Airline Looks To NYC Chef For In-Flight Designer Dining

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Tasty food on a plane? Believe it!

Airlines are now competing to keep elite flyers well fed and happy.

As CBS2's Kris Van Cleave reported, one airline turns to a top Manhattan chef for cutting-edge cuisine.

For two days twice a year, the chefs at Singapore Airlines come to one of New York City's best restaurants—Gotham Bar and Grill—to learn how to make a menu of meals that will soon be served to high-end flyers.

Gotham Executive Chef Alfred Portale designed the 18 dishes, including New Zealand king salmon with a parsnip puree and red wine mushroom emulsion and heirloom carrot soup with red and gold beets.

The meals have to be carefully crafted so they can be cooked on the ground, then cooled before reheated and assembled on the plane.

"We simplify the preparation, we reduce the number of ingredients and we may change the presentation so they can execute it on the plane flawlessly," Portale said.

Simon Loke is the airline's executive chef in Singapore—his team prepares meals for 30,000 flyers every day.

"A good airline dish needs to have stronger flavor because up in the air, air tends to be thinner, you lose some of your taste buds," Loke said.

The restaurant's chefs cook and assemble the meal alongside the airline chefs for designer dining at any altitude.

Singapore Airlines changes its in-flight menu every couple of months.