In normal times, people bellyache about airplane food. We roll our eyes, we take our own food on board, we rush out of the plane in a stopover to find decent grub.

But these are not normal times. And we went mad for Singapore Airlines (SIA) food.

Much of its fleet, the pride of Singapore, is grounded. But the airline hit gold when it started offering its first-and business-class meals for delivery to homes.

And because SIA always does things right, it went out of its way to make customers feel special. Included with the meals are amenity kits, specially curated playlists and even virtual tours of airplane cabins.

The first-class, all-inclusive package is priced at $888 and includes a bottle of champagne, a bottle of red or white Burgundy wine, a 12-piece set of Wedgwood bone china tableware, a six-piece set of Lalique crystal glasses and three amenity kits.

Orders started rolling in minutes after the ordering site went live online in the dead of the night.

When SIA launched Restaurant A380, in which people can book seats on two Airbus planes and have a meal on the stationary aircraft, things went crazy.

The first lot of seats for lunch sold out in 30 minutes. Additional seats for lunch and dinner went fast.

Prices ranged from $50 a person in the economy cabin to $600 a person for those sitting in suites.

It is a rare chance for regular folk to get a taste of what first-class travel is like, and eat food conceived by chefs such as Singapore's Shermay Lee, Australia's Matt Moran, India's Sanjeev Kapoor, Japan's Yoshihiro Murata and France's Georges Blanc.

And the signature satay that only high-fliers get on board.