The Cheapest way to fly Business Class (probably) - Malaysia Airlines MH Upgrade to Sydney!

Perhaps the most dreary part of going on holiday is getting cramped up in that small economy class airplane seat - especially if the flight is longer than a few hours. The combination of dry, thin and stale air, barely a few inches of knee room and a seat that hardly reclines means travelling is often a lot more tiring than the hours of just sitting around might suggest. Moving up a class to the Business Cabin is also not an option to most of us thanks to the prohibitively high fares ...

... except if you're flying on an airline, like Malaysia Airlines, which allows cheap upgrades!

Dubbed MH Upgrade, MAS allows you to "bid" an amount of your choosing on each individual leg(s) of your flight to upgrade to the next class. 48 hours before the flight if there's space available (and you bid higher than anybody else) - tadaa! You get bumped up. We bid the minimum of SGD50 for the SG-KL legs, and SGD300 for the KL-Sydney legs, which meant paying a total of SGD1,220 return for a business class ticket to Sydney and back - an absolute steal!


Despite being a bargain-basement fare, this ticket comes with the full suite of Biz Class privileges, including 40kg baggage allowance, a separate check-in counter, and access to the Airline's airport lounges. The MAS Golden Lounge in Singapore's Changi airport is practically deserted - which is a plus for us as we have our pick of sofas in the main lounge area plus 'private' usage of the Massage Chair room.


A more business-oriented traveller or high-flying corporate guy might find better usage of the business center - equipped with PC's, a multifunction printer, and an assortment of magazines and journals.


But as hubby and I are on holiday we find ourselves more interested in the food - free flow of soft drinks, juices, hot drinks, some beer and a limited number of dishes. Soup, satay, some fish, vegetables, rice and noodles. The food isn't anything great - if anything it's a lot below par what's on offer in the other Changi Airport eateries.


For the 40-minute flight from SG to KL, we're in the regional Boeing 737-800. This is one of Malaysia Airlines' newest cabins, but it's designed for short-haul and regional flights, so we get a recliner seat (instead of some sort of flat bed). It's plenty comfortable, though - an additional 4" of seat width and 12" of leg room compared to economy. Plus cushioned arm rests and a small table area for cups and glasses.


With only 8 seats in the Business Class cabin, you get a lot more attention from the cabin attendants, so no problems whatsoever in getting as much drinks, snacks and food as you can swallow. The SG - KL flight is really short though; after considering take-off and prepare-to-land time there's barely 10-15 minutes to wolf down whatever's served.


While transiting in KL we also naturally visit the Golden Lounge in KLIA. It's pretty much the same story - sofas, tables, free-flow drinks and subpar food. Oh, and the lounges do supply towels, shampoo and shower gel - hubby went ahead to take a shower and brush his teeth for the heck of it.


Onwards to Sydney, then! We've got the Airbus A330-300 for this leg of the flight. These Business Class seats get a nominal 2.5" extra seat width but a whopping 28" of extra leg room as compared to economy. Plus when you're ready to get some shut-eye it reclines to an angled, 6'3"-long fully-flat bed!


Emphasis on "angled," however. MAS' other premium-airline competitors like Singapore Airlines, Qatar, Emirates, Cathay etc have all started upgrading their long haul Business Class seats to fully-flat, so MAS is perhaps lagging behind a little bit. The angle on MAS' seat means that in the natural course of tossing and turning you gradually slide lower and lower until you need to wake up and 'push' yourself back up the bed. Hubby also thought the TV was a tad bit low for his height (he felt he was "looking down" too much).

Standard amenities supplied: eye mask, mouth wash, socks, toothbrush & toothpaste, noise-reducing headphones for the in-flight entertainment.


Meal time comes around and we're started off with MAS signature Satay (chicken, beef and kambing available), served with liberal amounts of peanut sauce. The satay is surprisingly very, very good (for airplane food standard lah) and we dare say the best dish we've ever eaten while cruising at 30,000 feet.


