Something is not right, apparently. I can’t see what, though. They look perfectly plated and delicious to me.
I’m looking at rows of business-class starters in the Doha catering facility that makes food for Qatar Airways flights and my mouth is watering.
But one of the senior managers who’s showing me around has spotted a discrepancy between some of the meals that have been prepared and a ‘golden sample’ photo of the ‘perfect’ presentation.
The discrepancy to my eye is almost microscopic – there’s a minute gap between two of the morsels that shouldn’t be there.
The chef in charge of the section agrees and immediately briefs his team to correct it.
No wonder Qatar Airways is the world’s No.1 airline. Attention to detail? Down to the millimetre.
Even in a catering facility that prepares a staggering 200,000 meals a day.
MailOnline’s Ted Thornhill was given a sneak peek inside the incredible Doha catering facility run by the Qatar Aircraft Catering Company that services Qatar Airways, where 200,000 meals for the world’s No.1 airline are prepared every day. Above – the omelette-making station, which can produce 17,000 omelettes per day
Above – breakfast appetisers for business-class cabins
Before entering the facility, Ted (above) passes through an ‘air shower’, which blows dust and fluff off clothing
The Qatar Aircraft Catering Company production facility (QACC) is located inside Hamad International Airport – meals are driven from the production lines to waiting aircraft – and my fascinating tour (much of which I capture on camera, see video) begins with a thorough security check, as I’m technically going ‘airside’.
My belongings pass through an X-ray machine and my passport is held at the entrance – to deter me from stowing away on an aircraft.
Before the tour, a veritable banquet is laid out in a meeting room to showcase the QACC’s culinary prowess.
From exquisite slices of salmon to wagyu beef and dreamy ice cream, it’s food fit for a gourmet restaurant.
But the kitchen here is on a vastly different scale to any notable neighbourhood eatery.
It’s more like a kitchen city – it covers 69,000 sq m/742,709 sq ft – with laboratory-level hygiene.
The picture above shows Dal Tadka – an Indian dish for economy – being made. On average, 280 litres are produced per day
Yum’s the word: Economy-class sausages emerge from a giant cooker
Economy-class chicken stew with dill mash potato being prepared
Before I enter, as well as thorough hand-washing, I don a brand-new, white, lab-coat-style jacket, a net for my beard and hair, a face mask, and non-slip shoes.
Then I pass through an ‘air shower’ – a sealed corridor where I turn around as air is blasted at me to remove stray fluff and dust particles – and step into a world that produces enough food to feed a small nation.
QACC has storerooms so high they probably have their own weather at the top and employs more than 4,000 full-time staff of 39 nationalities, including 1,500 dedicated and qualified chefs working around the clock, preparing food that is eaten on aircraft the day it leaves the production line, delivered by a fleet of 195 hi-loader trucks.
Every day, 700 to 800 steaks are prepped, along with 7,000kg of chicken, and a lot of omelettes.
Seventeen thousand a day.
These are made at a carousel we pause at, on which 18 frying pans slowly rotate as the omelettes are ‘cooked to perfection’ and laid out neatly in rows.
Above – grilled jumbo prawns for business-class appetisers
Walnut brownie being prepared for business class
All dishes for every cabin and VVIP flight are tasted at this station
QACC employs more than 4,000 full-time staff of 39 nationalities, including 1,500 dedicated and qualified chefs working around the clock, preparing food that is eaten on aircraft the day it leaves the production line, delivered by a fleet of 195 hi-loader trucks
Even when heated up on the plane ‘they are still moist inside’, I’m told, as I watch the chefs at work, mesmerised.
The tour continues, past sizzling rows of juicy, business-class jumbo prawns, vats of curry sauce being stirred, onions and carrots being chopped, economy-class sausages tumbling out of huge cookers, and thick, delicious-smelling chocolate sauce being draped over baking trays.
We pause to try some of the premier-class desserts – heavenly. Golden samples, every one of them.
At the end, I watch as trays of food are stacked in trolleys, ready to be loaded into Qatar Airways’ gleaming fleet of aircraft.
I’m hugely impressed by the whole operation.
And did I mention that the QACC also processes up to 45 tonnes of linen per day and packs up to 120,000 aircraft headsets?
What a plane-ly amazing place.