United Airlines began offering new inflight meal menus in collaboration with Netflix’s documentary series “Chef’s Table” on November 1.
A total of 30 dishes—including salads, appetizers, and main courses—created by 11 chefs from 10 cities will be offered in United Polaris, the airline’s international business class, through December 31.
The menus are inspired by the food cultures of the airline’s seven U.S. hubs, as well as its major international hubs in London, São Paulo, and Tokyo. Each chef’s dishes will be served on lunch and dinner flights departing from the city that inspired them.
For flights departing Tokyo, the menu is created by Chef Tashi Gyamtso of Jimgu, a restaurant that uses farm-to-table ingredients. The offerings include snow crab with yuzu kosho aioli as an appetizer; a cold soba salad with tsuyu dressing; and chicken seasoned with ginger soy sauce, Japanese curry ratatouille, and sesame-coated potatoes as the main course.
For flights departing Los Angeles, the menu is created by Nancy Silverton of Osteria Mozza, with spiral meat lasagna featuring passato and Taleggio sauce as the main course. In San Francisco, David Barzelay of Lazy Bear will offer grilled rack of lamb as the main course. For flights departing London, Tomos Parry of Mountain and Brat will offer a roasted pumpkin and rosemary stracciatella salad.
Other participating chefs include Faryal Abdullahi of Hav & Mar for New York/Newark departures; Jenner Tomaska of Esmé and other restaurants for Chicago; Justin Yu of Theodore Rex for Houston departures; Penelope Wong of Yuan Wonton for Denver departures; Isabel Coss and Matt Conroy of Lutèce and other restaurants for Washington departures; and Manu Buffara of Manu for São Paulo departures.
Reservations can be pre-ordered via the website or app from five days up to 24 hours before departure.
During the first phase, which began on August 1, more than 60,000 customers used the service, and its satisfaction score was nearly 20 points higher than that of other pre-order menus. The program will rotate its menus seasonally through 2027.
Onboard seatback monitors will also feature exclusive content offering a behind-the-scenes look at the chef collaborations, as well as select episodes of the “Chef’s Table: Talks” podcast.
Aaron McMillan, Managing Director of Hospitality Programs at United Airlines, commented, “The new menus introduce new flavors and chef-driven dishes that bring greater culinary discovery to the inflight experience.”
The airline invested more than USD 150 million in improving its dining experience in 2025. Since the beginning of this year, it has also expanded economy-class pre-order options, refreshed its snack boxes, enhanced its onboard wine program, and tested new dining experiences in its lounges.
