Air France introduces new gourmet delights

From November 2023, Air France will be unveiling new menus in its La Première and long-haul Business cabins. 

On departure from Paris, the great French Michelin-starred chefs Emmanuel Renaut and Anne-Sophie Pic will be creating exceptional dishes for Air France customers, alongside the Meilleurs Ouvriers de France pastry chefs Angelo Musa and Philippe Urraca.

On departure from international stations, Air France is also continuing to develop exceptional partnerships. For the first time, the airline is offering new dishes by Jean-Charles Brédas. The chef will sign the entire Business cabin menu on departure from Pointe à Pitre, Fort de France, Saint Martin and Cayenne, as well as on flights on the airline’s regional Caribbean network. In 2023, Jean-Charles Brédas is the 18th chef to work with Air France. 

To create these menus, the chefs work together with Servair, the world leader in in-flight catering, using fresh, local produce that varies according to the season. In a responsible approach, the meat, poultry, dairy products and eggs on each menu are of French origin, and the fish is from sustainable fisheries on departure from Paris. In addition, vegetarian menus are systematically available in every travel cabin on all the airline’s flights.

Emmanuel Renaut and Angelo Musa in the La Première cabin on departure from Paris

Air France’s La Première cabin offers each customer a gourmet dining experience worthy of the finest restaurants. Voted "World’s Best First-Class Onboard Catering" at the Skytrax World Airline Awards 2023, Air France is entrusting its new menu to Emmanuel Renaut from November onwards. A lover of Savoyard cuisine, the triple Michelin-starred chef and Meilleur Ouvrier de France combines local produce with French culinary heritage. Emmanuel Renault has come up with a total of eight dishes to be enjoyed over the coming months, including farmhouse chicken confit with mushrooms and a vegetable mille-feuille, and a creamy blend of root vegetables, button mushrooms, porcini mushrooms and Beaufort, the flagship product of Savoyard cuisine. 

[i"Nature is a source of inspiration that is as infinite as it is fragile. My cuisine tells a story, one of simplicity, indulgence and comfort. This is what I wanted to pass on to Air France passengers",[/i] said Emmanuel Renaut. 

As for desserts, Angelo Musa, with his unique technique, will add a sweet touch to the cabin’s menus. Four high-flying desserts will soon be appearing on the menu, including his mango, citrus and cognac baba and the chocomûre, combining the power of pure Venezuelan dark chocolate with the tangy notes of wild blackberry.

Anne-Sophie Pic and Philippe Urraca in the Business cabin on departure from Paris

In the long-haul Business cabin, Anne-Sophie Pic is creating new culinary delights for Air France customers. This season, the triple Michelin-starred chef has created eight menus to be enjoyed on board, including a chicken supreme with sake, revealing the power of Japanese ingredients combined with local French produce, and roast parsnip - a forgotten vegetable that is now increasingly popular - with dill butter and curry combined with walnuts. 

[i"For Air France customers, I’ve created some unique dishes highlighting French produce. I’ve worked on them by playing on the combination of original flavours and the strength of the tastes",[/i] said Anne-Sophie Pic. 

For the first time, Air France is also entrusting a top pastry chef with the signature desserts available in the Business cabin. Philippe Urraca, Meilleur Ouvrier de France, has created an Opera, a Black Forest and a Yuzu Entremets to round off this high-flying culinary experience.

Jean-Charles Brédas in the Business cabin on departure from the French West Indies, French Guiana and the Caribbean regional network 

Since 1 November 2023, the airline has also been offering new dishes by Martinique chef Jean-Charles Brédas in the Business cabin on flights departing from the French West Indies (Pointe à Pitre, Fort de France, Saint Martin) and French Guiana (Cayenne) to Paris, as well as on flights on the regional Caribbean network linking Cayenne to Fort de France, Pointe à Pitre to Miami and Pointe à Pitre to Montreal. For Air France, the chef has come up with no fewer than twelve new dishes which will be available on board over the coming months, including a creamy risotto with coconut milk, pigeon peas - a staple product of the Caribbean - almonds and giraumon, as well as a roasted grouper fillet served with crunchy papaya sauerkraut, green sauce and dachine cubes. For each dish, the chef has taken care to favour local and seasonal produce, in line with the company’s standards.

Jean-Charles Brédas, new "signature" chef on departure from the French West Indies, French Guiana

As part of the fight against food waste, Air France is offering its customers travelling in the Business cabin the option of pre-selecting their hot dish up to 24 hours before their flight. This service combines the guarantee of availability of the customer’s choice with fairer consumption on board.

