Stir-Fried Octopus In Hot Spicy Sauce On Korean Air

Each week, my Meal of the Week feature examines an airline meal from my travels over the years. This may be a meal from earlier in the week or it may be a meal served over a decade ago.

I decided to be “brave” and try the Korean octopus dish on my Korean Air flight from Seoul to Hong Kong. Sadly, I had deep regrets…

Stir-Fried Octopus In Korean Air Prestige Class

Earlier this week I shared about my four-journey on the 777-300ER in Prestige business class from Seoul to Hong Kong on Korean Air. While the journey was pleasant overall, I thought my unique dinner qualified for a separate Meal of the Week post.

Korean Air has a pre-order menu available on most of its flights in business class. For my flight, I was offered the following choices (which not only include options that would be available onboard if you did not pre-order, but two additional options exclusively available via pre-ordering):

I probably should have chosen the beef sirloin bulgogi, but I do like octopus…it’s a starter I am likely to order whenever I see it on a menu after the amazing octopus I enjoyed at The Brando.

Flight attendants confirmed my pre-order and were a little skeptical, warning me the dish was quite spicy.

While the dish was not too spicy for me, the flavors and textures did not work for me and I only ate about half of it. Ordinarily, I love octopus but this was so rubbery and chewy and the soup was far too salty. Seaweed has always been a nemesis.

A flight attendant graciously offered to bring me another dish on the menu when she saw I did not finish, but I was full…I had enjoyed a nice meal in the first class lounge. However, I should have ordered the beef tenderloin with thyme sauce…Korean Air does Western food very well.

I wish bibimbap had been on the menu…but the octopus was a miss for me.