Qantas Business Class meals & menus

[Rangalad]

Sorry to be cynical Berlin , but did you notice any important politicians , media representatives , QF execs etc in the J cabin ?
Maybe this is the new meal offerings - great - let's hope they make it to the BNE-SYD services
but I am wondering if the "show" was provided for a "VIP" in the cabin.

Agreed. Media/VIP/training/publicity

 

[Rangalad]

SYD-MEL 04 Nov, afternoon 'refreshment' flight on 737-800:

The usual chaos at "priority boarding" which was not even attempted to enforce. Tiny bottle of still water already at the seat which I actually find smarter than the idiotic question of "still or sparkling" on arrival. Given the short duration of flight, the food cart came out just shortly after the seatbelt signs went off. After having seen some of the rather unsatisfactory offerings on non meal time flights on here, I was not expecting much at all but could not been more wrong!

Crew was EXCELLENT on this flight, friendly but professional and quite proactive throughout. As a 'snack' I was offered either soup or cheese pack and I was glad to have ordered the former. It was an Asian style "Hot and Sour soup" which included fresh Kaffir Lime leaves and some rather exotic looking but tasty Asian mushrooms. As with the Laksa soup that Qantas often offers, this soup was awesome: Nice punch as quite spicy and tasy throughout.

View attachment 195634

The wine was a really nice Aussie Cabernet Merlot and it came with a little chocolate too so I would have been perfectly happy with this on a 1 hour flight. But that was not it!

To my surprise, the purser shortly after came around with a big tray holding little raspberry cheesecake bites. While I usually don't have much of a sweet tooth, I like both cheesecake and raspberry so I couldn't resist.

After a short coffee run and just before landing, the crew suddenly came around ONE MORE TIME, this time offering little Spinach and Ricotta filo triangles (sorry, this came as such a 'shock' that I didn't take a picture). Despite the Spinach, these were actually super tasty and heated up which was a really big surprise to me. The filo crust created a total mess in the entire galley and on the seats but I leave that to "Fleet presentation" to sort later. I was super happy about the surprisingly varied and filling meal offerings which I am not used to on Qantas! Superb flight, from beginning (well, after the none existing priority boarding, that is) to end.

Had the same pastry as the ‘main’ ADL/MEL last Friday. Very messy to eat. Bits of pastry everywhere

 

[Mattg]

QF1520 CBR-SYD at 5.15pm

One meal choice, a Waldorf salad

 

[Berlin]

MEL-AKL 04 Nov, evening/night flight on 737-800:

As ever so often, boarding was a shambles. First they boarded wheelchairs and babies but then they decided to also board a huge travel group from China. Before Priority boarding. And they were all in Economy After that, they just boarded all the rest at the same time. For some reason there was then a hold up on the aerobridge so I was stuck there in the midst of the Great Unwashed (and some of those Chinese- they literally smelled very unwashed ) for about ten minutes which was a 'great' start to my flight.

Once finally onboard, it took ages to board everyone down in the back of the plane, leading to a delay of about half an hour. Crew waited forever to serve welcome drinks and then suddenly rushed us to swallow down the champers. It got a bit better once above the clouds though service was interrupted several times due to surprisingly intense turbulence over the Tasman. The menu was one of the newer once, thank science:



I selected the soup followed by the chicken. The soup was served surprisingly quickly and was alright. Not the best airplane soup ever, not the worst. It came with the usual slice of bread, the (excellent) Pepe Saya butter and the infamous mini salad which at least on this occasion contained a bit more than 10 leaves in total so I better not complain:



Then shortly after came the main which looked much better than it tasted. The broccoli was almost completely cold which made it a bit weird, especially straight after a piping hot broccoli soup. The risoni is one of Qantas' obsessions and just bland pasta, nothing else. But the worst was the chicken, you can't really tell from the picture but it was a real bad cut of meat that tasted a bit... Off? Only had half of it and then gave up. The shreds of Parmesan on top of the meal were actually the tastiest part of it. I was also told that the champagne is now running out so this would be my last glass. Grumble.