About Emmanuel Renaut 

Respect for nature, respect for the soil, animals and humans are the messages Emmanuel Renaut wants to convey through each of his creations. French chef born in Soisy-sous-Montmorency, Emmanuel Renaut is reinventing local dishes by using local produce in inventive ways. After training in Paris, he began his career at the hotel Crillon restaurant, with Christian Constant. He then joined Marc Veyrat at the Auberge de l’Eridan, where he was second in command to him for seven years. This experienced was interrupted by a spell with chef Yves Thuriès. After a period in London, where he was in charge of the kitchens at Claridge’s, he returned to the mountains and settled in Megève, in the heart of the French Alps, in 1997, where he opened his gastronomic restaurant, Flocons de Sel. Strongly inspired by Savoyard cuisine, he creates a gourmet, vibrant, colourful and resolutely modern cuisine featuring surprising and harmonious compositions. In 2017, between two trips back to his native Haute-Savoie, he took to the mountain pastures once again and opened his high-altitude restaurant, Le Forestier, in Megève. Since then, he’s had great success: Emmanuel Renaut has been crowned Meilleur Ouvrier de France, Compagnon du Tour de France and awarded a third Michelin star.

About Anne Sophie Pic 

A self-taught chef, Anne-Sophie Pic is the chef at Maison Pic in Valence, the only woman in France to hold 3 Michelin stars. For 3 generations, the family house has stood on the edge of the former Nationale 7. It’s also the story of the couple she has formed with David Sinapian for over thirty years. She in the kitchen, he at the helm of the business and the group’s 8 restaurants around the world. Her creativity? Unusual combinations of flavours. She is constantly researching less conventional tastes such as bitterness, acidity, fermented, iodised, roasted and smoked ingredients. Anne Sophie Pic is the most Michelin-starred woman chef in the world, with 10 stars for her restaurants in Valence***/ Lausanne**/ London**/ Paris*/ Megève* and Singapore*.

About Angelo Musa 

As the World’s Best Pastry Chef and Meilleur Ouvrier de France, Angelo Musa is the author of artistic techniques that have marked the history of the profession. As executive pastry chef at the Plaza Athénée Hotel in Paris, and head of his tea room at the iconic Harrods in London, Angelo Musa continues his passion for desserts by giving them a renewed creative force. An aura that extends beyond borders, whose textures determine the taste, a true expression of the elegance and diversity of French confectionery. In his collaboration with Air France for the creation of desserts in the La Première cabin, Angelo Musa shares the same desire to take confectionery to a higher level, and to rediscover on board a French art de vivre that combines the arts of the table, fine dining and the art of entertaining.

About Philippe Urraca 

It was at the age of 19 that Philippe Urraca, following in his father’s footsteps, opened his very first bakery. Passionate about his craft and a proud representative of the French pastry-making tradition, he makes sure that each of his creations is a celebration of the skills he has inherited. In 1994, he was awarded the title of Meilleur Ouvrier de France in pastry making for his expertise in the field of French culinary arts. From 2003 to 2017, he was elected President of the Meilleurs Ouvriers de France Pâtissiers. He remains a craftsman at heart, a pastry chef who likes to "get his hands dirty" and who doesn’t hesitate to share his passion for great French pastry and his knowledge. He takes the initiative, gives advice to encourage innovation and pass on his knowledge to future generations, to promote French culture even further. Since 2011, he has also been technical director of La Compagnie des Desserts, which gives him the opportunity to experiment and deploy his talent in the search for tastes and flavours. His reputation has earned him requests in France and abroad to create pastries for ceremonies and other events. His reputation has earned him many requests in France and abroad to create pastries for ceremonies and events. For some years now, in addition to his various commitments, Philippe has been devoting much of his efforts to revisiting and enhancing traditional French patisserie. He has written a book entitled ‘Pâtisserie leçons en pas à pas’ for adults, which has also been adapted for children.

About Jean-Charles Bredas 

Born in Martinique, Jean-Charles Brédas has a passion for agriculture! He discovered cooking with his uncle. After obtaining his CAP (top of his class in 1981), he joined the kitchens of the Novotel in Le Diamant, left his native island and immersed himself in French gastronomy in Paris with Chef Roland Durand.  Back in Martinique, he managed the kitchen of the restaurant "La Plantation", received the "Gault et Millau" clé d’Or for quality in 1991, and took up the challenge with "L’Habitation Lagrange", a luxury hotel-restaurant in his hometown of Le Marigot. His next stop was the Caribbean island of Tobago, where he was Executive Chef at the Mount Irvine Bay Hotel and Golf Club, followed by Trinidad, at the Country Club, where he developed "Le Bistrot Français". He then travelled to New York for the opening of "Bambou", a Caribbean restaurant in Manhattan. Back home for good, in the midst of lush vegetation, he created his restaurant "Le Brédas". A true culinary alchemist, he advocates a blend of cultures and harmonious flavours in Creole and Caribbean cuisine. He has won numerous awards, including the Médaille du Tourisme in 2011, Maître Cuisinier de France in 2012 and Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite in 2015.