smooth, it was creamy, and it was very much lime cheesecake.  I somehow thought the center would be perhaps regular cheesecake, and that I'd taste more of the cream cheese aspect, but, this was very lime-y.  Good lime cheesecake, but yes, very lime.

Around the cheesecake, almost hard to notice that it was a separate component, was another lime layer, the "key lime pie filling".  More creamy lime-ness.  Perhaps a touch more curd-like, a touch less cream cheese, but pretty similar in both flavor and consistency to the cheesecake.

This item was basically lime on lime on lime.  Cream on cream on cream.  It was good, but, much like the previous one you had to want strawberry, this one you really had to want lime.  I enjoyed it more once I added some fresh blackberries to bring a bit of balance.  I really did want some kind of texture too.

I probably wouldn't get it again as I'm not wild about lime, but it was a really nicely made item, and I liked it more than any other lime dessert in memory.  ****.

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Nagoya Sushi, Orlando

Nagoya sushi is an award winning sushi restaurant in Orlando.  "Most Authentic Sushi" and "Best Innovation in Orlando, Florida Area", are some of their accolades.  

"A specialist in innovative sushi creations, the award-winning Nagoya Sushi will delight your eyes and palates with sushi rolled into beautiful works of art. Elegant and cozy, the restaurant welcomes you with an extensive sushi bar and kitchen menu as well as seasonal specialties. Using the best and freshest ingredients available, the master chefs pay great attention to detail in preparing each dish. Complemented by warm and friendly service, you will find a satisfying dining experience awaits you at Nagoya Sushi."

Reviews on Yelp at least seemed to match the rave reviews, and although the menu is Cheesecake Factory style long, with just about everything ranging from the expected classic sushi to cooked Japanese entrees and a slew of totally ridiculous sounding rolls, people seemed to like most things.  And the fish quality seemed high, which surprised me given the menu breadth.  Sorry if I question that a place actually has quality fish when they have about 60 different kinds of rolls, with names like the "Ecstacy Roll", the "Orgasm Roll", the "Mexican Bubble", the "Sweet Sixteen" ... you get the point.  Elaborate rolls, with a slew of ingredients and sauces, toppings and strange shapes, many deep fried.  You know the type.

I was skeptical, but, when I was in Orlando for a conference and wanted some stuff to go with lunch, I decided to give it a try anyway.  I ordered on Door Dash, and it was easy to order, and the food came quickly.

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• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
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• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
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• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]

I enjoyed the items I got, and would order again if I was ever back in Orlando, and I'd even be willing to try some of the actual sushi.

Salads

As I mentioned, Nagoya has about 60 types of rolls on their menu, but really, every portion of the menu is quite extensive, including even the salads.  House salad, seaweed salad, cucumber salad, those are standard, but, then there are some more interesting ones, like baby octopus, jelly fish, or kimchi and conch, and I'll admit, I was curious about the "Tuna Cha Cha" with baked tuna, tempura flakes, caviar, and "seafood sauce" ...

This section also included items like edamame, pickles, and kimchi.

Oshiko. $8.

"Assortment of Japanese pickles."

I threw the order of pickles on to my order at the last minute, but I'm glad I did.  I love pickles of all kinds (I grew up in a pickling family!), and I'm always excited to try new ones.  I'm not entirely sure what all of these were, clearly daikon, cucumber, and carrot, but they were all crisp, tart, and completely satisfying.  I don't know if Nagoya makes them in-house or not, even if not, I still really enjoyed them.  Lovely color assortment too!

****.  I'd definitely get again if I was craving Japanese pickles.

Spicy Krabmeat Salad. $8.

"With cu and caviar."

Next up, the Spicy Krabmeat. 

I knew this was going to be krab, yes, with a 'k', as in kani, crab stick, not real crab, but, I really like that too, and thought it sounded great to have to throw on my poke-like salad for lunch the next day (with the pickles too!).

I was pleased with this order too.  It was basically just a mound of shredded krab stick, I guess with some spicy sauce, but it wasn't particularly spicy to me.  I still liked the krab flavor, and it had some fantastic crispy tempura bits on top, that I absolutely adored.  It ate quite well as a mound like this with the crispy bits, particularly when I drizzled it with spicy ponzu, and it worked great as I hoped thrown on top of a poke-like bowl (kale base, diakon, corn, Japanese pickles, wakame, ginger, furikake, ponzu, spicy aioli, etc).  I also think it would be really, really good just scooped up with taro chips.

