World-class cuisine reaches new heights
Chef Monica Galetti’s Singapore Airlines menu is worth flying for – so sit back and prepare to take your tastebuds on a culinary journey by Rebecca Denne
When it comes to travel, it’s not just about the destination. The journey is all part of the thrill of escapism. And elevating that journey to new heights is world-class chef, Monica Galetti. The Samoan-born chef has teamed up with Singapore Airlines to bring fine dining to the skies. Championing British produce, restaurant techniques and her South Pacific roots, each dish in her four seasonal menus for Suites, First Class, and Business Class customers will be complemented by the Airline's award-winning wine collection, showcasing a fusion of flavours, skill and nostalgia. “These menus have been an absolute pleasure to put together. It’s not something that we’ve rushed – it’s taken quite a few months to get there,” says Galetti. Business Class, First Class and Suite customers departing on Singapore Airlines’ flights from London Heathrow, London Gatwick and Manchester can expect seasonal menus, which each focus on quality local ingredients and marry her heritage and love for travel.
“Travel breaks all barriers. It’s what unites the world. The more we understand each other’s cultures, the more respect we give them”
Monica Galetti
With this in mind, the partnership with Singapore Airlines was a no-brainer, she says: “It’s important for me to have a genuine relationship and to connect with a brand. I’ve spent time in Singapore, for work and travel, and it’s a place I love. Being from Samoa in the Pacific, there are similarities with the food and the ingredients, and there's a lot of Asian flavours in our cooking as well. So it just seemed a very natural fit for me.” Having grown up in Samoa and then moving to New Zealand at the age of eight, before heading for London at 23, Galetti’s roots are a key ingredient in the menus she’s created for Singapore Airlines. “It was important to show a bit of my heritage and to create dishes that actually have a connection to me,” she says. “Not only that, but for us to consider traceability and sustainability through the choices of ingredients, using seasonal produce where we can.”
Monica’s milestone moments
Born in 1975 in Samoa before moving to Auckland, aged eight.
Galetti moved to London aged 23.
Started cooking and competing professionally in New Zealand in the 1990s.
In 1999 she starts working with Michel Roux at the two Michelin-starred La Gavroche.
While working with Roux, she launches and becomes head chef of Le Gavroche des Tropiques in Mauritius.
In 2009 Galetti become a judge on BBC’s MasterChef: The Professionals.
The book, Monica's Kitchen, is published in 2012.
In 2017, Galetti and her husband David open London restaurant, Mere.
She is currently writing her fourth book, out in spring 2026.
2024 Galetti is appointed Singapore Airlines’ guest chef in the UK
Be wined and dined as you fly
Along with Galetti’s menu, Singapore Airlines’ Suites, First Class, and Business Class customers can select a European or Asian menu for their onboard dining experience or opt for the airline’s ‘Book the Cook’ service. Available in Suites, First Class, Business Class and Premium Economy Class for flights longer than one-and-a-half hours, and for all meals except for continental breakfast and refreshments, customers can enjoy a luxury onboard fine-dining experience. Simply choose your dishes 24 hours before you jet off (or 48 hours if you’re departing from Auckland). What’s more, Singapore Airlines’ air sommeliers have sampled thousands of wines to serve you the very finest along with your meal. So whether it’s a celebratory glass of chilled fizz, a full-bodied red or a light and zesty white, there’s something delightful to toast your travels.
Service, please
Rebecca Denne takes a seat in Singapore Airlines’ First Class cabin to try out Monica Galetti’s new menu. What was her verdict?
Galetti has spent months working with the food and beverage team at Singapore Airlines to devise her four seasonal menus which are worthy of any top London restaurant. You’ll almost forget you’re 30,000ft above the ground as you toast your trip with a glass of Krug Grande Cuvée champagne. It’d be rude not to, after all. I am lucky enough to try her autumn menu for First Class and Suites customers. To start, I’m served a picture-perfect dish of yellowfin tuna oka laced with coconut cream and shiso that’s vibrant and refreshing – exactly what one desires mid-air. The ceviche-esque dish is served in a quirky osetra caviar tin (chosen by her), and you can absolutely taste the love and care that’s gone into it. Business customers are able to enjoy NV Piper-Heidsieck Essentiel Extra Brut champagne and will also be served Galetti’s yellowfin tuna oka dish as their appetiser, a perfect example of a dish where her Samoan heritage comes to the fore.