In-line with other premium carriers, MAS Chef on Call service allows you to pre-order your meal from an extended range of 10-15 "fine dining" dishes. I go with the Omelette with Cheddar Cheese with chicken sausage, baked potatoes, asparagus, sautéed mushrooms and cherry tomatoes ... which turns out pretty bad, actually. Perhaps eggs just don't survive the reheating process that well.


Hubby's Pan Fried Silver Cod with Soya Glaze, with rice and vegetables is much better and pretty nice (again, for airplane food standards).


The best part, though, is the Express Arrival card! For some strange reason Australia immigration has express lanes for Business / First class passengers ... which allows you to skip the sometimes long queues. On our particular arrival time at Sydney the non-express arrivals had what seemed like two hundred or so other passengers.


So there you have it - MH Upgrade - flying Business class at a fraction of the cost. MAS product is falling a little behind its' prime competition but at these upgrade prices there really isn't anything to complain about. Do note that the chances of scoring a successful upgrade are dependant on seat availability so it'll probably get harder and/or more expensive as MAS starts filling up their planes again.

Hope you've enjoyed this trip review and do leave us any questions, etc in the comments below!

Witch Fingers Pâte sablée (French short pastry crusts)

Pâte sablée is the richest of the French short pastry crusts. It's the best pastry to use for making little fruit tarts, lemon tarts and custard tarts. It's a little tricky to make and handle. It does makes gorgeous cookies, not completely similar to shortbread cookies. It's finer and more delicate.

Happy belated Halloween! Made this on the 30th Oct with a twist to suit the mood. Witch Fingers it is!


Approx 20 cookies (depends on the size of the fingers you're moulding)

Ingredients:
125g All Purpose Flour
50g Icing Sugar
1 pinch of Salt
1 Egg Yolk
1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence
100g Butter
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
50g melted Chocolate
20 Almonds (removed almond brown skin, by blenching the almonds in hot boiling water for 2 mins)

Step By Step
1. Mix Egg Yolk, Vanilla Essence and set aside.
2. Mix All Purpose Flour, Icing Sugar, Salt and make a well in the middle. Put in the butter in the middle and rub the butter in until well combined.
3. Add the Egg Yolk mixture and mix until you have a homogenous dough or until it is completely smooth.
3. Roll it into a ball, wrap in kitchen clingfilm and refrigerate for about an hour.
4. Pre-heat the oven at 200°C.
5. Shape the shortbread to fingers and press in the Almond as fingernails.
6. Bake in the over for 15mins or until it is slightly brown at the edges.
7. Remove and while it cool thinly coat the inner fingernails with melted chocolate.

Picture without the outline with melted chocolate.

After edding on the melted chocolate outline of the fingernails. Mmmm... i'll add some sticky thicken strawberry jam at the end of the finger to make it more scary, that will be next time.

Click here for our blog page Baking Classes for more recipes. Hope you will be inspired~

Fig Frangipane Tart Recipe

Got our hands on some Fresh Turkish Black Mission Figs, which are extremely sweet amd perfect for serving plain or with yogurt or tangy fresh cheese (mascapone, fromage, blanc, or farmers cheese) or dessert, It have blackish-purple skin and dark pink flesh.

Got them at SGD5 for 4 figs. Tried 4 figs plain and decided to bake this Fig Frangipane Tart to bring home for breakfast with my parents.

This recipe makes Two, 10" x 1" diameter tart


Tart Crust Recipe
115g Butter (softened)
70g Sugar
1 Egg
210g All-Purpose Flour
1/4 teaspoon Salt
Removable Bottom Tart Pan

Grease the tart pan with Butter. Cream Butter and Sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until mixture is smooth. Add the Flour and Salt and mix well. Divide the mixture, then use your fingertips to press the dough into the tart pan. Prick all over of the base of the tart with a fork. Refrigerate for 30minutes. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Bake for 5mins to 10mins or until slightly golden. While it's baking prepare.......