The only area it fell short is in expectations: description said it came with "cu and caviar". Cu?  I think "cu" is, um, "cucumber", as this came with a few batons of cucumber on the side?  They were fine, but didn't really round the dish out in a way that made sense to me.  I'm not sure about the caviar either, I didn't find any in it.

I quite enjoyed this, both in its served form and on my own poke bowl creation.  I'd get it again too.  ****.

Grilled Octopus. $14.

"Grilled octopus tentacles on a bed of salad with our house yuzu sauce & dash of togarashi."

The dish I was actually most excited for, as I was really craving octopus, was the grilled octopus salad.  The octopus wasn't particularly warm when it arrived for delivery, but I quickly put it back in a hot pan and warmed it up.

The base was fresh juicy crisp iceberg, along with two fresh cucumber slices, and a juicy tomato.  Not exciting exactly, but they are what made it a "salad" after all, and seemed good quality.  The yuzu sauce/dressing that coated the salad was fantastic - lightly sweet, nicely tart and acidic, extremely strong yuzu flavor.  The dressing made the flavors in the entire salad just pop beautifully.

And then, of course, the star, the octopus.  It was nicely cooked, not rubbery, and beautifully charred.  Super easy to eat, cut into bite size bits.  I was impressed with the high smoky nature of it, many places that specialize more in this style of food don't manage to get that smoky quality so high, and yet, this sushi place, did?!

Another dish that just ate really well, and was nicely prepared.  And yes, another one I'd get again.  ****.

Sauces

If you know me, you know I'm such a sauce girl, so I was thrilled to see that Nagoya had a big list of sauces available on the side, ranging from hot sesame oil, to extra ginger, to honey wasabi sauce (!), and many, many more.  I used restraint, and tried just a few, but I was glad to have them to accent my meal.

Spicy Ponzu & Eel Sauces. $1.15 each.

The spicy ponzu was, well,  ponzu?  Light, slight soy flavor, slight tartness.  It accented the krab salad quite well, and, although it didn't really need it as the yuzu dressing on the octopus salad was plenty flavorful, I did also enjoy dunking some octopus bits in it.  It wasn't as spicy as I was hoping however, but, good standard ponzu it was.  ***+.

The eel sauce I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but it was thicker, slightly salty, slightly, um, eel like?  I guess? A strong umami flavor.  Again, good to drizzle over other things I had, although not necessary.  I was glad to have it left over for other uses too.  ***.

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Delta First Class, SLC - MCO

I've only flown with Delta once before, in July 2022, when I cheated on my usual Jet Blue, and tried out Delta on board their brand new A321 Neo for my San Francisco to Boston journey to visit my family.  I wasn't particularly impressed with the seat, the experience, the food, but, just a few months later, I had the choice of basically United or Delta, and opted to give Delta another try, for a shorter, less premium route: Salt Lake City to Orlando.

Flight Details

Flight Number DL 1016

Departure: Salt Lake City SLC 5:35pm

Arrival: Orlando MCO 11:53pm

Length: 3 hours 45 min

Aircraft: A321

My flight was on an older A321.  Fairly standard domestic older style First Class, wide recliners, 2-2 layout, 5 rows.  The seat wasn't particularly comfortable, the padding clearly had seen better days.  But otherwise, the flight experience was quite smooth - we boarded quickly, pushed back a bit early, and had a smooth flight, with a friendly flight attendant.

Food & Drink

There were no pre-departure beverages offered, besides mini bottles of water at our seats.  Once underway, the FA passed through confirming our pre-orders (and taking orders for those who hadn't), and taking drink orders.  A snack basket came through right after "Snackies! Pre-dinner snackies!", the eager FA called out.  It made me giggle, really.  The snack basket had the standard lineup: plain Miss Vickie's chips, pistachios, granola bars, and wafer cookies.

Sparkling Water, Red Wine.

To go with my meal, I opted for the red wine (Imagery® Cabernet Sauvignon) and sparkling water, remembering that I did kinda like the cab on my only other Delta flight.

The wine came in a can, but was poured for us by the FA.  This seems far more practical than opening big bottles on smaller flights like this.  It was decent enough, better than average airline wine really.  A bit of complexity, a bit of tannin, slightly grapey, not much acid.  I was happy to drink it, but wouldn't necessarily go out of my way to purchase it.

***+ for an airline wine, probably *** in general.

Dinner Menu.

The meal served was dinner, a choice of two hot or one cold option.  Since this was just a mid-length flight, they didn't have the fuller 5 dish lineup that my San Francisco to Boston flight did, but at least we did have pre-order available so I reserved in advance.

