hips don't lie: Gregg Wallace and John Torode on the best places to eat at Heathrow airport

PUBLISHED:

14:05 EST, 18 May 2013

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UPDATED:

14:05 EST, 18 May 2013

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The idea of hurrying to the airport in the expectation of getting a good, affordable meal will strike many people as Mission: Impossible. Catering for air travellers – whether it’s a meal served in a plane at 30,000ft or in a terminal restaurant – is something that appears to have joined the ranks of the motorway service station fry-up or the once notorious British Rail sandwich as the butt of stand up comedians’ jokes.

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Pre-flight feast: John Torode and Gregg Wallace are backing a campaign to promote Heathrow’s restaurants

But actually things aren’t as bad as we think, according to Masterchef’s Gregg Wallace and John Torode.The famous culinary judges have been hired by Heathrow airport to burnish the image of the London airport’s eating places.

John Torode admits that they have their work cut out. He recalls famous food guide publisher Egon Ronay once remarking that Heathrow airport was ‘a canteen that serves all-day breakfasts’: ‘That means that they cooked the eggs in the morning and then served them all day.’

Gregg Wallace describes their role as ‘part consultancy, part awareness raising’. ‘They wanted us to go round and experience their eateries with them and give some feedback, and possibly also show them where we think they might be missing a trick.’

So what do Wallace and Torode really think of Heathrow’s catering? As busy world travellers they also offer their tips for enjoying good food on the move – and reveal their favourite holiday places:

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Picnic at 30,000ft: Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant at Terminal Five offers takeaway food for passengers

So Heathrow has some good places to eat? Really?

GW: Loads and loads! We’re helping Heathrow to produce a booklet to show passengers exactly what’s available because surveys show that people travelling through Heathrow really don’t know what’s on offer when it comes to finding places to eat and drink: they tend to hit the nearest thing to them and are sometimes dissatisfied. People need to know the options.

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Caviar to sushi and plenty inbetween: John and Gregg sample some of the airport’s offerings

JT: You’d be surprised at just how many good places there are in Heathrow to sit down to a good meal: including well-known good high street chains such as Wagamama and Giraffe. At Terminal Five, you also have Gordon Ramsay’s Plane Food where you are not only able to sit down to eat but you can also buy a picnic to take on board your flight – a three-course meal for £12.95. You can get smoked salmon to take away from Caviar House, a pizza to go from Strada (perfect if you have kids and you’re going on a long-haul flight and you’re worried they won’t like the in-flight meal).

GW: I actually get to an airport early – that’s because I’m a worrier, but I do shop in airports and I eat in them, regularly. I’m someone who actually enjoys the experience of being at an airport – I don’t think I’m unique.

JT:

In the past I got to an airport as late as absolutely possible.

However, I noticed a while ago that travelling through Heathrow had

become a much more pleasurable experience. Now I like finding time to go

to the Caviar House seafood bar for something to eat, I love that: a

seafood platter and glass of wine – an elegant treat before you jump on

your flight. It’s a really nice place to sit. It’s now a meeting spot

for Gregg and I, if we’re out working.

GW: A couple of things have really impressed me about the Heathrow people: they obviously care about what passengers experience – they might not have it all perfect at the moment but they definitely care. The other thing that impressed me is that all of the high street chains who have eating places at Heathrow – and they’ve got a fair few in there – are not allowed to charge any more money for their food than they do in the high street. I don’t think most passengers realise this.

JT: Part of the task for Heathrow is getting passengers calmed down: they’re leaving home, they might have a number of children in tow, they’ve had to worry about luggage, what to pack, where to park the car; and then there’s security, you have to take off your boots and have them scanned and suddenly the person in front of you has got four bottles of water in their bag and holds everybody up – no wonder people get so stressed.

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Spanish getaway: Mallorca is a favourite with both John and Gregg

The airport is seeking to try and calm people down a little bit before they jump on an aeroplane. And I think they’re doing quite a good job at this. There are some great airport restaurants Terminal 5 is impressive in this respect: also very good is Terminal 3 where I like Oriel and Rhubarb. Oriel is a ‘grande brasserie’ in the Café Rouge style; it’s an oasis of calm in a busy terminal. Rhubarb is a restaurant that celebrates the best in English cooking.

Which other airports do you think offer good food?

GW: Hong Kong. John and I, through Masterchef, were going to Australia, and we stopped off at Hong Kong. The airport is massive – unbelievably big. There is a vast range of food being served there. You can wander round there for hours.

Singapore Airport is interesting, there’s not a huge amount of eateries, but it’s a great place to wait for your flight: there’s a swimming pool here, for example.

GW: Bangkok Airport really did impress me.

HEATHROW FOOD: FACTS FIGURES

Breakfast is the most popular dish

of the day at Heathrow, with almost 5 million eggs, 6.4 million

croissants and 4.5 million rashers of bacon served every year

The airport plates up more than 1.5

tonnes of caviar and 25,000 kilos of salmon, and shucks over 240,000

oysters annually. This delicious seafood requires a garnish of 400,000

lemons every year.

