United is swapping in a second round of Chef's Table meals for its long-haul Polaris business class, running from 1 November to 31 December 2026. The collaboration with the brand behind the Netflix series puts 30 new dishes on the menu, created by 11 chefs tied to United's seven US hubs plus three international gateways: London, São Paulo and Tokyo.
The line-up is genuinely starry. Nancy Silverton of Osteria Mozza covers Los Angeles with a caprese, chopped salad and spiral meat lasagna in taleggio sauce. Tomos Parry (Brat, Mountain) handles London with grilled halibut and seaweed sauce, while São Paulo's Manu Buffara offers roasted beef with bean pirão and cumari pepper relish. Other picks worth a look: David Barzelay's grilled rack of lamb with carrot barbecue sauce from San Francisco, and Isabel Coss and Matt Conroy's duck leg enchilada with queso Oaxaca from Washington Dulles. Chicago, Newark, Houston, Denver and Tokyo round out the list.
Each departure city has its own fixed three-course package — appetizer, salad and main — so you order the whole set rather than mixing and matching with the regular menu. Notably, some of the salads are meals in themselves; United has put real effort into starters, not just the main course.
Early signs suggest the food is actually delivering. United says over 60,000 passengers have tried the meals since the first rotation launched on 1 August, with satisfaction scores roughly 20 points higher than its other preorder options. That's the airline's own measurement, but it's a fair signal this isn't a marketing exercise. The real test, of course, is execution at 35,000 feet — a great recipe still has to survive catering, reheating and service, and the author notes at least one underwhelming entree photo from the first round.
The practical bit: these meals are preorder-only, available to Polaris passengers on eligible international flights serving lunch or dinner. Ordering opens five days before departure and closes 24 hours out, via united.com or the United app. If you're flying Polaris out of a hub this winter and care about dinner, set a reminder — miss the window and you're back to the standard menu. Rotations are expected to continue into 2027, so there should be more chef menus on the way.