Fortnum & Mason, the luxury department store known for its tea and food offerings has redefined travel food in the form of its Hamperling options (ranging from £15 to £50) including smoked salmon, salt-aged beef and foie gras!

If you fly out of Heathrow’s Terminal 5 (the British Airways terminal), you will have noticed the glorious presence of Fortnum & Mason, in the form of an island bar, a shop and restaurant. Inside the shop, as well as buying last-minute gifts you can now also purchase for yourself one of the 5 travel Hamperlings:

• The smoked salmon plate (£15)
• The vegetarian plate (£15)
• The Ploughman’s plate (£20)
• The Glenarm beef plate (£25)
• The foie gras, caviar and smoked fish plate (£50 for two)

Yes, that’s right the £50 option, for two people includes Oscietra Caviar and Fois Gras, if you’re feeling inclined for indulgence!

We settled for the smoked salmon plate (so as not to give our fellow passengers too much food envy). This Hamperling should contain smoked salmon with capers and onions, rye bread and putter, a salad, dressing, lemon posset dessert and three Napolitain Chocolates. All was present and correct except the butter and cutlery, which were missing from ours – perhaps being the first prepared of the mornings, they weren’t quite up to usual F&M standards, so we had to make use of the cutlery on board. The quality of the smoked salmon however was up to par, cut in large wedges, with a creamy taste. There was just enough rye bread to compliment the fish, so overall we’ll give this 4.5 out of 5 – but next time don’t forget the cutlery please F&M!

All the meal options come in an F&M cool bag, which is perfectly sized for re-use for your own lunches for work or as part of a picnic (perhaps with a Fortnum & Mason food hamper). So although the prices may, at a glance seem high for a lunch, the value of the product overall is excellent and as you’ll undoubtedly be going on holiday, all the more reason to indulge a little treat and start your trip off right.

We believe these in-flight meals are primarily aimed at those travelling in economy, as they’re sure to beat the “chicken or fish?” options, as if you’re flying in Business (‘Club Europe / World’ in British Airways terms) or First, then your meal service is already restaurant standard.

Fortnum & Mason travel food is available from their Terminal 5 store only, more information is available here: https://www.fortnumandmason.com/fortnums/the-hamperling.