Aldo Zilli, the Italian celebrity chef and owner of the Zilli restaurant group in Soho, is excited.
We’re at his Zilli Fish restaurant on Brewer Street, with late-afternoon diners sipping wine and tucking into spaghetti vongole (spaghetti with clams in a white wine sauce) and bistecca di tonno ai ferri con insalata (seared tuna steak with Niçoise salad) in an airy room with crisp white tablecloths, as he launches into a spiel about his latest venture: providing Britain’s package holidaymakers with decent — really decent — meals on flights to their favourite spots in the Med.
Thomsonfly, the low-cost airline that provides flights for Thomson, Britain’s biggest tour operator, has just signed Zilli to produce a selection of a dozen dishes, plus a “Zilli Special” fry-up breakfast, for holidaymakers heading to the likes of Ibiza and Majorca.
It’s an unlikely assignment at a time when most other low-cost airlines are cutting “frills” in favour of bleak, utilitarian cabins. But Thomsonfly has found that more than 60 per cent of its passengers already order meals (which must be booked in advance) and sees a big market for passengers who “want something decent to eat on board”.
The dishes, for a return trip, will cost £12 in economy, and will be included in premium class fares, which start at £129 extra on return fares to the Dominican Republic. They will be served from next May.
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Zilli, who is used to providing upmarket meals at more than £50 a head for Soho’s movers and shakers, is thrilled by the opportunity to “improve airline food. I’ve been disappointed with it for years. I cannot remember ever eating a good meal on a flight,” he tells me.
Fancy first-class cabins on other airlines are still getting it wrong, he says. “They write menus like they are running a three-star Michelin restaurant. Then you are given the meals and you look at them and think: ‘What is that?’ ” This is why Zilli — who looks revolutionary in green combat trousers with zig-zag blue patterns, fresh white trainers, a goatee and a manic gleam in his eye — has striven to keep his Thomsonfly dishes “simple yet flavourful”.
Each dish is influenced by where he was brought up, in Abruzzo in central Italy. Travellers heading for raucous breaks in Magaluf on Majorca or Faliraki on Rhodes will soon be treated to chicken fillet covered in smoked mozzarella, a pesto sauce, gorgonzola ravioli, along with a salad consisting of pulses, chick peas, French beans, red and green peppers and feta cheese, followed by a tiramisu. Breads served with meals will be ciabattas, and afternoon sandwiches will be paninis.
Small tubs of Abruzzo olive oil and parmesan cheese will be included on premium-class trays. In these cabins, staff will turn over salads and open hot dishes before serving.
I try the chicken — it’s fantastic. Zilli brings out another dish. This, clearly designed to appeal to the masses, is called “Pizziola Beef”. It is, Zilli says: “A pizza sauce with beef, served with basil mash and roasted veg. It is a brand new international dish!” Again I love it — the flavours are much sharper than I remember on any recent flights, and the tomato sauce has a bit of a chilli kick.
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Zilli, who has been on a Thomsonfly flight to test cooking conditions, has had to adapt his techniques to suit narrow pantries at 30,000ft. He has also had to turn his back on his beloved fish dishes. “There will be no fish, because of the smell. It’s hugely disappointing. Anyway, I tried a Scottish salmon dish, and it just came out mushy. No good at all.”
His guiding principle is to bring out the flavour in food in the sky, he says. “Our taste buds change in the air. Everything seems more bland. So seasoning is very important.”
Harry Helps, of Thomsonfly, which offers trips to 80 destinations from 26 UK airports, says he is surprised that other airlines are not trying to improve their food. “Yes, it’s a low-cost airline, but that doesn’t mean the food has to be bland. We picked Aldo because he is fun and cheeky. That fits our image.”
A wine list and the rest of the menu are to be announced in November. Zilli will choose red montepulciano and white trebbiano wines from his beloved Abruzzo. Cheeses will include goat’s cheese with pepper; fruit will have the skin left on to keep it fresh; and there will be “proper afternoon teas with clotted cream and scones” in premium class.
Zilli can’t wait for the first flight next May. “I will be there! There will be good food! Simple food! But good food!” Airline meals may never be the same again.
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Details: Thomsonfly (0870 1900737, www.thomsonfly.com); Zilli Fish (020-7734 8649, www.zillialdo.com).
Chefs in the sky