Qantas Business Class meals & menus

[Berlin]

Coolangatta back to Sydney, a snack time flight. I wasn't expecting much at this time of day after the rather disappointing lunch time offering on the way out to Brisbane but, hey, flights out of Gold Coast airport never cease to amaze me catering wise. I was offered not one but two different proper hot meal choices which was a nice surprise on this super short flight. Both sounded, looked and smelled perfectly fine: It was either Teriyaki beef with noodles or "Duck Toulouse" which is the meal below that I had. Shredded duck meat mixed up with some French cassoulet-style white beans and tomatoes and covered in butter crumbles, served with roast potatoes and vegetables. It was as delicious as it sounds and went very well with the Chardonnay they served. The other wine option was a Nero d'Avola which I've never seen outside of Italy but alas, it was an Aussie wine. The flight attendant was as intrigued by it as I was and after the meal I had two glasses of it which were excellent. I was shown the bottle to see what wine it is and it was made in Queensland from Victorian grapes which added even more to the oddness of this extremely tasty drop.

I wish all Qantas flights in J on those short routes were like this: Two hot meal choices including a rather different French dish which tastes excellent and two very nice wine offerings together with a very professional cabin crew. 10 out of 10 I'd say and no complaints whatsoever!

 

[kermatu]

Agree. That’s how it should be.

 

[RichardMEL]

OOL is a real oddity. It's a leisure route mostly (I know a HEAP of conferences and the like are always held there too) yet the catering is consistently good (bar the one bad one I had a few weeks ago). It's clearly a deliberate choice by them, but still bafling why. Not complaining... I actually semi look forward to ex-OOL options as they are usually so good as opposed to other dom J routes. Sad but true.

Love to know what goes on to cause this situation.

 

[Berlin]

I know a HEAP of conferences and the like are always held there too

If this is really deliberate choice rather than some catering technicality (I always suspected that whoever does the catering up there might simply be better but that was just the first explanation that came to my mind), then you'll be onto something here: Up in J, it's mostly business travellers on this route. It's usually conferences in my case or adding a day at the beach after a work trip to Brissy

 

[serfty]

Love to know what goes on to cause this situation.

Competition?

 

[RichardMEL]

If this is really deliberate choice rather than some catering technicality (I always suspected that whoever does the catering up there might simply be better but that was just the first explanation that came to my mind), then you'll be onto something here: Up in J, it's mostly business travellers on this route. It's usually conferences in my case or adding a day at the beach after a work trip to Brissy

I'd agree with you except for that it has usually been said that flights into OOL are dual catered as in they load return flights' catering at the origin (eg: MEL/SYD) .. and I've never seen a catering truck or even bar carts exchanged at OOL which supports this. Therefore it doesn't make a lot of sense either way really

I think so many of us have experienced the definite and general "better" catering out of OOL (and specialy on a shorter sector like OOL-SYD) that it can't be a fluke.

Some years back I(and a few others here) did a tour of BNE Catering (fasctinating incidently) and it is very regimented and a lot of planning(obviously) goes into meal design, prep etc.. there's a lot of logistics involved, and obviously cost for such. QF Is definitely making choices and it's not just the impression of one or two of us that backs up OOL meals are a step up. I don't think I've ever seen a single post saying they got a cough option out of there (apart from the really bad Wagyu staeak I got a few weeks ago, but it was a 3 hour delayed flight and if that catering had come from SYD it may indeed explain that somewhat). All other options I have previously had like chicken parmas, various stir fry noodle dishes, barra thai curry and others over the years have been very good.

It's a funny oddity. A pity the rest of the domestic network can't be as consistently above the average of the usual offerings.

 

[Berlin]

I'd agree with you except for that it has usually been said that flights into OOL are dual catered as in they load return flights' catering at the origin (eg: MEL/SYD) .. and I've never seen a catering truck or even bar carts exchanged at OOL which supports this. Therefore it doesn't make a lot of sense either way really

Wow, so you're saying that awesome food most likely came out of Sydney in my case. Quite stunning, actually. So it must definitely be a deliberate choice by Qantas as I agree- I've never had any bad meal out of OOL in J since Qantas reinstated that route a while back. Let's hope that one steak you had to endure was an absolute exception!

 

[amaroo]

CNS-BNE Duck curry (or Dutch Courage) this time, other option was an Asian stir fry.... will give that a go next week.

