Scoot had a flash promotion on Facebook on 8 October 2020 where they were promoting their rather similar-sounding Scoot@Home dining experience – a delectable dining package for one created by a panel of Awesomely Talented Airline Service (ATAS) chefs, paired with a humbly curated snack and bottled still water. Hmm, sounds like something worth S$288 on another airline. However, instead of being able to buy the Scoot@Home dining experience, one has to win it as only 10 sets are up for grabs.
To participate in the contest, one has to convince Scoot in the contest post on how much you’ve missed flying with Scoot. I decided to join for fun, posting my previous article on recreating my Scoot in-flight meal from NTUC FairPrice, and surprise surprise, I was one of the ten winners chosen by Scoot! Hello, free lunch!
At about 10am, a Scoot team including an actual cabin crew, also known as Scootees (I miss hearing this announcement), came by to deliver my Scoot@Home dining experience based on my order via Facebook Messenger the previous day.
There was a choice of Nasi Lemak with Chicken Rendang, Roasted Chicken Thigh with Herbs de Provence, Soya Chicken Rice with Pak Chye, and Vegetable Briyani.
Screengrab of Scoot’s website.
I opted for what I usually order for an in-flight meal on LCCs, which was Nasi Lemak with Chicken Rendang.
And I think I might have figured out what kind of supply deal was struck between SATS Food, Scoot, and NTUC FairPrice, though I’m not 100% confident yet.
My Scoot@Home dining experience came in a rather proper casserole as compared with the plastic-sealed retort ones available pre-COVID. It has a 4-hour shelf life, as compared with the 3-month shelf life for the plastic-sealed retort ones.
So like what the Scootee told me, “This is fresh, so please eat it by 1pm.”.
This is the exact same one served on board actual Scoot flights during this COVID era.
So my guess is, Scoot might have changed their catering orders to only fresh food, and order it from SATS as and when needed, so as to not waste any stock with the few passengers they have every day. And then SATS went to sell or consign their retort boxes to NTUC for the dishes that Scoot decided not to take up during this period.
The Scoot@Home dining experience came with a congratulatory note, and a small throwback on how everyone misses travelling.
Click here to see my list of documented Scoot flights. That’s proof of how staying on the ground is a change in lifestyle for me.
Just like the SIA@Home dining experience, Scoot provided a hardcopy of the reheating and plating guide along with my rare in-flight meal.
Rare as in difficult to find, and also in a way being uncooked, since I needed to pop the casserole in the microwave.
Plus, all dining ware was included and I needn’t get a top-up to purchase dining ware. That’s an S$888 package right there.
Some Scoot stickers and notepads were also included to make my experience more yellow.
Here’s my Scoot@Home dining experience, The Nasi Lemak with Chicken Rendang Menu, after being heated up, and the MyEureka Caramel Popcorn opened.
The new and fresher Nasi Lemak with Chicken Rendang (worth S$12) was coconuttier than the previous version where you had to slice the plastic off the flimsy rectangular box.
The rendang sauce also had pecah minyak which goes very well with the coconut rice.
There was a dollop of sambal by the half hard-boiled egg. This was sufficiently spicy, though I had it more with the egg than with the rice, since the rendang sauce was pretty good.
I’ve never had the MyEureka Caramel Popcorn before, so this is a first for me. The MyEureka Caramel Popcorn (worth S$5) was nicely crunchy and sweet, which is perfect to sell in a plane since the taste wouldn’t be affected that much. Thankfully, the meal pairing was with a POLAR Natural Mineral Water (worth S$2), so it went down pretty well without the taste being affected by other sweet drinks.
As usual, my rating for this on-the-ground inflight meal is described in this empty casserole.
Well done again, Scoot and SATS Food.
Looks like we’re in the era where low-cost carriers do better in-flight meals than full-service airlines. (Sometimes I do leave meal items untouched like bruised vegetables, even on Singapore Airlines.)
Thank you Scoot for this exclusive Scoot@Home dining experience! I really wish I can have another in-flight meal soon where I voluntarily pay the S$12 on board, and I land in another country without travel restrictions or repercussions.
You know, you should really try selling these meal sets in Changi Airport Terminal 1 one fine day to see what the public thinks of in-flight meals on the ground. I will be there to buy more of it if you do.
P.S. Crowne Plaza Changi Airport has been doing very affordable takeaway and drive-thru Bentos since the Circuit Breaker period.
I feel for airlines in these times as many of them won’t be around when borders are fully opened again and I mean ‘fully’.
The current travel bubble proposed with Australia is a joke. Testing at our expense, 2 days hotel quarantine then 14 days hotel quarantine ( at our expense ) when we arrive back in Australia. No thank you.
I miss flying Sydney – Singapore with Scoot and look forward to doing it again. Sydney check in staff are great. One thing I haven’t done for years now is to fly back with Scoot. Their Changi staff are the pits. We always jump the border spend some time in Malaysia and fly back from KL.