Journey through the clouds in style with a glass of champagne or a decadent dessert
“The oka is a dish that’s very dear to me and something that was important to have on the menu. It’s a real taste of Samoa and a celebration of the South Pacific – when I go home I can eat bowls of it,” she tells me with a laugh. The coconut cream is hand-made using fresh coconut and it balances the tuna perfectly. Served with Instagram-worthy editable shiso flowers, which give a subtle touch of pepperiness, this is a far cry from what you’d expect as you speed through the skies. The First and Suites menu features a second appetiser, a caramelised autumn squash and black truffle soup with porcini mushroom, chestnuts and pine nut praline. With sweetness, comfort and texture in equal measure, soups don’t get better than this.
“The oka is a dish that’s very dear to me and something that was important to have on the menu. It’s a real taste of Samoa and a celebration of the South Pacific”
Monica Galetti
“This is one of the first soups I learned to make when I was training and I remember serving it to my family. For the menu, we’ve given it a twist with the addition of mushrooms and pine nut praline – I’ve loved adding my own touch to the dishes,” she adds.
Experience Galetti’s world-class menu 30,000ft above the ground
Business customers can also look forward to a delicate and beautifully balanced dish of pan-roasted Cornish cod fillet topped with crispy tempura and sea vegetables, already proving to be quite a crowd-pleaser on flights. While lamb is the star of the show on Galetti’s First and Suites menu. Having spent much time in both New Zealand and the UK, it’s no surprise that she loves to cook with lamb. Her confit lamb on a soft butter bean and pak choi ragout with a smoked pepper, caper and watercress salsa verde is a joy to eat. Tender, melt-in-the-mouth lamb has been cooked to perfection and is served with a well-rounded, rich-in-flavour ragout.
Monica Galetti
“We have used Lake District lamb neck and Cornish cod for these dishes. Traceability and sourcing has been very important while putting the dishes together”
Before you pop on your eye mask, it’s time for a dreamy dessert. Monica Galetti’s signature hokey pokey honeycomb and chocolate dessert with ice cream is on her autumn First and Suites menu. “Hokey pokey is an ice cream from New Zealand and one of my favourite desserts, so I’ve taken that from my childhood to create this dish. It’s something I’ve had on menus for many years because people love it so much,” she says. A velvety rich chocolate pudding, it’s served on a crispy, biscuity base, bejewelled with aerated chocolate, chewy honeycomb and served with a sumptuously smooth golden caramel. It will unleash your inner child and is guaranteed to raise a smile.
Galetti’s passion for crafting exquisite and beautiful dishes shines brilliantly through her menu
Business customers will enjoy her deliciously decadent dark chocolate cremeaux. This smooth, rich yet surprisingly light chocolate dessert is another one of the chef’s signature dishes and a fitting end to a sky-high feast. Her winter seasonal menus will be served between December to February – the Suites and First Class menu will feature a lobster salad with black garlic and chive mayonnaise, a roasted cauliflower and salted almond soup with smoked haddock and poached Cornish turbot with pearl barley ragout infused with flavours of the sea and a crème fraiche. The dessert will be hazelnut Paris-Brest with poached pear and grated koko Samoa. While Business customers departing from the UK with Singapore Airlines this winter can look forward to the same starter, followed by glazed beef short rib in a rich red wine and port sauce with burnt butter mash and seasonal vegetables and a pear and dark chocolate tart with a salted pistachio crumb. The spring menu will be available from March to May 2025 and the summer menu from June to August. All of Galetti’s dishes will be complemented by the airline's award-winning wine collection.
Galetti’s autumn menu for First Class and Suites
Appetisers
Yellowfin tuna oka, caviar, coconut cream and shiso
Marinated yellowfin tuna in coconut cream, lemon juice, zest, cucumber, cherry tomato, red chilli, pepper. Quenelle of Osetra caviar on top of the oka and finished with micro shiso,coriander cress and toasted crouton
Caramelised Autumn squash soup with porcini mushroom and truffle oil
Smooth velouté of caramelised pumpkin, sautéed porcini mushroom, chestnut and pine nut pralines. Drizzled with truffle oil
Galetti’s autumn menu for First Class and Suites
Main Course
Confit of lamb neck, butter bean, pak choi and caper-watercress salsa verde
Slow-cooked lamb neck in duck fat, butter bean, smoked pepper, pak choi, lamb jus and caper-watercress salsa verde
Hokey Pokey
Buttery Breton shortbread topped with milk chocolate cremeux, honeycomb pieces, dark chocolate shards and salted caramel semifreddo
Dessert
Galetti’s autumn menu for Business Class
Appetisers
Dessert
Yellowfin tuna oka, imperial caviar, coconut cream and shiso
One of Galetti’s signature dishes inspired by the Samoan Oka, a ceviche like dish, this is served in a caviar tin, with imperial caviar on top, and finished with shiso cress.