Heathrow pours over 800,000 glasses of Champagne every year

Every year 1.5 tonnes of caviar are dished up to customers, alongside and close to a quarter of a million oysters.

Over 250,000 pieces of sushi are served at Heathrow each year, and 630,000 portions of steak

Heathrow’s food and beverage team

work with leading nutritionists to review the food and drink on offer

and provide guidance and advice on travel eating

Heathrow has previously introduced

travel concepts including a picnic area serving a pre-flight relaxation

menu of dishes scientifically proven to help people unwind.

The airport has also introduced

‘take onboard’ menu options for the 17% of passengers who like to take

food to eat on their flight.

JT: Bangkok has been transformed. About 10 years ago at the airport, there was a Hungry Jack’s which is what we’d call Burger King, and that was it! There was nothing else in Bangkok Airport.

Now you can find a place, for example, that has two guys with woks doing fresh hot food. Yeah, it was brilliant with steam dumplings and all sorts of stuff. It reminds you that eating in an airport can be a very pleasurable experience.

GW: We also like Houston Airport which is where I had my first ever experience of a proper American diner being served high stacks of pancakes – good quality food. As a place to eat it was very loud and very bright – it had good, fun staff.

Do you enjoy travelling?

JT: I love it. I would be very, very happy to be on an aeroplane quite a lot of the time. I go home to Australia quite a lot – I love it. I have a flying routine: a couple of days before the flight, I change my body-clock. For example, I try and have my main meals at about the time I would be eating in Australia and similarly I change my sleep pattern. Also I go for a very, very large cycle ride or very long run before I get in an aeroplane, lots of exercise. Once on board the plane I try not to eat. On the first leg of the journey, I stay awake watching movies and reading – then I sleep a little bit on the second leg: you usually arrive in Australia first thing in the morning, so it helps to have a good sleep before you get there. I never work in an aeroplane. I’ve tried for years – it never, ever happens for me. I can’t do it.

One of the great joys about travelling, I feel, is that silence especially when you’re travelling alone; nobody can get in touch with you, and I love that.

GW: I go on five holidays a year. It’s the one thing that I do actually spend money on – five holidays and five weekends away a year as well. The only thing that stops me is the diary, work commitments, squeezing all those in, but that’s my ideal.

My perfect idea of a holiday is to do nothing at all. One of the most enjoyable holidays I’ve ever had is when I went to Florida for two weeks on my own.

I went first to Miami, which I didn’t really enjoy – it was too busy; and to get the most out of the place you need to be under 30 and it helps if you’re a millionaire. From Miami I went across to Naples in Florida and stayed at the Ritz-Carlton. I love those big, functional American hotels where everything works. The tellies are big, the rooms are clean, the rooms are huge; you know exactly where breakfast, lunch and dinner are going to happen. There’s a nice big swimming pool, a great gym and a lovely beach: everything feels safe and well ordered.

I was in bed by nine o’clock every night watching a movie on an enormous television, and I was in the gym every morning at six o’clock. I was the first to the pool, and I had the most chilled-out time.

Favourite holiday destinations?

JT: I love Australia. I went over in January and, for the first time in many years, actually had time for myself just to sit on a beach. I was in a pretty rubbish hotel overlooking Manly Beach; however I learnt to surf for five days (I got up every single morning and went for lessons – it was just fantastic). And I went for a run every day along the beach.

One of my favourite holiday places is Mallorca: I have been going for years, almost to the same place all the time: Puerto Pollensa. I love it.

It’s calm, it’s cultured. There’s two worlds to it: there’s the beach, which is shallow for the kids; and then there’s the old town which is just lovely. There’s some really lovely little restaurants, like La Fonda, which is still owned by the same family. The market happens every single Sunday and it’s a great market.

GW: I like Palma which is a beautiful city. One of my favourite hotels, near Palma, is the Son Net. When I arrive at Palma Airport, they send a car for the 25-minute drive to the hotel. They’ve got a good restaurant, spa and a swimming pool (interestingly, it’s a Mallorcan hotel which is nowhere near the sea).

Later in the year I’m planning a major trip. I’m going to go to Las Vegas for four days, then Scottsdale for 10 days. I fly back for a day, pick up my kids, and then fly to Marbella for two weeks. Now, I’ve never, ever done that – I’m off for the whole month!

JT: To be happy on holiday Gregg needs to be sure that he knows where everything is and when everything is going to happen, and then it will be a fantastic hotel. As long as the room is clean, he knows where the gym is, there is a swimming pool, and he knows that everything works, he’ll be fine.

GW: I really like going places and exploring the culture, but I want my little bit of civilisation to come home to – I’m getting old. I don’t like trendy restaurants anymore. I like old, established ones, and that’s the way I feel about my holidays.

* John and Gregg’s experiences will form part of Heathrow’s first ever food guide. Food on the Fly whichwill provide passengers with an overview of the varied dining options available in the airport. This will be published and handed out to passengers to mark the summer getaway with a digital version available to download from www.heathrow.com from July.