The national carrier of the Sultanate of Oman has scooped the Readers’ Choice Award in the magazine’s annual Culinary Travel Awards, beating many of the biggest names in global air travel.
Announcing the award, Saveur magazine said:
“The traditional Arabic greeting of dates and coffee is just the beginning of a dining service that focuses on the essential details that make a difference at 40,000 feet. It certainly set the right mood for our readers, who selected Oman Air’s first and business class dining as their favorite in 2014.”
Oman Air’s Chief Executive Officer, Paul Gregorowitsch, added:
“We are delighted that our First Class and Business Class inflight cuisine has won the praise of Saveur’s readers. Oman Air prides itself on the extremely high standards of our inflight dining.
“Our menus change regularly and reflect both the length of the flight and the national cuisine of our destinations. They also focus on seasonal ingredients, prepared and cooked by the best chefs in the industry. Each course is served with full-size china and glassware, elegant cutlery and attentive service from our staff. We believe that we offer the best dining experience in the skies and we are extremely pleased that so many of Saveur’s readers agree with us. I would like to offer each of them my thanks for their support.”
Saveur’s readers were particularly impressed with Oman Air’s long haul dining, with the daily Heathrow to Muscat route being singled out for praise. The magazine’s description of First Class dining on this route includes a starter of caviar and champagne, followed by canapés, appetizers such as a winter pumpkin and apple soup, and entrées such as poached fillet of beef, Loch Fyne salmon, pan-fried sea bass and saffron risotto with grilled asparagus.
Saveur also highlights “a wonderful Arabic meze with traditional kibbeh, tabbouleh, spinach fatayer, olives, and labneh with fresh mint, followed by king prawn kebab, steamed chickpea rice with pine nuts, and seasoned okra.”
Saveur magazine has a circulation of 325,000 and draws nearly two million unique visitors to its website every month. It offers readers information about food in all its contexts, emphasising heritage and tradition, home cooking and real food, and evoking flavours from around the world.
Coverage of Oman Air’s success in the Readers’ Choice category of the Culinary Travel Awards can be found at http://www.saveur.com/content/culinary-travel-awards-2014-winners-best-in-flight-dining-first-business-class.
