Review - EVA Air Royal Laurel Business Class B777-300ER Taipei Taoyuan to Paris Charles de Gaulle
BR87 TPE-CDG
February, 2026
In-transit:
After a fantastic short hop from Hong Kong, my next leg with EVA was on the B777-300ER to Paris. I reviewed the hard product back in 2023, and nothing has changed in that regard. So for the cabin and the seats, you can refer to that review here.
Lounge:
I ranted enough about EVA’s lounge situation in Taipei. Simply put, if you can avoid long connections when flying EVA, do not hesitate.
Boarding:
I admit that I was maybe just a tad excited when I thought my flight might be operated by EVA Air’s Hello Kitty jet. Unfortunately, the Paris route only gets the kitty on select days of the week, and my flight was not on one of those days…
Still, I got a pair of Hello Kitty slippers though.
EVA Air Business Class Slippers TPE-CDG
On a side note, this trip was the first time I spent Chinese New Year at home in ten years. In my memory, the malls had always played Chinese New Year music over the holiday period - think the Mariah Carey Christmas playlist, but Chinese. I was disappointed to learn that most of the malls in Chengdu don’t play holiday music anymore. EVA Air still honors this tradition, though, as it was blasting Chinese New Year classics during boarding. It really added to the festive vibe (年味).
Business class amenity kit has changed from Ferragamo to Maison Kitsuné. I guess you have to save money somewhere… A trend I’ve noticed lately is that when airlines offer slippers, they no longer offer socks. Am I the only one who thinks they should be complementing and not substituting?
EVA Air Business Class Amenity Kit TPE-CDG
EVA Air Business Class Amenity Kit TPE-CDG
The new amenity kit does have these fold-out tote bags, which could come in handy if your carry-on is otherwise full.
EVA Air Business Class Amenity Kit TPE-CDG
An increasing number of airlines have started offering pajamas in business class, but EVA was one of the OGs.
EVA Air Business Class Pajamas TPE-CDG
Upon settling in, I was greeted by the crew and offered a pre-departure drink. I asked for that delicious pineapple peach drink again.
EVA Air Business Class Pre-departure Drink TPE-CDG
Printed menu and wine list were awaiting at the seat. EVA publishes digital menus within your reservation management system. I just want to point out how extensive the options were… Meanwhile the menu in American Airlines Flagship first class was “feeling like a plastic bag, drifting through the wind, wanting to start again”…
The FA collected the menu after she took my order, which I don’t recall EVA Air used to do. Business class ended up having two empty seats, and luckily they were around me. There was this girl sitting two seats over from me wearing an oversized hoodie and giant sunglasses. She was asleep from takeoff to landing. I thought she was some kind of Taiwanese actress, but she got into a full EVA uniform on our descent. I’m so nosy, lol. Surprisingly, premium economy behind us was half empty.
Inflight:
A late dinner commenced with the standard apéritif service. EVA Air has different champagnes on different routes. For European destinations, Laurent Perrier Grand Siècle was on offer. While it’s not my favorite, it’s an objectively respectable showing. As a matter of fact, it’s served in British Airways and Lufthansa first class, not that they’re the pinnacles of premium flying but…
EVA Air Business Class Dinner Apéritif TPE-CDG
A little moment of culture for y’all - popcorns in Asia are predominantly sweet. It took me some time to get used to the salty and buttery popcorn, but now I love it. So these were sweet, obvi.
EVA Air Business Class Dinner Apéritif TPE-CDG
There were essentially three set menus for dinner: the Star Special, which was Chinese, the International Menu, as the name suggests, and the Celebrity Chef Menu, which was Japanese.
EVA Air Business Class Dinner Table Setup TPE-CDG
I decided on the Japanese menu, which came with a cute card describing the collaboration. I remember not being able to get a reservation at Isshisoden Nakamura when we were in Kyoto, so I was pleasantly surprised.
EVA Air Business Class Dinner Collaboration TPE-CDG
Similar to on JAL and ANA, the Japanese meal was served bento-style but without the box. The orange plate on the top left contained simmered burdock with sesame seed, wakame seaweed with herring roe, candied black beans with edamame, seasoned duck loaf baked with sesame seed, prawn breaded with mullet roe, and sasamaki-style sushi with kelp-cured sea bream and grilled eel. On the right we had chikuzen-ni simmered chicken and root vegetables, snow crab meat and squid with sesame vinegar, and some miso soup. The main dish of the day was sake-steamed abalone with sesame tofu and seaweed, while on the lower left we had scallop gohan with shiso leaves and pickles.
EVA Air Business Class Dinner TPE-CDG
I would say the variety here was commendable, however, I found the taste to be just okay. I probably should have stuck with the Chinese option. It was by no means a bad meal, I just had very high expectations for EVA’s catering out of its home base.
For dessert, we had a red bean pudding with hojicha jelly and vanilla cream sauce. It was fine. I had a glass of the Pomerol to go with it, which was quite good.
EVA Air Business Class Dinner Dessert TPE-CDG
Since Taiwanese could not fly over the Chinese airspace when not flying to China, the circuitous flight path adds a couple hours to the journey. I eventually woke up around two hours before landing, as we were flying over Belgrade.
EVA Air Business Class Breakfast Towel TPE-CDG
Breakfast started with a hot towel, as well as a drink of choice. I asked the FA if they had bubble tea onboard, better yet, they had taro milk made with fresh taro purée.
EVA Air Business Class Breakfast Beverage TPE-CDG
I love taro, so this was right up my alley. It’s amazing to have this kind of unique items on a flight. For breakfast, I went with the Chinese congee set with yu-xiang eggplant, cabbage frittata and traditional accompaniments.
EVA Air Business Class Breakfast TPE-CDG
I saw the softshell crab burger from the snack menu and had to try it out. The plastic ramekins were definitely off-brand for EVA Air. The fried crab was expectedly soggy, but the bread was perfectly pillowy.
EVA Air Business Class Snack TPE-CDG
Lastly, I was presented with an okay fruit plate. Oddly, everything else was sweeter than the pineapple, which Taiwan is known for…
EVA Air Business Class Breakfast TPE-CDG
Similar to my previous flight from Hong Kong, the crew passed out some candies before landing.
EVA Air Business Class Candies TPE-CDG
On Arrival:
We pulled into CDG’s famous/infamous Terminal 1, right next to a Singapore Airlines B77W.
Singapore Airlines B777-300ER at CDG
Terminal 1 is home to Star Alliance airlines, and I was just thinking how many Star Alliance B77Ws fly to Paris - EVA Air, Singapore, Thai, Air China and Air Canada. Flying with EVA is always a joy and a treat. If I have to critique something, I’d say the B77Ws should have the same hard product as EVA’s Dreamliners. I don’t think EVA has plans to reconfigure the B77Ws soon? Another weakness in the experience was the excruciatingly slow Panasonic wifi. I was also not particularly inspired by the catering out of Taipei. Still, all things considered, EVA Air is one of Asia’s best.