Finally, for desert the chap next to me asked if he could get both the cheese and the ice cream and the crew member obliged. So I asked if I could have both as well which she agreed to but not without rolling the eyes visibly beforehand. Which is so annoying as the ice cream is just a packed (!) little ice on a stick. On Air New Zealand trans Tasman, you get proactively offered both AND the desert is usually a beautifully presented artwork compared to the packed Qantas stick.



Due to the champagne being out, I went for a glass of the desert wine which was quite nice actually. And the plate had that awesome creamy cheese on it (the one on the left in my picture) which they seem to only ever load from Melbourne. I had always suspected this to be a local Victorian specialty but alas, have been advised by a previous crew that it's actually French.

All in all an okay but by no means great flight. Crew was mostly alright, apart from the eye rolling. And I considered myself lucky not to sit in the back with the stinky crowd

 

[sudoer]

And the plate had that awesome creamy cheese on it (the one on the left in my picture) which they seem to only ever load from Melbourne. I had always suspected this to be a local Victorian specialty but alas, have been advised by a previous crew that it's actually French.

It looks similar in colour and texture to Fromager d'Affinois - you can find it at most Coles and Woolworths in the cheese section. One of my favourites!

 

[milehighclub]

It looks similar in colour and texture to Fromager d'Affinois - you can find it at most Coles and Woolworths in the cheese section. One of my favourites!

Funny, I went to Woolworths just now and they had a display giving samples of exactly that!

 

[serfty]

Went MEL-AKL Monday night, same menu as @Berlin posted.

Had the Kingfish which was really really good.



Then the lamb ... it was shocking. Tough, sinewy with a doughy bun with what seemed like a sour coleslaw with too much mayo.



I was proactively offered both the cheese ans the icecream stick

Both good.

 

[Berlin]

Went MEL-AKL Monday night, same menu as @Berlin posted.

@serfty- were you in 1C by any chance and watched The Lion King?
Looking at that unappetizing bun of yours, I think we were seat neighbors

 

[serfty]

@serfty- were you in 1C by any chance and watched The Lion King?
Looking at that unappetizing bun of yours, I think we were seat neighbors

Yup! 1C

The bun was also greasy ...

 

[Berlin]

Yup! 1C
The bun was also greasy ...

Yes, it didn't look too appealing indeed. I had thought about ordering the sandwich at first but was then glad I didn't. But my chicken was also no culinary revelation, unfortunately.

 

[chooms]

SYD-MEL 04 Nov, afternoon 'refreshment' flight on 737-800:

After a short coffee run and just before landing, the crew suddenly came around ONE MORE TIME, this time offering little Spinach and Ricotta filo triangles (sorry, this came as such a 'shock' that I didn't take a picture). Despite the Spinach, these were actually super tasty and heated up which was a really big surprise to me. The filo crust created a total mess in the entire galley and on the seats but I leave that to "Fleet presentation" to sort later. I was super happy about the surprisingly varied and filling meal offerings which I am not used to on Qantas! Superb flight, from beginning (well, after the none existing priority boarding, that is) to end.

Got similar SYD-BNE last week. Again, afternoon refreshment flight. After refreshment service, crew came around and offered a mini lamb pie. Was a surprisingly nice touch. Hope it sticks for these refreshment flights. Could also be good for the SYD/MEL-CBR flights that seem to only have that tiny ceasar salad at the moment...

 

[robinsparkles]

SYD-MNL a few weeks ago

 

[Berlin]

AKL-BNE Friday 15th November, dinner flight on A330-200:

While “priority boarding” was entirely ignored as per usual with Qantas, I knew straight away that I was in for a pleasant flight when two of the crew members acknowledged having seen me before on a recent flight. I was in my preferred seat 2A and a glass of champers was offered pretty much instantly after I set down. Likewise, it didn’t even take 5 minutes until my meal order was taken. The menus have quite recently changed which at least adds a bit of variety into the meals. Mine was the following:


Unfortunately, the soup on this menu sounded absolutely horrific to me: Sweet potato! With ginger. And turmeric. Bah bah bah- who comes up with this stuff? Oh that’s right- the guy with the furball dangling from his head...

As ever so often, I learnt quickly that tastes are simply not something to argue about as the elderly Queensland farmer in front of me seemed so excited about this soup that he ordered it not only for starter but as a main as well! While cold lamb did also not sound too appetising, it was still better than the soup so I selected that. The main was an easy decision as pasta dishes are usually quite good on airplanes and NP doesn’t tend to mess those up typically. Plus- pork is always my preferred choice of meat so no long thinking required really.