The menu was a bit of a mixed bag for me.  Well, the side dish was a no-brainer - zomg, burrata!  But the main I was pretty torn on.  I didn't want chicken breast, but, the Asian salad actually sounded fine, and likely to be decently on the flight, but it came with a side of pineapple, not the burrata, so, that was out.  The vegetarian selection was surprisingly not a token pasta, but rather, an Indian dish, a full line up with sides including mini naan (and the same burrata salad that came with the short ribs, which, is a bit of an odd pairing), although ... chana masala isn't my top pick of Indian food.  I thought it too might be fine on a plane, an easy dish to reheat.  And then the short ribs, with risotto, which didn't call out at first as I don't really care for risotto or short ribs actually, but, the Swiss chard and figs sounded pretty good.  Figs and burrata ... now that I could get behind.

Meal Tray.

The meal was served all at once, on a tray.  The dessert, a cookie, the same for everyone, really does look a bit tacky and out of place in its wrapper.  Salt and pepper are provided, and, randomly, what looked like a lime wedge?  We all got that wedge.

There is no bread service on the non-premium routes (not that the bread on my transcon was good, but I liked the butter!).

Starter: Burrata Salad.

"Served with a side salad of burrata, candied sweet potatoes, harissa, cashews, and microgreens."

My dish, and the Indian one, both came with a burrata starter.

The burrata was actually really quite good.  It was served perfectly ripe, and at the right temperature.  It burst with gooey deliciousness when punctured.  I rather think I likely lucked out, but, hey, I was happy nonetheless.  The portion was a very reasonable size.  While JetBlue serves a *much* bigger bulb, this one seemed far more appropriate.  The only qualm I have is that I think it needed a drizzle of oil, and it didn't have that, nor did we have any provided (so, JetBlue wins on that front, as they provide little individual bottles of decent quality olive oil with meals).

So, the burrata itself, shockingly good.  The rest of the dish was fine too - the cubes of sweet potato didn't necessarily taste candied as described, and I wasn't really sure how they went with the burrata, but it was nice to have some kind of carb with it, and they did add a slight natural sweetness (although the figs from my main dish went much better).  The cashews were slightly soft, which wasn't a problem, but again, they felt like a bit of an odd pairing.  Nuts and cheese is normal, but cashews and burrata?  Candied pecans would make more sense, at least in my head.  And harissa?  Eh?  I think this accompaniments likely made more sense when eaten together with the Indian entree, which also had this side dish.

I made some perfect bites with crackers I had brought, the perfectly gooey burrata, and figs from my main, and was very, very satisfied.  It paired beautifully with my wine.  So, the burrata itself, ****.  The overall dish, ***.  My perfect bites?  ****.

Main: Braised Beef Short Rib.

"with butternut squash and sage risotto, wilted rainbow Swiss chard, and roasted figs."

I was glad I pre-ordered, as by the time the FA got to my row (4), she had run out of this, actually, she ran out at the first row.  Um ... really?  Anyway.  My neighbor had pre-ordered the Indian dish, so I got to see that too, and it looked decent.  Same with the Asian salad the woman across the aisle had - yeah, just a salad, but it had a nice mix of ingredients.  All looked decent enough, which surprised me a bit.

My dish was warm, but not piping hot.

The short rib itself was nicely cooked, tender, not dried out, flaked easily.  I did quite like the bit of jus/gravy/sauce that came with it.  I enjoyed a few bites, but, that kind of beef isn't really what I crave, but if you like stew meat/short ribs, I think this was very nicely done. ***.

The risotto was really just moist plump rice.  Certainly not a real risotto.  It had very few cubes of butternut squash.  And it tasted, well, funny?  Sure, there was sage, but there was another taste to it that I truly did not like.  *.

The Swiss chard, likewise, tasted, for lack of better term, funny.  It was bitter, and it was greasy somehow.  The mouthfeel was all wrong.  It also seriously lacked seasoning, although the provided salt and pepper helped.  The greasy nature of it though I couldn't get past. *.

And the final element, the best part of the dish, the figs!  They were soft and stewed, and had some of the yummy sauce, and went well with both the beef, and in particular, the burrata.  The figs and burrata, with some of the jus, was just fantastic. ****.

So overall, definitely a mixed experience.  I had a salad and some cooked veggies with me that I had instead of the swiss chard, crackers that I added as a carb, and really did enjoy my burrata/figs, but, the meal as a whole wasn't particularly great. **+.

Dessert: Bell's Chocolate Chunk Cookie.

