Three 3-stars in France day 1: transit through Doha

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I'm off to France for a week, and unlike previous trips, I've chosen to transit through the Middle East rather than fly direct. While look at airfares a few months ago, I realized that Business Class fares on Cathay Pacific were just shockingly expensive. All of the major Gulf carriers were charging fares which were 50-65% less, but of course it comes with a layover. And given what happened in March of this year, there is concern about flight disruptions resulting from the US-Iran war. Nevertheless, I chose to fly with Qatar Airways and transit through Doha. I figured the savings was worth the extra hours I would have to endure.

I finished checking in for my flight just before midnight, and since Qatar Airways is a member of the Oneworld Alliance, I was given access to the Cathay lounges at Hong Kong International Airport. There are A LOT of flights departing Hong Kong late at night, and The Bridge lounge was very, very packed. So as I headed waaay to the back of the lounge and settled there, I discovered that "The Nook" was not serving the usual noodles but a completely different menu.

They had scallion pancakes (蔥油餅) and even Shanghainese rice rolls with pork floss, fried dough stick and pickled vegetables (上海粢飯), but I was more curious about the spicy lamb pastry (香辣羊肉肉夾饃). Gotta say it was pretty good! The pastry was nice and flaky, and the filling was juicy with a nice kick. And yes, the lamb fat tasty goooood!

The leg from Hong Kong to Doha is serviced by an older Boeing 777-300 owned by Cathay Pacific, which has been fitted with Qatar Airways decor. I wanted a good night's sleep, so I quickly went to sleep once we were in the air, after the crew made my bed. I did ask to be woken up for breakfast, and this enabled me to get about 5 hours of sleep. But I was a little groggy while placing my order for breakfast, so I only asked for one dish...

French toast with maple caramel sauce, Mascarpone cream, toasted pecans and fresh berries - this was a real mistake. The whole thing was just soggy.

Selection of bakery - this was also an unfortunate offering, as the rosemary from the tomato and cheese foccacia rubbed off on the croissant... which was pretty meh in the first place.

Pain au chocolat - this, too, tasted of a little rosemary... which was definitely NOT what one wants.

We landed at Hamad International Airport in Doha, and I've got a 4-hour layover. As I walked through the usual duty free shops, I was a little surprised to see them stock up on Moutai (茅台) and a variety of Chinese cigarettes...

I went to check out the Al Mourjan Business Lounge, which was various spacious and spread out on two levels. I was curious to see what types of food were on offer here, and I specifically wanted to try items which I would not be able to taste elsewhere.

Za'atar croissant is not something you see everyday. The spice wasn't too overwhelming, but I could certain taste it.

Foul medames is a dish I have never tried before. It's a breakfast dish consisting mainly of stewed fava beans with cumin and olive oil, along with a variety of garnishes one could add. It is also often accompanied by pita.

I thought this was pretty interesting, especially with pita. This kinda reminded me of taking pita with hummus.

Pineapple basil smash - I thought I'd get an non-alcoholic cocktail to refresh myself before boarding.

Boarding time came, and I settled into my window seat on one of Qatar Airways' own Airbus 380s. I asked for the airline's signature lemon mint welcome drink as we waited for takeoff.

I have fond memories of receiving a date years ago in Dubai as a traditional Arabic welcome, and here they served it up a small cup of qahwa (قهوة) - the light, Arabic coffee spiced with cardamom, cloves, and saffron.

Unfortunately, we had a long delay on the tarmac. This would affect our arrival time in Paris, which was definitely not good news to me. Apparently the control tower couldn't get its act together, and there were more than 10 planes lined up behind us waiting for their slots.

I asked for a cocktail once we were in the air. Qatar Airways' cocktail program is overseen by none other than Lorenzo Antinori of Hong Kong's very own Bar Leone, and I figured I outta get myself an Italian Highball.

Now that I was wide awake, I decided to have me some breakfast. On this leg, the pastries were created by Antonio Bachour of Bachour in Coral Gables, Florida.

This raisin roll was pretty damn good! It was cold, but still nice and crispy.

Seasonal fresh fruit is always a good idea.

Since this was available as one of the options, I ordered up the Qatari breakfast with pita bread, which was foul medames with accompaniments like feta cheese, cucumber, tomatoes...

The stew was definitely better onboard, with whole fava beans. The pita was also of better quality.

I finished with some saffron karak chai, which was an interesting experience.

After napping a little, I got up before landing and decided to have soy-braised short ribs with garlic sambal. This was served with rice and stir-fried bok choy. The ketchup-based "sambal" tasted like the sauce for Chinese-style beef fillet (中式牛柳), but had a spicy kick. The black vinegar thingamajig on the side was pretty WTF.

The short rib, though, was very, very nice and tender.

2017 Belgrave - no surprise that this tasted like it's been opened for a few hours. Nose of cassis and black fruits, with smoky grilled meats and also earthy notes. Decent acidity on the palate and still got the tannins.

We were now landing at Paris Charles de Gaulle... Let the fun begin!