Luke Mangan's bid to make airline food yum

LUKE Mangan reveals the delicious dishes now served in business class on Virgin Australia domestic flights.

AS someone who flies often himself, Luke Mangan has strong opinions about the kind of meals you get in the air.

Airline food, he believes, has always been hit and miss.

It's something he's trying to change in his partnership with Virgin Australia, which recruited him to overhaul its inflight menu.

His business class menu began being rolled out across the domestic network when the class was launched in Australia in January.

Mangan's aim is to get restaurant quality food in the air.

"I think when airlines are just leaving it to caterers to do there's no love or passion or care,'' he says.

"When you have someone who's skilled and involved it's a different experience.

"We're not going to get everything 100 per cent right all the time but we do our best.''

Mangan, who also designs the menus for Virgin lounges in Australia, says the most important thing is getting the balance right.

"I like all the food to be really light, healthy and full of flavour," he says.

"For me it's just like writing a restaurant menu.

"We're just trying to take it back and keep it simple.''

While many airlines don't serve seafood on flights because of concerns over freshness, Mangan thinks fish works well in the air.

One of his dishes which has been served in business class is lightly smoked salmon with soy, ginger and shallot dressing.

Another recent dish is pearl pasta with dill and prawns.

Business class guests are also served a signature mocktail, while the snack range includes rice paper rolls and cheese plates.

Chocolate macadamia nuts are offered with dinner.

Where he can, Mangan incorporates herbs and fragrant spices.

"You have to really get your taste buds happening,'' Mangan says.

The move to recruit Mangan is part of a cultural shift when it comes to mile-high dining.

Fellow celebrity chef Neil Perry designed the inflight and lounge menu for Australia's national carrier, Qantas while British chef Gordon Ramsay and Australia's Matthew Moran are part of Singapore Airlines' culinary panel, along with French master chef Georges Blanc.

Mangan met Virgin founder Richard Branson nearly a decade ago and was quickly asked to cook for him on his private island, Necker, in the Caribbean.

He later took a consultancy role for Virgin Atlantic and several private events at Branson's resorts, including Kasbah Tamadot in Morocco and Ulusaba Private Game Reserve in South Africa, before becoming first class chef for V Australia business class and Virgin American first class.

The celebrity chef plans Virgin's menus a year in advance with the help of two other chefs and changes the menu in business class once a week on domestic flights and every three months on international flights.

"Since January we have had so many comments from people about how much they love some dishes, so we keep them on,'' he says.

"In international you plate every item and heat it individually like a restaurant; in domestic you only have an hour between Sydney and Melbourne so the meals are reheated in a casserole dish.

"We have to limit our movements to one or two... I get in trouble if it's three.''

While he admits he's no Heston Blumenthal - the UK chef known for his molecular approach to food - Mangan acknowledges your sense of taste does change at 38,000 ft and he has to be aware of the science.