Don’t expect too much- my menu from yesterday contained quite a few meals that were exactly the same on some of the previous ones. A really nice dinner nevertheless:
AKL-BNE, Friday 22nd March, dinner flight on A330-300:
The crew on this flight seemed to be all over the shop while very friendly and most of the time extremely attentive. Just a few things that were “off” the usual but I probably only notice because I fly the Trans-Tasman almost every weekend at the moment. I was on the aircraft for about 15 minutes by the time I finally got offered a glass of champagne while strangely the other side of the aircraft (I was in 2J) had gotten their drinks ages before. Not a big deal as the champers was the Duval which I prefer over the Mosaique and we also received amenity kits.
I mostly use the eye shades in those kits (being one of those funny people who cannot sleep other than in total darkness) and LOVE the current Qantas J kits with their artsy designs and matching eye shades so I asked to have the blue one for a change. The cabin attendant told me that it’s the women’s one but then just before takeoff passed my seat and snugged an extra lady’s one in the side pocket for me after all which was awesome of him. Couldn’t care less about the eyeshades “being for women” as I was only after the different design anyway.
I digress, this thread is about the food! This was the “new” March-September menu on my seat:
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The chicken main was was exactly the same as on one of the previous ones -well, maybe there wasn’t any olive tapanede back then but I vividly remember it coming with braised zuccini and not being the best meal. I usually love the soups but pumpkin is one of the few ones that I’d never touch. Not many soups I don’t like actually- apart from fish/seafood ones that I’m allergic to, I almost like all of them. Bar that awful “Spinach and Kale” soup I had been offered a while ago, I think it was on Emirates. Who would do such a thing, other than Satan himself! Bah
Anyway, the three new dishes on the menu were the Buffalo mozzarella, the toastie and the beef noodle salad. Knowing that these toasties are absolutely ridiculous in size and totally inadequate for an international flight in Business class, my choice was pretty much made even though that meant not a single bite of hot food (which, I’d argue, is equally inadequate for a 3 hour J class flight). To my utter delight, 3 of the wines also have been swapped though it’s still a choice of one NZ Pinot Noir (that’s the one wine which stayed the same but it’s quite a nice one), one Aussie Shiraz (Oliver Taranga now which is one of the better winyards in the Maclaren Vale), one Kiwi Sav Blanc which I don’t remember but it was a new one and the excellent Voyager Estate Chardonnay from the Margaret River.
Also quite oddly, we were offered a drink after takeoff while being handed the usual bag of almonds and pretzels rather than taking the drink order and then bringing the pretzels out with the drink which is the usual order. As I said, some things were just a bit off, for whatever reason. Shortly after my Bloody Mary, the starter was served:
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The buffalo mozzarella didn’t take close to any buffalo mozzarella I’ve ever had in Italy but I trust it wasn’t a lie und just felt and tasted totally different because it was half frozen on an airplane. The way this dish was presented and the pea-mint-pistachio addition made it work quite well regardless and the fore mentioned Chardy was perfect with it. I asked for a Shiraz with the main but then realised very quickly that it didn’t pair well at all so decided to ask for another Chardonnay and then rather finished the red with my cheese platter afterwards. In itself though, the Asian beef noodle salad was AMAZING in taste and also more substantial than expected:
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Couldn’t complain at all, very authentic dish with quite a few strangely complimentary flavours. Would definitely recommend this one, and the Chardonnay with it.
Desert and coffee was both served from the trolley like on longer J flights which is rather unusual on the trans-Tasman. Liked it though and service generally got really good once crew got into their patterns: Spotting your empty glass and coming to refill without you having to even ask, remembering that I mentioned the cheese plate 20 minutes ago when I swapped my wine and then bringing me one before coming through with the trolley and so on. The kind of attentive service that I love on Qantas (in the cases it exists) which you’d hardly ever find on, let’s say, Emirates or BA. All in all, very nice flight and a good meal though I’d prefer more new and more substantial hot options on the menu.