The special thing about this flight really was the crew and I was delighted to learn that they indeed still exist- those spot on Qantas crews with the perfect mix of professionalism and friendly customer service that made me fall in love with this airline many years ago. This flight was on an A330 so it was proper international Qantas cabin crew rather than the underpaid Jeet Connnect crews you get on the smaller planes over the Tasman and in this instance, it really showed as I could have easily flown with this crew all the way to Europe.

The purser soon after take off came around to hand out immigration forms and to introduce herself. Gosh, she was so nice and pleasant to chat with! Just a few minutes later, the drink cart cane wheeled out and we were asked for our choice of pre-dinner drink. I asked for a Bloody Mary as I absolutely LOVE the little US cans of Bloody Mary mix that Qantas is using. While there, I also asked to see what reds are on offer so that I’d know later which one to ask for. Now, from experience I know that this question can go two very different ways: From a reluctant and annoyed eyes rolling to a delightful conversation about the wines and this particular crew nailed it with the latter: She recommended the Shiraz but also pointed out that the Kiwi Pinot Noir is a new one she had never seen before. I was quite intrigued by the rather fancy looking label and mentioned that I’d give it a try later.

About 15 minutes later, my starter appeared:


What also appeared out of nowhere was the glass of Pinot that I was looking at earlier. Now, that is what I call excellent customer service- to remember that I wanted to try this wine and bringing along a glass unasked with my starter. You’d never get this with the likes of Emirates (unless you are very VERY lucky) and it’s part of the reason why I still to this day rate the service on Qantas up there with SQ and QR if you get a decent crew.

The food itself was surprisingly okay as the cold lamb was good cuts of meat that didn’t taste too sheep-y at all. Could easily have been beef and I wouldn’t have noticed. The crushed peas were the same crushed peas that on the last menu came with Burrata cheese as it is often the case with Qantas menu “changes”. What I found really odd were the slices of cold, bland, tasting like nothing potatoes underneath and it made me wonder where in hell anyone would eat such a strange combination. The combination of lamb and mind made me think of those cold rainy Islands off the French coast and the potatoes pointed to Ireland specifically but who knows. Weirder than the dish itself was the olive oil and balsamic mix that came with the side salad- have a look at my image and tell me what is not quite right about it! That’s it, you couldn’t possibly add a tinier drop of Balsamic into the olive oil and that’s almost always the case out of Auckland for some reason. Last time I checked, Balsamic vinegar was on special at Countdown so it’s not as if it was a expensive Delicatessen or something in New Zealand. Dunno- odd.

The main arrived and I was asked whether I wanted to change to a different wine or stick to the Pinot. I changed to the Shiraz at that Pinot had not much besides the fancy label and was lucky that I did because the Aussie Shiraz was a perfect addition to the pasta:


I was surprised to see that this particular pasta dish indeed had a proper meat Ragout on it. Luckily, I noticed straight away that this huge pile of parsley would be turning the meal into Tabouli before I know it- yikes! So luckily, I managed to pick most of it off my plate before mixing it in as what parsley is meant to be: A garnish with a subtle flavour that is best used very sparingly.

The dish itself was delicious and had the pasta been slightly more al dente, it wouldn’t have tasted out of place in Italy. I think I know as I just came back from Italy less than a month ago and it tasted pretty much spot on. The pork meat was of really good quality which is certainly not always the case on Qantas (case in point: I would have the most disgusting pork meat imaginable in the otherwise fancy Qantas Business lounge at Brisbane Domestic only shortly after) and the dish had the right balance between subtlety and spice which the parsley more definitely would have destroyed completely.

I finished with the usual cheese platter which is always a disappointment on Qantas. However, even more so the ice cream choice which is a tub of the same ice cream that you get in the lounge at Auckland dumped on a plate and, even worse, an ice cream on a stick in the packaging dumped on a plate in the other direction. I wish Qantas took a page from the book of their new-found friends across the Tasman when it comes to their “deserts”: Air New Zealand does this so so so much better!