Pan roasted Cornish cod fillet with sea vegetables, caper and gherkin sauce
Seared cod fillet on top of a bed of sea purslane, sea fennel and sea beets with warm tartare sauce, topped with smoked paprika batter crumb
Dark chocolate cremeux
Rich dark chocolate cremeux with whipped vanilla mascarpone, salt caramel with hazelnut and ginger biscuit crumble
How does altitude affect our sense of taste?
The combination of altitude, air pressure and humidity can impact our taste buds as we head for the skies, and although this is less of an issue with Singapore Airlines operating a younger, more efficient fleet of aircraft, it was something that Galetti had to consider throughout her menu creation. For example, umami is often a key component chefs consider when creating dishes to be enjoyed at altitude. Her menu has taken these unique factors into consideration, using a harmonious combination of flavours, textures and seasonings across her seasonal menus.
The premium dishes were thoughtfully crafted with every detail tailored to elevate the dining experience in the skies
As well as thinking about flavour, ensuring each dish is the very best in class when it’s served onboard, is key to Galetti’s partnership with Singapore Airlines. “We used the onboard ovens Singapore Airlines uses when we were testing the dishes, knowing that when they’re in-flight, everything is re-heated to a standard 190C for 20 minutes,” says Galetti. This impacts the cuts of meat chosen, how fish is prepared and even what size each vegetable is cut, so Galetti and her team had to adjust the dishes accordingly during the development process. “For our cod dish, for example, which is on the autumn menu, we’ve seared it and then chilled it immediately to stop the cooking, so by the time it’s cooked onboard it will be perfect,” Galetti says.
Flavours of my travels
Having learnt to cook in her family kitchen at a young age, much of Galetti’s food is heavily influenced by her Samoan upbringing. “If I could have only one cuisine for the rest of my life it would be Samoan. Whether that’s oka, sapa sui, taro, coconut milk – it’s the food of my soul,” she beams.
Galetti’s Samoan heritage deeply influenced the flavours that came through in her menu creation process
Having lived in the UK now for 25 years, Galetti champions local produce as much as possible, as can be seen across her onboard menu, using Scottish fish, Lake District lamb and British salted butter. But her joy of travel and time spent in other countries has gifted her a melting pot of cuisines from which to take inspiration. “I love travelling around Asia and there’s a lot of Asian influence in Samoan cooking. I also love countries like Morocco that use spices – ras el hanout is one of my favourite spice mixes. I’m lucky to have worked and lived in New Zealand, so this inspiration comes to the forefront when I’m in the kitchen. I’d like to think that I’m a child of the world; born in Samoa, grew up in New Zealand, I travel for a living, and I’m based in London. So all of that plays a part in the food that I create. But what’s really important is that it’s delicious.”
Having lived there for over a decade, Galetti’s menu is also largely inspired by New Zealand cuisine
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Galetti’s autumn menu for First Class and Suites
Main Course
Dessert
Confit of lamb neck, butter bean, pak choi and caper-watercress salsa verde
Slow-cooked lamb neck in duck fat, butter bean, smoked pepper, pak choi, lamb jus and caper-watercress salsa verde
Hokey Pokey
Buttery Breton shortbread topped with milk chocolate cremeux, honeycomb pieces, dark chocolate shards and salted caramel semifreddo
Galetti’s autumn menu for First Class and Suites
Appetisers
Yellowfin tuna oka, caviar, coconut cream and shiso
Marinated yellowfin tuna in coconut cream, lemon juice, zest, cucumber, cherry tomato, red chilli, pepper. Quenelle of Osetra caviar on top of the oka and finished with micro shiso,coriander cress and toasted crouton
Caramelised Autumn squash soup with porcini mushroom and truffle oil
Smooth velouté of caramelised pumpkin, sautéed porcini mushroom, chestnut and pine nut pralines. Drizzled with truffle oil