Frangipane Filling Recipe
125g Butter (softened)
100g Sugar
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs
50g Ground Almonds
30g All-Purpose Flour

Cream Butter, Sugar, Vanilla Extract until light and fluffy. Add the eggs on at a time and beat until mixture is smooth. Add in the Ground Almonds & Flour and mix well. Spoon the mixture into the Tart Crust then spread even layer. Final step is.......

Garnish
4 large Figs or 8 small Figs (Remove the stems from the figs and cut them into wedges)
Honey
Sugar to Sprinkle (caramelization)

Arrange the Figs on top leaving some space between each fig. Sprinkle them with Sugar. squeeze some Honey on each fig. Bake in the oven for around 40mins to 50mins until it turns golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Serve it warm or cold. ENJOY!!!!!!

Some tips from us after our 1st attempt:
- Don't bake the tart crust too long, as the part 2 bake will make the tart curst brown and a crispier.
- Don't push the figs in to much as it will sink in as per our Fig Frangipane Tart outcome.


Click here for our blog page Baking Classes for more recipes. Hope you will be inspired~

Fat-tastic Wagyu Donburi (Beef Bowl) at the Fat Cow!

Fat-tastic. Because the food was fantastic, and the restaurant is named Fat Cow, get it? OK, I suck at coming up with puns, so let's talk about the food instead!

The restaurant's very Japanese-inspired main dining area has 17 counter-style seats surrounding the mini kitchen area where (i) All the meat is grilled, and (ii) All the sushi, sashimi and chirashi rice bowls are prepared. Steak and sushi seems like a rather odd combination; We'll find out if that combination works another day though as today we're here for the beef.


Fat Cow is first and foremost a steakhouse - serving up a choice of Aussie/US Angus and Wagyu cuts alongside A3-A5 Japanese Black Cattle steaks from several different prefectures. Dinner prices are expectedly pricey with 300gm portions running up to well over $300 after service charge and taxes. But for the less well-heeled among us (i.e., yours truly), their set lunches are around the $30-$50 range and represent much better value!

Each set lunch comes with an appetizer trio of salad (greens were fresh but the dressing was excessively sweet), miso soup (nothing too special) and scallop, crabmeat and prawn chawanmushi (served somewhat warm/lukewarm instead of piping hot like most other places).


There are other choices ranging from chirashi (raw seafood over rice), curry, grilled miso cod and pork loin tonkatsu on the menu but we're only interested in the beef, starting off with The Fat Cow Wagyu Donburi ($39). This comes with a perfectly cooked onsen tamago and grilled-over-Japanese-binchotan-charcoal Wagyu strips over rice. The strips are delicious, with a wonderful aroma that characteristic taste of meat grilled over a hot charcoal fire. Of course they don't have that same melt-in-your-mouth, buttery goodness as A5 Kobe or other premium Japanese Wagyus; but at this price range it really is pretty damn good.


The Fat-Foa Gura Don ($43) is next up: This rice bowl is topped with glazed, teppan (hot plate) wagyu beef with chunks of foie gras. Foie gras and beef, two ingredients that go oh-so-awesomely well together. Compared to the donburi you lose out on the chargrilled flavour but gain the creamy, buttery, fatty goodness of foie gras. Both are equally good, so order one of each and share :)


A scoop of ice cream rounds out the set lunch - today was honeycomb vanilla ice cream which was decent but not spectacular.


So there you have it - gorgeous rice bowls for lunch at a top steakhouse at a relatively affordable price point. There are one or two petty niggles: the rice-to-meat ratio is skewed a little too heavily to the rice side, and hot green tea costs $5/person, but all things considered we'd highly recommended a visit if you're in the area.

Fat Cow is at Camden Medical Centre, about 1 km walk (or bus) from Ion Orchard. Reservations recommended. Non-halal.