From Traditional Austrian Cuisine to Tasty Experiences with Japanese Culinary

Cooking is a "splendid way of encountering diverse cultures for mutual enrichment", says Thomas M. Walkensteiner. The innovative Austrian gourmet chef will be treating First and Business-Class passengers on long-haul flights from Germany to his exquisite creations as the new Lufthansa Star Chef during the Salzburg Festival in July and August. As starters on the cabin menu, rabbit terrine in layered ‘Baumkuchen’ cake will be served with pickled shallots and carrot mayonnaise or goat cheese pralines with beetroot and walnut dres-sing. The choice of main course runs from wels in horse radish with pumpkin seed oil cream, root vegetables and Paris potatoes to guinea fowl in basil sauce with broccoli, sugared cocktail tomatoes and herb-flavoured gnocchi. As a delicious finale, passengers will enjoy a dessert of shredded Austrian pancake with roast plums or Schloss Fuschl gateau. In-flight fare in Business Class starts off with mushroom aromatised roast beef with chive crème fraîche and bean salad or a main course of spinach bread dumplings with broccoli, oyster and eryngii mushrooms.

The style of the head chef at the two gourmet temples, "Schloss-Restaurant" and ”Imperial“, in the legendary Schloss Fuschl de-luxe hotel on Fuschlsee in Salzkammergut is best described as Austrian-international with a pronounced experimental flair. A one-time pupil of Germany's first three-star chef, Eckard Witzigmann, he interprets in his own special way the traditional, richly varied cuisine characteristic of the Salzburg mountain region. His cooking betrays the influence of his broad professional experience from sojourns in Japan and Thailand as well as later on the Côte d’Azur. A willing innovator, he values modern cuisine as well as the diverse influences of other cooking traditions. Thomas M. Walkensteiner varies his menus, adding spices and aromas for an Asian touch without forgetting the delights of home-cooking from his Austrian origins. In a word, he puts the world in the cooking pot, and very successfully. He sees cooking more as a handicraft than an art. His predilection for healthy, honest products and loyalty to regional custom are hallmarks of his creations. Thomas M. Walkensteiner is today one of Austria’s most prestigious chefs, with a Michelin star awarded in 2008, and three toques and 18 points on a scale of 1 to 20 in the Gault Millau restaurant guide. He has also penned two anti-aging cookery books.

Savouring new tasty experiences on Japan and India routes
Also starting on 1 July, First and Business-Class passengers on flights from Tokyo can look forward to culinary creations from Stefan Moerth, Executive Chef of the Park Hyatt Hotel Tokyo and his kitchen chef lieutenant Kenichiro Ooe. Born in Steiermark in Austria, Stefan Moerth is a stickler for basics: only the best ingredients make for particularly tasty dishes is his credo. His kitchen is renowned for its use of an array of exclusive, regional ingredients from the surrounding islands, which are produced under natural organic conditions. Kenichiro Ooe is a master of Kaiseki cuisine. He has also cooked for the Japanese imperial family. Besides his Japanese creations on Lufthansa flights from Tokyo, the Japanese chef will also furnish Japanese menus for flights from Germany to Japan.

Come July, First and Business-Class passengers on flights from India to Germany will be savouring in-flight food from the culinary repertoire of Farman Ali and Surender Mohan. Both chefs work in restaurants run by the Indian Leela Group luxury hotel chain. They are devotees of traditional Indian cooking, with the accent on a host of regional specialities from the area between the Himalayas and Mannar. Indian dishes on Lufthansa flights from Germany to India will also originate from their cuisine.

Lufthansa Star Chefs programme
Lufthansa passengers have been on a high in the world of haute cuisine since the launch of Lufthansa's Star Chefs programme in January 2000. Imaginative menus in the skies from chefs at the pinnacle of the world's cooking fraternity have turned their flights into truly heavenly delights. To date, such international celebrities as Harald Wohlfahrt (Baiersbronn), Dieter Müller (Bergisch Gladbach), Daniel Boulud (New York) or Paul Bocuse (Lyon) have been engaged to provide savoury star-chef menus in the aircraft cabin. Additionally, since early 2005, internationally renowned chefs from elsewhere on the world map have been serving special in-flight fare, focusing on regional specialities on selected long-haul routes to Germany.