What does it take to get airline food off the ground

AirAsia's Lemang with Beef Rendang is a special dish that was added to the menu for Hari Raya, and will only be served until the end of August. Photos: The Star/Yap Chee Hong and AirAsia

Every day at 10am, Calvin Soo sits down to a very large meal. He eats, or rather, takes small bites of, all the 25 different dishes on budget airline AirAsia’s Santan menu, tasting each element carefully.

“You get very used to the taste profile this way, so if there is even a slight variance in seasoning, we can detect it instantly. Every day, we have to make sure that the quality is at its best,” he says.