Breakfast on board an aeroplane has to be my least favourite meal of all. Usually one is presented with scrambled egg or an omelette. That’s not the name of the dish on the menu of course. It will have whatever trendy name the hipsters have deigned it to be called this season.

Usually this egg dish is urinal cake yellow, resembles a well used kitchen sponge and tastes slightly metallic like the inside of a galley oven. It will be flanked by a tomato that looks like it died a fiery death in hell, dismally grey mushrooms, and if you’re lucky some kind of potato. God help us all if there are baked beans included. You might be lucky to also get the ubiquitous fruit salad and naturally it wouldn’t be airline food without a freezing cold rock hard bun that requires the jaws of life to cut open.

I will do virtually anything to avoid having to fly at breakfast time.

Alas, one can’t always avoid breakfast. Long overnight flights usually end up with a breakfast of some kind being presented to you, even if you’ve had a full meal a mere two or three hours beforehand. Feed ’em up and keep ’em quiet, that’s the mantra from the galley!

Of course it’s not all bad, so I hereby present you with a count down of the top five inflight breakfasts that have astonished me with their greatness.

Breakfast No. 5

British Airways First Class, Sweet Stuffed French Toast

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I was heading back from Washington D.C. and I had sampled the tasting menu on the A380 mere hours before. The breakfast choices were mainly substantial. One choice was a Traditional English breakfast with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, rosti potatoes, sautéed mushrooms and tomato, while another choice was a Frittata with sweet potato and tomato.

I wanted something a little lighter as I was frankly bursting at the seams from all the food I had eaten, so I chose the third choice available, which was Sweet stuffed French Toast.

It looked great, was the perfect size for what I wanted and to top it off, it tasted very good! You’d expect that flying First Class, but I expect nothing when it comes to breakfast – so bravo BA!

Breakfast No. 4

Aer Lingus European Economy Class ‘Bia Menu’, Irish Breakfast

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Food for purchase? Are you joking?

In actual fact, for several years in a row I constantly raved about the Aer Lingus Irish Breakfast to anyone who would listen. The consistency of the product was such that it always tasted exactly the same. Having this and a cup of tea is something I look forward to when flying Aer Lingus.

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Sausages, Bacon, Tomato, Black Pudding, White Pudding and teeny little Hash Browns – not an egg in sight and it is glorious! The only downside is there was and is no ketchup to go with it. For €7.50, it was priced well. It’s now €10.00 which I think is too expensive. A full Irish breakfast in Dublin can be bought for less. I still grit my teeth and buy it though, because I love it – even without ketchup!

Breakfast No. 3

British Airways Club Europe, Continental Breakfast

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On a whim, I once asked for the Continental Breakfast when flying BA and my life was transformed! Ham, chorizo, cream cheese, half a boiled egg, olives, a cherry tomato, cheese and bread – you can’t go wrong.

It feels like it’s a much healthier meal than the Full English also offered and of course it goes well with Twinings Green Tea and Castelnau Champagne as you can see! It won’t have me booking flights to specifically get it (that honour is reserved for the Club Europe Afternoon Tea) but if I happen to be flying in the morning, this will always be my choice.

Breakfast No. 2

Qantas Domestic Business Class, Hot Breakfast

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What is this? It has all the elements I supposedly hate – eggs, a tomato, mushrooms – there’s even fruit salad for goodness sake!

When a proper breakfast is done well, it’s quite delicious. A poached egg is so much nicer than any kind of scrambled egg for one thing. This breakfast also includes Spinach which is always a win in my book. The tomatoes still look a little sad and the bacon a little fatty, but it all tasted oh so gorgeous!

Perhaps it was the Champagne or maybe it was the addition of the little corn based muffin that sent it into my good books (something that you can’t butter at breakfast? remarkable!) – all round a very solid effort indeed!

Breakfast No. 1

British Airways Club World London City

You know, it’s rare that a meal makes one so happy that you tear up ever so slightly. This was one of those times. I was truly flabbergasted at this breakfast and how utterly delectable it was. I could have had a second helping of the lot – it was that good!

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Bircher Muesli with Cranberries, a nice warm Danish, accompanied by a Coffee and a Smoothie. I devoured it and thought myself lucky to get such a good meal. But wait… that was just the starter!

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Billed as “Poached egg on a caramelised onion tarte with wilted spinach and mustard Hollandaise”, I was already excited from the description in the menu.

When it arrived, you could have knocked me down with a feather! This looked spectacular! Spinach! A poached egg that looked like it had been breached by a 617 Squadron Lancaster. Two dainty cherry tomatoes. The caramelised onion tart! Thankfully, it tasted just as good as it looked.

It was everything I could have ever wanted in a breakfast. This – now this – is how breakfast in a premium class should be. This is how breakfast at my house should be! I’d make good money if I could recreate this and sell it to people. A stunning effort on the New York to London City A318 service by British Airways.

I challenge you to present me with a better inflight breakfast!

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