HKG airport - the Wing reloaded

At the airport, I went through immigration and security and then straight into the Wing, although this time using the lower level, Business class entrance. While walking there, I noticed that the departure gate for the Singapore flight was immediately adjacent to the lounge – essentially allowing it to look down from the balcony that is the Wing and determine when it is time for boarding. What a nice change to the monitors that usually tell you to “proceed to the gate” way early!

As mentioned before, the C class entrance to the lounge is on the departures level, but the lounge is one floor up, so I climbed the stairs again and first went into the noodle bar, where I sampled two different dishes out of the five or so they had on offer. They were cooked to order and had to hold on to a numbered ticket until the chef called for that number. Both the wan tan soup and the Japanese style ramen were not only good, but also quite substantial in size. But they proved to be tricky to eat with the chopsticks and spoon provided. I was thankful for the restaurant area to be almost empty for maybe I did not always offer a very nice sight while struggling with my food. For those of you that don’t even want to try (you should!), let me mention that there’s also a buffet area to the right of the noodle bar that offers western style food such as sandwiches, yogurts, pastries and so on. It also has a wide choice of alcoholic and soft drinks. I just had some ginger ale and surfed the net for a while on the free WLAN. Having eaten enough, I left the restaurant area, turned left and found myself on the “short bar”, a bar in the very sense of the word including a bartender who immediately asked me what I’d like to have. I was speechless at first (mind you, this is Business class only!), but then noticed a little sign saying that naturally, Cathay Pacific was happy to serve its two signature drinks here as well. I checked my watch and figured that time of day (7.30pm) allowed for some alcohol instead of the usual Cathay Delight, and so I for the first time ordered Cathay’s second signature drink, called “Pacific Sunrise” and described as “a refreshing combination of Champagne and Drambuie with the zest of orange and lemon”. The drink was mixed in front of my eyes and poured into a flute which I then took with me to a lounge cubicle that allowed me to look down at the gate and also offered a StudioCX terminal. Yes, Cathay Pacific also has an “in-lounge entertainment system”, offering the same on-demand content as its airborne sibling, but using a touch screen instead of a remote control and allowing you to select the flight you’re leaving on from a real-time schedule. If you do, the system will automatically stop playing once your flight starts boarding. I think the system even takes into account delays, gate changes and the like. In any case, I think that there was some smart thinking behind that, as it worked perfectly and interrupted my silent singing along with another Corrs tune precisely in the moment the screen down at the gate started saying “now boarding”. I finished my Pacific Sunrise, which by the way I did not like all that much and have decided to forego in the future in favor of pure Champagne, grabbed my belongings and left the Wing with the impression that apart from the wonderful Cabanas, the Business class section was just as nice as the First section. Maybe this impression will change once I get to try the Heaven’s full menu. Next time, next time…


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