Dessert is definitely the weakest point of the Delta menus, while the transcons at least have some fairly mediocre cakes, mid-length flights like this just have a packaged cookie.  Cookies are good snacks, or good as part of a dessert, but I don't really consider a dessert of their own, particularly at dinner time.  No worries, I had amazing goodies from Fillings & Emulsions in the SLC airport with me (review coming soon!).

I did have the cookie the next day at lunch, and I'll admit, it was a decent cookie.  Nice distribution of chocolate chips, soft, and it didn't taste overly processed or stale.  Not particularly buttery nor decadent nor remarkable, but, really not bad.  Better than most packaged cookies actually.  ***+.

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Koja Kitchen Food Truck

Koja.  Korean + Japanese.  I'll admit, I didn't understand the name, or I guess, take time to think about it, until I went to write this post.  I've been familiar with Koja Kitchen, a, yup, Korean and Japanese fusion restaurant, for a while.  They have many outposts in the Bay Area, including one in the Westfield Mall food court, and, the one I visited, at Spark Social, a local food truck park. 

"KoJa (aka Korean-Japanese) is a special gourmet sandwich infused with a unique combination of Korean & Japanese flavors. To step it up a notch, KoJa Kitchen substitutes the traditional wheat buns with freshly made crispy garlic rice buns. 

We take what is best of both cuisines and reinvent them in a way that is fun and delicious to eat for our KoJa Kitchen fans."

Koja has been around for a while, and, the signature dish, the koja, which they describe as "Like a burger, but better. Your choice of protein served between fried garlic rice buns", definitely was unique when it burst onto the scene.  I've nearly tried it several times, but it just never made it to the top of my priority list.  Until now.

Truck Menu.

There are many food trucks at Spark Social, and many are busy, but, Koja was by far the busiest.  The line was constant.  I was there with a very large group, part of a work outing, and nearly everyone wound up at Koja at some point, even after having gone elsewhere.  Orders did take a fair amount of time to be ready, but, they were busy after all.

The menu features the signature Koja dominantly of course, but there are a slew of other options, ranging from rice bowls to tacos to salads, and of course some korean fried chicken and other sides.

Spam Masubi. $5.45.
(No Avocado).

"Avocado, bacon, egg tamago, unagi sauce, rice, nori."

I actually ate at another food truck for lunch, but, decided at last minute to at least get something from Koja.  While I do really want to try a koja sometime, I wanted something smaller, as I'd already had my main meal.  I opted for just a masubi, available in one kind only: spam ... but with bacon, avocado, and egg.  I had them leave off the avocado however as I'm allergic.  

The masubi was more of a traditional style than others I've had lately that are more burrito style, with a rice base, a slice each of spam and tamago, a slice of bacon cut in half, and a nice drizzle of unagi sauce.  The bacon looked flabby and entirely not the style I like, but I still eagerly dug in.

This was ... just not very good.  It wasn't bad I guess, but it certainly wasn't special.  The rice was just rice.  Not particularly well seasoned, not particularly good in any way.  The spam was fine, but, it is just spam.  The tamago was more like just a slice of a regular American breakfast omelette, and the bacon, yup, flabby and greasy and not my style.  I did like the unagi sauce.

Overall, mostly mediocre components, and they didn't combine together all that well.   Perhaps this would make a great hungover breakfast bite, if you really want the bacon and eggs vibe?  It was also pricey at $5.45, at least compared to Sushi Taka, where it is only $3.50 (although, granted this has bacon and usually avocado as well).  I actually really like the Sushi Taka one, and this was many levels below that.

**.

No Photo

Kamakaze Fries. $9.89.

"Crisscut waffle fries, minced korean bbq beef, kimchi, red sauce, japanese mayo, green onions."

Several of my co-workers ordered the "kamakaze" fries, and they looked glorious.  A huge, huge pile of waffle fries, loaded with toppings and sauces ... and, luckily for me, they were willing to share.  I didn't get a photo since I wasn't planning to steal their food, but, once they offered ...

The kamakaze fries were great.  Crispy, battered waffle fries, an excellent base for tons of toppings.  They tasted fresh and weren't oily.  Good waffle fries.  

But really, this dish was about the toppings.  Whatever the "red sauce" was, it was fabulous.  I think gochujang based?  Slightly sweet, slightly spicy, very tasty.   A bit of Japanese mayo (the best mayo!), and flavorful bbq beef, and, well, delicious.  Sorta messy to eat with your fingers, but, I didn't really mind, given how delicious they were.

I'd definitely get these again, although, really, a dish meant for sharing, or, just making your main meal.

****.

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