Asian cuisine chimes perfectly with today’s culinary trends and as consumers increasingly recognise the region’s cultural complexity, the variety, versatility and health benefits of the food tick many boxes.
Southeast Asian foods in particular are having a bit of a moment, with the global enthusiasm for K-pop music and K-beauty moving the spotlight onto Korean cuisine and the popularity of Asian films and television bringing Vietnamese and Filipino cultures to the world’s attention too.
Asian condiment makers all report strong sales of products such as sriracha from Thailand, Chinese chilli crisp oils, Japanese-inspired rāyus and miso, and Korean doenjang and gochujang; with zesty yuzu, spicy Sichuan pepper and sweet char siu sauces also on the up.
Such sauces are used across Asian cuisine to add layers of flavour and depth. Many get their character from a long, slow fermentation process, and their popularity mirrors the growing demand for fermented kimchi, kefir, kombucha and miso soups, widely promoted for their health benefits.
Purists will recoil at some modern mash-ups: the Vietnamese pizza, the birria ramen (mixing Mexican stew with Japanese noodles), Korean bulgogi tacos, sushi burritos, ramen carbonara or pizza dumplings, but these unlikely fusions do at least help consumers experiment with new flavours via familiar comfort dishes.
Complex cuisines
In more authentic offerings, Vietnamese pho and dumplings have gained popularity and banh mi (a kind of Vietnamese short baguette) are making their mark. Authentic or not, the plethora of Chinese, Thai and Indian takeaway and ready meals available along the high street shows these tastes are widely embedded worldwide.
Singapore-based SATS Food Solutions put Asian cuisine at the forefront of its WTCE activities this year, bringing chicken balti duo pies, spring onion chicken with noodles, green curry vegetables with rice, a signature satay, dhal curry, payasam (an Indian dessert) and a vegetable jalfrezi lattice to the show, as examples of its Asian innovations. Stanley Goh, CEO, says: “We provide food services to over 130 international carriers, nearly half of which are Asian airlines, so we understand the complexity and diversity of Asian cuisines and how to replicate their authentic taste at 30,000ft. We tap into the regional culinary expertise of our production network in China, India, Japan, Singapore and Thailand to produce globally popular authentic Asian meals.”
Maintaining quality
To ensure consistency across all kitchens, SATS launched a digital platform called the Culinary Knowledge Base to standardise the preparation and cooking processes of the dishes and share knowledge. Goh adds: “Our capability lies in finding valuable solutions. For example, Asian cuisines often include broth or gravy, which can affect food quality or pose challenges during uplift. We offer solutions that allow the menu to maintain the taste and texture of the original dish.”
Mohammad Farran, General Manager at Bangkok Air Catering (BAC), reports a strong movement toward authenticity, wellness and sustainability across the Asia Pacific region. He says: “Passengers are looking for meals that tell a story — dishes rooted in local culture, made with regional ingredients, and presented with a modern touch. Our focus is on delivering culinary excellence that reflects the spirit of Asia — vibrant, diverse and evolving — and to help build stronger passenger experiences through menu differentiation and innovation.”
Constant evolution
There is rising demand for functional and health-conscious menus too, such as low-carb, high-protein, plant-based or immunity-boosting dishes, and Farran sees sustainability and traceability as a key priorities. “Airlines and passengers alike are asking where ingredients come from, how they are sourced and what impact they have on the environment.”
In response, BAC partners with local farms and suppliers across Thailand for fresh, traceable ingredients, and tailors menus to meet both global and local expectations, for example integrating Thai superfoods, herbs and spices into modern preparations that appeal to the palates of international travellers.
Farran adds: “We emphasise balanced menu engineering so every dish maintains flavour integrity and quality even after reheating onboard. Introducing new ingredients, techniques, or health-driven recipes means constant testing and adaption to ensure optimal results at altitude. This pushes our chefs to continuously evolve, experiment with flavour stabilisation, and refine textures and aromas that work well in the cabin environment.”
A collaboration with Bangkok Airways integrated regional Thai ingredients and culinary traditions but modernised recipes to suit the inflight environment, while maintaining ‘authenticity and soul’. Chefs drew on the delicate balanced flavours of central Thailand and the bold, aromatic profiles of the north and south.
Quality over quantity
At dnata, Robert Smithson, Head of Culinary, Catering & Retail Australia, notes a further trend: “We’re seeing a clear shift to ‘quality over quantity’. Airlines are moving away from offering more for the sake of volume and focusing on crafting smaller meals with one or two ‘hero’ premium ingredients. By focusing on the centre of the plate, we can highlight provenance and preparation and deliver something that really feels elevated. We can celebrate local produce and ingredients that are in season.”
To achieve this, his team works to a ‘paddock to plane’ philosophy, liaising with its supply chain months in advance to ensure products they want to use are sustainable and available in volume when needed, and they chose ingredients as close to their source as possible.
Smithson adds: “As Asian food becomes more familiar to the western palate, and with younger generations being more adventurous, we see more Southeast Asian flavours incorporated into menus. Meat and potatoes in Economy are being replaced with aromatic dishes designed to provide surprising alternatives. Our Asian carriers stretch from Japan and South Korea down to Singapore and Malaysia. Each brings its own food culture. For one airline, that might mean miso soup or ramen broths, for another, it’s Korean bibimbap. In Southeast Asia ingredients like fish sauce, palm sugar and sambal are staples and these flavours work well at altitude and reheat beautifully.”
