Review of Brussels Airlines flight from Brussels to New York in Business

This report is about the return flight to my outbound trip to Istanbul. The outbound flight report can be found here:
http://flight-report.com/en/report-6393.html
So I spent the last days of my vacation in Paris. Leaving from CDG to NYC, my only direct option on *A would have been the good old United. Though UA is a fine airline, I didn't feel like flying out of CDG T1, which is probably my second least favorite air terminal in the developed world, not far ahead of LGA or the RJ concourse extension at DEN. I tried to book CDG-YUL-JFK instead but adding AC to the fare seemed to skyrocket the fare to 6500+. Anyways, given BRU's close location to CDG, I decided to try SN out of BRU and therefore here is the flight report.
After a fabulous lunch at the Park Hyatt, I got into a taxi to Gare du Nord. Thalys to Bruxelles - Midi was painless. I grabbed dinner in the city and then a quick local train took me to the Sheraton at BRU.
I got up fairly early as I have never been to BRU airport before. Check in was relatively crowded. I was surprised that LH ground wasn't handled by SN.

For my flight to the USA, all passengers have to see a document checking agent before proceeding to the actual check in agent. I was asked the usual security questions.
Did you pack your belongings yourself?
I wish I could afford to have someone else to do that for me.
Ugh….

A quick look at the departure board. There's an array of interesting west Africa bound flights departing BRU.

I don't know much about BRU, but this morning was a pretty busy time.

Non-LH group airline counters are all at the end of the check-in hall.

Airside past immigration is fairly empty. Though still a few hours before departure, the ABJ/ACC bound flights already have lots of passengers in the gate holding area waiting.

SN opened a new Sunrise Lounge in the international area. It looked nice from the outside.

Inside the lounge is bright red, which i found a little bit disturbing I'd say.

Given LH lounges' fairly good food and beverage selection in general, I was expecting a nice breakfast with some cold cuts etc. In reality the below is the entire selection available this morning. It was rather disappointing.

One of the SN wide bodies.

Soon it was time for boarding and I headed to the gate area. Another security check was carried out.

Boarding was orderly. Once onboard, pre-departure drinks were served quickly. A refill was offered!

Had one of the nice single seats.

Seat control panel featured a touch screen. I actually didn't like it much although it looked pretty good. I appreciate physical buttons still.

Now get ready for some German… My AVOD was set in German when I found my seat and I was not sure exactly how to switch languages. A FA helped me out after a while.

The shoe holder was very well though of

Take off gave a nice view of the city

3D moving map was available

About 15 minutes after take off, a FA came by and offered me a menu.

Nuts were served with a snack item. Beverage orders were also taken

Lunch tray arrived at about 11:30am local. The salad looked very pleasing

The first course was scallop over parmesan panna cotta with orange vinaigrette. The other choice was mezze

The main arrived soon after. Pictured below is Chicken Provencale accompanied by lemon ravioli and baby fennel. The other choices were cantonese shrimp or Fettuccine
I was surprised that no red meat option was offered. Compare to Delta's 5 choices in international BusinessElite, SN's offering is a bit lacking

Cheese plate was served as main courses were cleared off

Dessert was a fruit puffy pastry dish. I was happy to see some locally inspired options.

The quality of the green tea, however, was unsatisfactory :/

Snack station was soon set up at the front of the cabin

SN uses the same seat as LX and OS in the LH family. This seat is also found on Delta's 767s and Air Canada's new 777s. American's 767 retro fit project will roll out with this type of seats too.

I napped for a few hours. A post nap snack it is :)

Then I tried to charge my phone. The outlet was not working so I gave up after a trying a few times.

Another look at the seat. Although SN has the same seat in J as many others, I prefer SN's colour and think it is the most relaxing among all. OS's red cabin is just a little bit too busy to my taste.

The second service was provided about 1 hour prior to landing at JFK. The beef was fresh and the salad was appropriate for the time of the day. I prefer this over the afternoon tea served on BA.

After the second service was cleared, the purser came over and gave each passenger a box of chocolate. I have never gotten a whole box of something from an airline. This was certainly much appreciated.

Flying over the tip of long island.

Final seconds before landing. View of the residential area in Jamaica, NY

Pulling into JFK T1

A final look at cabin before deplaning

Passing by an AF bird on my way to immigration

Immigration as usual took forever. I was not in the baggage claim area until 2 hours after deplaning.

Arrival announcements

Soon after I got myself on the AirTran. Passing by the sad looking world port. Delta demolished this historical building and will use this location for … airplane PARKING !! ;<

View of the city :)