You don’t expect to be wowed by plane meals.

Until now, the closest I’ve come to Israeli gastronomic greatness on a plane was bumping into Yotam Ottolenghi in the queue for the toilet.

But now, when you fly with El Al, there’s a opportunity to sample a menu from one of Israel’s top chefs. Michelin star-winner Assaf Granit — who has been enlisted by the airline to revamp the inflight menus.

Granit, who is one of the trio behind Israel’s (now world-famous) Machneyuda restaurant and who now runs a string of restaurants in Israel and around the world, started working with the airline a while back. His menus launched on European flights a few months ago, but now the meals can be tasted further afield, with a roll out to flights to and from the US, South Africa, and the Far East.

The culinary guru — co-founder of London’s Coal Office — has said of his work with Israel's flagship airline: “Growing up in the Ein Karem neighborhood of Jerusalem, I felt this uniquely Israeli tribute to our different cultures, in the connection between my grandma Leah’s Eastern European horseradish and my Moroccan neighbor Jacqueline’s perfect couscous. Israeli cuisine is all about connecting these different cultures and has long been my culinary inspiration.” 

“The food I bring you today is the product of our shared journey, whether it’s Persian Kohresh-e Ghormeh Sabzi stew, Moroccan Chraime fish, or a touch of za’atar in the chocolate mousse in your dessert.

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Friday night favourite Chraime is on the menu (Photo: El Al)

The menu offers a range of dishes including ‘textured mushrooms’ — a creamy-tasting concoction served with the same ragu used for the Machneyuda group’s famous polenta dish. Sadly, the polenta itself — so popular it never leaves the menu — is so heavily based on butter, cream and parmesan (part of its addictive charm) it did not make the meaty menu. A perfectly parev version (sadly sans polenta) has been created with the menu note explaining “until we crack the code for parve polenta, we chose to use this ragu to create special textures.”

There’s also a kale salad — which is bound to be more interesting than its simple description; Musakhan roasted chicken with fried onion and sumac, served in laffa and Kohresh-e Ghormeh Sabzi — a Persian beef and vegetable stew — and Moroccan staple Chraime (a Friday night favourite in many a Sephardi home) made with mullet and served with couscous.

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Sweet treat pairs chocolate with za'atar Photo: El Al

Middle Eastern-themed desserts include basboussa (semolina cake) with jam or a chocolate mousse with za’atar crumble.

This menu has already been served to Premium passengers on flights to Europe, Dubai and MumbaI for several months. Further down the plane, economy passengers have been able to chow down on a range of Granit-designed sandwiches including chicken breast with harissa, chimichurri, za’atar and pickled lemon; brisket with fried onions chipotle aioli and garlic aioli on flights leaving during the day.

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Spiced up sandwiches are a step up (Photo: El Al)

Meat is swapped for milk for middle-of-the-night and breakfast-time departures, with dairy-based rolls filled with either Gouda and sweet potatoes, garlic aioli and mayo; or labneh, beetroot and verdant Yemenite schug — the herb and chill sauce that is apparently toned down for onboard diners.

It will be interesting to see how the flavours fare thirty thousand or so miles high.