Fiji Airways Chefs Table

[henrus]

Today I got to try Fiji Airways Chefs Table and couldn’t be more impressed.

The concept started back in May this year so has been around for about 6 months. In short Fiji airways has a couple of spare rooms in their lounge and have turned one into a twice a day fine dining experience. Starting at 1pm and 6:30pm they offer this multi course meal within the lounge and it’s open to everyone!

I first heard about it on points hacks:

Fiji Airways brings Chef's Table to the Premier Lounge

Passengers departing from Nadi International Airport can opt for a four-course degustation in the Fiji Airways Lounge.

www.pointhacks.com.au

but until today hasn’t given it much thought. Given the coverage of this offering isn’t that wide spread online I thought I’d give a full review to AFF as all I could find online was a couple of new sites like points hack who’d just received the offical media release and a couple of TikTok influenzas “influencers”.

So let’s start with the basics, any airline departing from Nadi international is eligible however there are a few things to note:

• You can be booked on airline on an international flight departing from Nadi.
• The two sessions start at 1pm and 6:30pm so you must be ready in the lounge to start at that time (some airlines only open checkin 3 hours prior).
• The cost is FJ$150 (~AU$100) regardless of if you already have existing lounge access rights (no discounts for those in business class or with QF status) but you do get lounge access after/before if not already eligible.
• They do not cater for dietary requirements so if you can’t/don’t eat everything then this isn’t for you.

Right with that out of the way onto my review, booking is easy no different to how you’d book a reservation for a restaurant online. Bookings are currently done at the Fiji Airways website:

https://www.fijiairways.com/en-au/experience/chefs-table-at-the-premier-lounge/

Once booked online you’ve guaranteed your spot however at this stage it’s not confirmed. As noted online they take a 50% deposit over the phone (however in my case they charged the full 100% over the phone). After my booking online the next day during Fiji business hours someone from a local Fiji landline called and took my card details for payment and noted that a receipt would be sent to my email and I was to show that at entry. I only booked a couple of days out so no idea if that made the difference regarding the amount but it didn’t matter.

Fast forward to the day of travel, I was flying Virgin on the 3:55pm departure to Brisbane and with VA officially opening check in at 12:55pm I arrived around 12:40pm to find a large queue in the regular line but no one in the priority queue and a couple of minutes later before they’d opened the regular queue I’d got my boarding pass and was through airside.

I’d been to the FJ lounge last year so knew where to find the space downstairs and approached the desk with my receipt. Now I wouldn’t normally attach the receipt but travel nerds will find it funny that they processed my FJ$150 payment through like a normal flight ticket, I had a FJ ticket number, PNR and Amadeus receipt:

I must admit at first the staff were a little confused and then I mentioned I’d booked the chefs table and all was good. I was told to enter the lounge and let the bar staff know I was here for the chefs table and they would assist and I did exactly that and was offered a drink and told to wait for a minute.

Not long later I was led into the room next to the bar and sat at the table. Now normally they offer this for up to 8 people but today I was the only one so had the room to myself.




The lovely bar staff introduced themselves and offered a drink so I went for a gin and tonic (the Nadi lounge serves the local blue turtle gin). A short while later I was offered a menu:


A few moments later the chef arrived with bread and this lovely garlic butter. He introduced himself and the menu plus said he will personally deliver each meal with an explanation and a chat. At this point it was crazy as I had the chef and one of the bar staff in the room with just me and no joke there were people outside occasionally looking into to see what was going on!



The bread was warm and fresh plus a really nice butter which went down a treat to start!

 

[henrus]

The starter was all about the coconut.

From left to right

1. Some young coconut cut into noodles with some nut and pesto dressing
2. A coconut like husk that was seasoned with lemon and chili
3. Aranchini
4. Coconut water

The next course was then devoted to the sea:
This included tuna, sea grapes, prawns, seaweed/coconut jelly and a wasabi moose.


After the main, products from the land and lamb focused:

Each dish came with a different matching drink (an NZ white wine - sorry for the wine snobs but it came from the main lounge so as an example the white wine was a Matua Sav Blanc, something the bottle shop serves for $15 back in Australia).


Finally desert :


Now controversial but I’d say this is one of the best lounge meals I’ve ever had!

Now just to name a few I’ve been to plenty of great lounges including QF First in SYD/MEL/SIN, CX First LHR, EK First DXB, NH/JL First in HND, EY First AUH and many other J lounges but I think this expirence tops them all.

I think the very personal service was one big factor but also the quality, presentation tops them all plus the fact that there was a big focus on showcasing local cuisine!

Talking to the chef they do intend to roll this further where possible including more of this sort of local food.

 

[henrus]

Finally after enjoining the lovely meal I was able to enjoy the always pleasant FJ lounge



and yes the green wall is real and living just like the QF F lounge

 

[AIRwin]

I did stumble across this on the FJ website last night but didn't realise it's newish:

https://www.fijiairways.com/en-au/experience/chefs-table-at-the-premier-lounge/

 

[markis10]

Good to see FJ have run out of the Gossips drops!

 

[SYD]

Looks nice. Probably not something you want to do before embarking on a flight to North America in J but certainly a good idea for cheeky whY flight home (as you did).

Thanks for reminding us.

 

[henrus]

Probably not something you want to do before embarking on a flight to North America in J but certainly a good idea for cheeky whY flight home (as you did).

I could actually see it being an excellent upsell on those flights for pre flight dining, check out of a resort come to the airport 5-6pm and have a long dinner (with the idea of no food onboard) then board the 9-10pm departure.

 

[lovestotravel]

Be good if they opened this space in the mornings, you can hardly get a seat in the lounge between 7am and 9am

 

[SYD]

Be good if they opened this space in the mornings, you can hardly get a seat in the lounge between 7am and 9am

$100 a pop for eggs Benny could be a good money spinner!

 

[AIRwin]

$100 a pop for eggs Benny could be a good money spinner!

Golden goose egg?

 

[kpc]

How long did the lunch setvice take? We are on the 240pm Qf flight to Sydney in November so wondering if there is enough time if the Chef's table only starts at 1pm...also as we are flying J, it would be a waste if we can't eat the onboard offerings.

 

[sudoer]

travel nerds will find it funny that they processed my FJ$150 payment through like a normal flight ticket, I had a FJ ticket number, PNR and Amadeus receipt:

Great for those with Amex Aspire cards, or any other card that has credit for / awards bonus points on airline spend.

 

[lovestotravel]

$100 a pop for eggs Benny could be a good money spinner!

Indeed !!!!

 

[henrus]

How long did the lunch setvice take?

Mine was exactly 90 minutes, they did ask when my flight but I don't think that changed much.

I imagine the QF flight would be tight that being said it's often delayed (even google flights says so). There is an email/phone number you can contact on the booking form to see what their thoughts are.