Eating onboard DrukAir [On the plane]

DrukAir, the national airline of Bhutan owned by the Royal Bhutanese Government, flew its first plane in 1983.  For a tiny airline with a tiny fleet of four planes (three single-aisle Airbuses with three seats on either side of the aisle and a single-aisle ATR with two seats on either side of the aisle – I’ve heard of the ATR but never sat in one before!), the inflight meal is not too shabby.
For the inbound flight to Paro, there was a choice of Indian vegetarian and the usual omelet and sausage for breakfast.

I picked the Indian vegetarian, which consisted of Indian naan with potato and chilli.  A week before the flight, I read an article in the newspapers about how seasonings for onboard meals are perhaps increased by 40% compared to food on the ground as passengers’ taste buds are less sensitive in the dry cabin air.  But I have to say that the amount of salt added to the Indian naan was unexpectedly high that I could not bring myself to finish half of the portion.  The potato and chilli that came with the naan was oh-so-spicy I had to wash down the heat in my mouth with first the muffin, then the croissant, the fruits and finally the yoghurt.  I have to admit though that my natural preference for food is not spicy food.  So perhaps it’s just me who found my breakfast too salty and too spicy.
I liked the yogurt that came with breakfast, and the orange plastic cutlery that made breakfast cheery :)

 After the brief stopover in Kolkata, a snack box and drink was served.  
The sandwich was passable, but I didn’t like the dry crumpy chocolate cake.  The sweet lychee drink saved the rest of the flight.

 

Due to the peculiarities of Paro Airport’s location, all flights into and out of Paro had to be done by noon.  Hence the outbound flight from Paro served breakfast.

Again, there was a choice of Indian vegetarian and the usual omelet and sausage for breakfast.
Having learnt my lesson on the inbound flight, I picked the omelet and sausage although I had just eaten two boiled eggs at the departure lounge which the hotel had prepared.

Thankfully the omelet, sausage, tomato and potatoes this time were relatively bland.  I thought it odd to serve pasta for breakfast, but I ate most of it anyway, as I had not seen pasta since I stepped on the inbound flight to Paro.

 

The muffin, croissant and yoghurt were again reliable breakfast staples, but I felt that the jam and butter from India weren’t as good as those Australian jam and butter that are usually served on Singapore Airlines.  Perhaps my taste buds have been conditioned far too long by the same brand of Australian butter that I eat by the tub.

The Indian vegetarian came with curried chickpeas which I kept snitching from the next passenger because how often are chickpeas served in the air?

 

Meals onboard DrukAir were not fantastically good, and in all honesty, would pale in comparison with bigger airlines, but I’m not complaining.  The portion and variety of items on the tray are good enough for me :)