 

[eminere]

QF2 SIN-SYD
19:15 on Sunday, 04 November 2018

Supper

• Sweet potato soup with toasted almond and mint salsa.
• Spaghettini arrabbiata with basil and parmesan.
• Barbecue duck dumplings with aromatic broth, shiitake mushrooms, egg noodles and Asian greens.
• Roast pork roll with braised fennel, capers and black pepper mayonnaise.
• Roast chicken with potatoes, green beans and chipotle lentil sauce.

 

[JessicaTam]

QF2 SIN-SYD
19:15 on Sunday, 04 November 2018

Supper

• Sweet potato soup with toasted almond and mint salsa.
• Spaghettini arrabbiata with basil and parmesan.
• Barbecue duck dumplings with aromatic broth, shiitake mushrooms, egg noodles and Asian greens.
• Roast pork roll with braised fennel, capers and black pepper mayonnaise.
• Roast chicken with potatoes, green beans and chipotle lentil sauce.

That looks like the same menu on QF36 the same day. Missed you by 'that' much!

 

[eminere]

That looks like the same menu on QF36 the same day. Missed you by 'that' much!

What did you have?

 

[JessicaTam]

What did you have?

Sleep.

 

[RichardMEL]

MEL-BNE QFLink 717

A rather tasty braised lamb with roast potatoes. One of the better meals I've had in awhile. Other option was chicken and corn soup.

Wine was a Peter Leham HW Chardonnay which was not much to my liking, but I'm not a dry white fan so had it more for interest than anything else

 

[Quickstatus]

And I know some of the asian carriers (with much lower costs, and more competition) have some pretty nice regional J offerings

What would make a great J meal?

MH still does the satay 3 sticks if in J. Extra 1 stick if bumped into F seat on the A350-900 on the flights which dont sell F
Then you got to ask for the other menu. Recently its been a reheated "Gourmet" pie with salad. Its as if they serve the appetiser and the main becomes an "option"

 

[RichardMEL]

MH still does the satay 3 sticks if in J. Extra 1 stick if bumped into F seat on the A350-900 on the flights which dont sell F

Are you talking for short intra-asia hops or for longer flights (like SYD-KUL)?

At any rate I will be doing 2 short intra-asia J flights on SQ (KUL-SIN, which is really akin to CBR-SYD) and SIN-BKK on TG (MEL-BNE equiv) so will be interested to note the meals (I expect nothing much on KUL-SIN given it's so short).

but remember you still can't equate what the much lower cost Asian legacy carriers provide and what QF or VA provide. By the same token you can't also equate to say BA/LH/SK/IB/AF(etc) intra europe, or UA/AA/DL intra-USA - all very different products (eg: you fly LAX-SFO or IAH-IAD on a US major and you'll get nothing bar a drink and a pack of chips or cookies vs what QF/VA would provide on similar stage lengths).

If one is going to compare with a MH or SQ then be even handed to compare with say BA or AA too.. imho

Then you got to ask for the other menu. Recently its been a reheated "Gourmet" pie with salad. Its as if they serve the appetiser and the main becomes an "option"

not entirely sure what this means to be honest - "other" menu? are you talking about QF or another carrier?

 

[danielt25]

QF1756 BNE/CNS 11/11 19:40pm


Choices:

Teriyaki beef
Smoked salmon salad

 

[kermatu]

QF1756 BNE/CNS 11/11 19:40pm


Choices:

Teriyaki beef
Smoked salmon salad

View attachment 143810

Looks decent. Was there a pre-meal drink service (looks like there may have been)?

 

[danielt25]

Pre meal drink service called after take off beverage (717 service)

Seemed to be served in order of status, P1 across ailse in 1C (acknowledged that pax as P1) then me 1D, then skipped to row 2 or 3, then back to row 1. Initially when skipped back to rows behind i thought 1A and 1F were staff but they weren't.

 

[kermatu]

Thanks. Reason I asked is there was no pre-lunch drink run on my two recent trans-Tasman flights (A330s). 3 hour flights. Just wondering if this was a new and very unwelcome trend.

 

[Berlin]

Thanks. Reason I asked is there was no pre-lunch drink run on my two recent trans-Tasman flights (A330s). 3 hour flights. Just wondering if this was a new and very unwelcome trend.

I had one on my flight last week SYD-CHC on a 737. Hope your experience was a negative outlier!
Reminder to self: I have to post the food on here, which was excellent.