At dnata’s Singapore catering facility, adjacent to Changi Airport, around 20% of the 20,000 meals prepared each day feature Chinese cuisine, while other Asian cuisines account for 10%. Singaporean passengers often choose Japanese, Korean and Thai dishes while travelling because of their novelty compared to widely available local favourites.
Dim sum, for example, is a classic Chinese staple, typically associated with Cantonese cuisine. The bite-sized dishes can be savoury or sweet, and are frequently served with tea. Packed with flavour and varying in texture, the dnata team says dim sum lends itself well to elevated dining in the air.
Melvin Ho, Executive Sous Chef at dnata in Singapore, explains: “All our dim sum is made freshly in-house each day — about 1000 to 1200 pieces daily. We have about 10 different types of dim sum in production including Shanghai dumplings, as well as prawn toast and deep-fried dumplings.”
The team prepares all these by hand, individually filling, shaping and, where necessary, expertly crimping the edges. A dim sum specialist with around 20 years experience can make two to three pieces a minute, on average.
Served on the day of production or the next day, the dim sum is heated onboard. Using cabbage leaves during that process helps ensure that the pieces do not stick together.
Chef connections
While Asian street food regularly makes a buzz on social media, for some airlines it is high-end restaurant collaborations that count, especially for premium cabins. China Airlines, for example, says its partnerships reflect a commitment to high-end quality.
It has partnered with MoonMoon Food, the seven-time Michelin Bib Gourmand-listed restaurant and healthy broths specialist, and also with upscale vegetarian restaurant, Yang Ming Spring, for a new menu prioritising health and ‘a pure dining experience that is both surprising and satisfying’.
For Japanese cuisine, it partners with Taipei’s Toutouan, the only overseas-certified branch of that top Tokyo restaurant; and its new Skyward 3-Stars Private Cuisine menu is a collaboration with Le Palais (the only three-star Michelin restaurant in Taiwan) and features menus inspired by Taiwan’s first Michelin-starred chef, Ken Chen.
A partnership with MIPON, a Michelin one-star restaurant at the Grand Mayfull Hotel in Taipei, brings classic Taiwanese dishes onboard.
Similarly, Korean Air, complete with a refreshed logo and livery has reimagined and elevated its inflight dining experience across all cabin classes in collaboration with Chef Saekyeong Kim, who is renown for his acclaimed fine-dining restaurant, Cesta, in Seoul.
Culinary refresh
The general theme of the airline’s culinary refresh is towards offering more seasonal fine dining onboard and including a range of classical Korean dishes that have been reimagined with a modern twist. The F&B refresh team has also prioritised using locally-sourced Korean ingredients whenever available.
One Korean staple served in all cabins is Bibimbap, Korea’s unofficial national dish, which is very popular and has cooked rice as its base. It comes in several guises and can include salmon, octopus, brisket and doedeok (wild mountain root). The dish is completed for onboard service with a helping of gochujang (Korean chilli pepper paste).
Attention to detail
The focus on specific ingredients reflects the attention given to culinary detail. The rice used in Korean Air’s First class cabin, for example, is ‘Baeksemi’, a premium, patented brand of short-grain white Korean rice with a sticky texture that makes it easy to pick up with chopsticks.
For First and Prestige (Business) classes, an expanded multi-course service features refined amuse-bouches (for example, tuna tacos, lobster with mango salsa, and caponata and chickpea with feta cheese) and main courses like Korean grilled Spanish mackerel, grilled beef tenderloin with red wine sauce, and braised beef brisket bibimbap. There is also a new range of crafted desserts, including artisanal Petit Fours.
Other new Korean dishes in Prestige include octopus multigrain rice, abalone rice bowl, and sinseollo (royal hot pot), radish bibimbap and mushroom rice bowls in autumn and winter.
The enhanced Economy options feature bibimbap variations with salmon, spicy octopus or pork, beef bulgogi and braised pork and kimchi with rice. These sit alongside global trend dishes like tofu pad thai, spicy stir-fried eggplant, and rosé pasta.
The new menus – some of which are available as pre-orderable meals – include seven types of vegetarian dishes and a Korean vegan meal.
The airline also worked with Inha University Hospital to incorporate clinical guidelines for conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease into its special meals.
Hand-held adaptations
Asian flavours are also finding their place in hand-held products and second service items.
David Helm, Director, Asia Pacific, at En Route, says: “Airlines increasingly embrace local culinary cuisine as a way to connect travellers to place and culture. They want to go beyond generic ‘international’ options to offer authentic tastes, ingredients and the spirit of the region. We leverage our partnerships in Australia and Asia to adapt our hot hand-helds, frozen entrees, bakery, ambient snacks, desserts and cheeses to meet customer preferences whilst adhering to regional legislated compliance requirements.”
The team partners with Farm2Plate in Thailand and believes that by producing locally, in region, a broader, more cost-effective range can be offered without significant import restrictions or distribution cost.
All its meals and snacks in Asia are produced in predominantly halal-certified facilities. Newest to its bespoke range are baked pepper chicken bao buns – translating a familiar regionally-loved flavour into an airline ovenable format that feels culturally relevant and comforting. Further baked bao buns – with char sui pork and honey soy chicken – will launch onboard soon.
