Tigerbites flight menu ‘Rowie’s gluten free cheese toastie’
Airplane menu vegan cheese toastie
Pros: Gluten free, fairly filling, a surprise on an inflight menu
Cons: Pricey for what it is, not a “melt”, calorific, takes a long time to be served
Flying with Tigerair today on the way back from Sydney for my sister’s wedding, I was really excited to try the vegan cheese toastie on the in-flight Tiger Bites menu.
I think it has been on the menu since October 2014 when it was launched by Tigerair Australia, though it seems Rowie’s have provided goodies for Tiger since 2013.
It was a short trip and though I’ve taken many from Sydney to Melbourne and vice versa before I haven’t gotten around to trying it as I’m usually travelling at non-eating times (early morning or evening). With the flight being so short (less than two hours) I wasn’t too sure I’d manage this time around, however decided to give it a try.
Reading the menu, I initially thought it was Tofutti cheese in the toastie but now I’m pretty sure it isn’t. I was a bit disappointed that it wasn’t going to be a “melt” but was excited that they had an option regardless.
Made by Rowie’s, there are also a few other treats available including their gluten free and vegan Anzac biscuits and rocky road (yes, it’s vegan gelatin that’s listed on the back, I’ve asked). I love Rowie’s products, having eaten a number of their biscuits before, so was feeling pretty good about ordering this from the menu.
I took cash onto the plane and waited for what felt like an eternity to be served (we were in row 25). When I ordered, I was told it was going to take 10 minutes to heat it up and unfortunately by the time I was given it and started to eat we were being hurried to give back our rubbish for boarding — so it did feel like I didn’t get to really settle in for a nice sandwich as much as I was anticipating.
In saying that, as we ordered the combo deal (we chose to have it with water), we munched on some salty popcorn while we waited, which helped take the edge off of it.
The girl next to us had also ordered the vegan toastie (Hurrah!) and initially was going to eat it cold, but found it too hard. I saw on hers that the toasted griddle-type marks were already on it — so it seems they are pre-toasted and then just heated up to serve on the plane.
By the time I had it, I snapped a few photos and got eating. It comes in a little box that it seems it’s heated in — you rip a tab off to open it.
I found it a bit annoying that it wasn’t cut in two (and you aren’t given a plastic knife), like it is shown in the menu photos — so you’re effectively eating a massive sandwich in a tiny space on the plane.
The toastie is a cream cheese, “sun blushed” tomato and basil pesto. The pesto was lovely, but there was certainly a lot of olive oil that I found made it all a bit too soggy and greasy for me. The Italian herb flavours that I think were through the bread as well as the pesto were really great. The bread was the highlight for me, being surprisingly fluffy when heated for a toastie. It was pretty filling and a somewhat attractive bright yellow colour. Despite the griddle marks being made prior to the heating up, it did have a slight crunchy texture, which was good.
The big letdown was opening the sandwich up. Having a quick look inside was a big mess and I was pretty disappointed with how little was in it. You can see how dry it is of flavour in this picture.
The white cream cheese is made of soy and has a texture that’s alike to blended silken tofu, so I’m doubtful it is Tofutti. It was blobby and breaking up in some way, so maybe it had been frozen before. It wasn’t particularly evenly spread on the sandwich.
It is really awesome that an airline, and especially a budget one like Tiger, has this option. However, I do feel a little let down by the toastie. When I think “toastie” I think melted gooey cheese. They’d do well to consider bio cheese in a melt-style version of this.
In general, I’d like to see airlines become more vegan friendly and it’s good to see Rowie’s also in charge of a menu for Qantas.
Due to how long it took to come and the subsequent indigestion-inducing rushed eating, I won’t be ordering it on a short haul flight again. Food can be pre-ordered, but they should really make some rules about not having hot food unless you pre-order on a short flight if the option isn’t really viable in the time frame for those not at the front end of the plane.
The price
It cost $9 for the toastie alone, or $14 for the “combo”, which we had. The combo came with a drink (we had water) and popcorn.
Having seen a picture online of the gluten free non-vegan option, I’m not impressed with the amount of filling in the toastie compared to the non-vegan versions of the same price.
If you pre-order, the combo deal comes to $13. They don’t call it vegan on the drop down list but I’m pretty sure it’s the same one.
It is always expensive on flights and this toastie is no exception. While a bleeding cup of noodles costs $5 on Tigerair, I think it’s very expensive for a 230 gram sandwich.
The ingredients
According to the box:
Bread: Water, potato starch, rice flour, soy flour, raising agent (575, 500), canola oil, non-iodised salt, sugar, pumpkin, rosemary, vegetable hum (412, 415, 464).
Filling: Water, vegetable oil, soy protein isolate, soya beans, mineral salt (516), (non dairy lactic acid), sugar, vegetable gum (locust bean, guar) salt, emulsifiers (vegetable mono and diglycerides), olive oil, tomato, basil, chilli, bay leaf, oregano, salt and pepper.
The nutritional value
Yeast free, nut free, wheat free and gluten free, it’s great that the nutritional profile offers itself available to so many different dietary requirements. Sadly, it’s not soy free for those who avoid soy.
It contains 647 calories in the 230 gram one person serve, it has an amazing 14 grams of fat (2.3 grams saturated). It has 124 grams of carbohydrates, 8.5 grams of protein and 1940 milligrams of sodium.
