AirAsia Opens New Restaurant Serving Plane Food Starting From Only About S$1

Image credit: @zang_thio

Let’s be honest: plane food often gets a bad rep. While there are certainly some airlines that provide good food, can plane food ever fare well when they’re served out of the plane? Well, it looks like we’re about to find out. 

AirAsia has opened a restaurant called Santan and a cafe named T&CO at Mid Valley Megamall in Kuala Lumpur. According to Catherine Goh, the general manager of the outlets, 30% of the menu has been derived from AirAsia’s current in-flight menu. 

These include dishes such as nasi lemak, beef rendang, nyonya curry laksa, fried chicken and chicken satay. The cafe will also feature tea and coffee, snacks and popular Asian desserts like an Onde-Onde cake. (Incidentally, ‘santan’ is the Malay word for coconut milk, a staple ingredient in many Malaysian and regional foods.)

Image credit: Santan

And the dishes are pretty affordable too. For a set meal inclusive of a drink, you can expect to spend up to S$3.90 (RM15). Its a la carte dishes, like the Nasi Lemak, go for as low as approximately S$1.50 (RM5). AirAsia’s CEO Tony Fernandes explains that much like his vision of for the low-cost carrier, “low cost doesn’t mean low quality”. 

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From a popular inflight menu in the sky onboard #AirAsia flights, we have finally unveiled the world’s first #ASEAN fast food restaurant – Santan! 🍽🌯🍲 . Airline food won’t be served here though, but rather we’re bringing a variety of tasty ASEAN dishes at affordable prices! Join us tomorrow for the grand opening and follow Santan’s official Instagram account, @santan.asean and @tcocafe for more exciting updates! . Don’t forget to visit their website at www.santan.com.my and order online the famous Pak Nasser’s Nasi Lemak with Chicken Rendang for only RM5! Use code: SANTANRM5

A post shared by AirAsia (@airasia) on Dec 2, 2019 at 3:17am PST

Plans for Future Franchises

At Santan and T&CO, diners will be able to order food online and through an app before collecting it later in person. The restaurant intends to work with Grab and Foodpanda soon, to further increase the convenience and experience of dining with them. 

And you might soon be able to enjoy AirAsia’s in-flight grub elsewhere in the world. Beyond Kuala Lumpur, Fernandes shares the airline’s plans to franchise the fast-food restaurant and expand to 100 outlets all over the world, including Times Square, New York in the next five years. 

Santan is located at F-051, First Floor, Mid Valley Megamall, Lingkaran Syed Putra, Mid Valley City, 58000 Kuala Lumpur and you can make orders at their website here. 

Also read: My Experience Flying Long-Haul on a Budget Airline – It Exceeded My Expectations!