All in all, a close to perfect flight as of course the J seat on the A330 also is more than decent across the Tasman. And before anyone thinks that I got paid for this raving review- no, it was just a really good flight. I knew already that I just must be tempting my Karma and, not surprising at all, I would find out a few hours later that I couldn’t be more correct when my luggage didn’t show up in Sydney. Seems like two hours change over time was not enough for Qantas ground staff in Brisbane to get my suitcase from the international to the domestic terminal. So, there was also that!

 

[Melburnian1]

QF1520 CBR-SYD at 5.15pm

One meal choice, a Waldorf salad

View attachment 195701

It's a very short flight with many airlines overseas not offering this much for that duration, but presentation looks about 1/10. Doesn't look appetising.

 

[Peter78]

QF145, 12.15pm flight SYD-AKL, A330.

Priority boarding strictly followed, announcement saying "Business and status passengers first, these are Sydney Airport rules" - hadn't heard that before. Choice of welcome drink, sparkling/ champagne accepted. Meal orders taken once in the air only, after take off drinks not proactively offered.

Menu stated J_TAS_MM_AUS_NZ_OCT19 so it seemed to be new this month:


Went with the mozzarella, which was a tasty dish despite its questionable appearance:

For mains, I chose the beef, which again was "interesting" but immensely satisfying. Very tender meat though possibly a bit overcooked, some carbs would not have hurt the dish:


Finished off with cheese platter and ice cream, both proactively offered, nothing special but not terrible either. Great service provided by Mercedes and Irene (CSM), including keeping us informed during a one hour delay due to engineering requirements, meaning we were towed back to the gate after push back.

 

[Berlin]

BNE-SYD Friday 15th November, dinner flight on 737-800
Short hop down from Brissy to Sydney. Staff was professional and friendly, pretty much standard Qantas business class you’d expect on the triangle routes. They seem to have made do with the silly “water or water” offering prior to the flight and tend to rather leave a small plastic bottle of water in your seat these days. While I actually prefer this, it’s a bit doubtable from an environmental perspective -didn’t Qantas want to produce LESS waste rather than more?

Meal choice was either chicken Waldorf salad which I suspected contains walnuts so it wasn’t an option due to allergy. Other choice was a “Spinach and ricotta lasagna” which looked alright at first. However, good old Neil deserves the prize for the most bland lasagna ever with this one as it only had calories but zero flavour. That the fee green beans on the side wouldn’t add any either was clear from the start though I had high hopes for the tomatoes and olives that also came with it. Alas, they also tasted like nothing but water which is quite a feat for an olive and tomatoe ratatouille kinda side.

The Aussie Malbec that was on offer tasted very nice and I was proactively offered something to “clean up the stomach” which is a rare thing on these short flights so I happily had a shot of ‘shivers’.

Interestingly, they did announce meal choices for the back bus over the speaker system and I found the choices quite, ouhm, intriguing- they could get either a hot dish of “Chili con Khan” (that’s how she pronounced it three times in a row which really got me struggling to not burst out in laughter) or a Mexican salad with beans and black rice. I always wonder why airlines would offer these flatulence inducing dishes and in this case even TWO of them so I suspect it wood gave gotten quite uncomfortable in the back after all those beans

All in all, a decent flight albeit with a really bland meal. The scariest about it was seeing the bushfires underneath, glowing in the night which made it appear as if the pits of hell are opening up down there - a very sad and quite disturbing view, actually.

 

[ozflier]

QF145, 12.15pm flight SYD-AKL, A330.

Priority boarding strictly followed, announcement saying "Business and status passengers first, these are Sydney Airport rules" - hadn't heard that before. Choice of welcome drink, sparkling/ champagne accepted. Meal orders taken once in the air only, after take off drinks not proactively offered.

Menu stated J_TAS_MM_AUS_NZ_OCT19 so it seemed to be new this month:
View attachment 197090

Went with the mozzarella, which was a tasty dish despite its questionable appearance:View attachment 197091

For mains, I chose the beef, which again was "interesting" but immensely satisfying. Very tender meat though possibly a bit overcooked, some carbs would not have hurt the dish:
View attachment 197092

Finished off with cheese platter and ice cream, both proactively offered, nothing special but not terrible either. Great service provided by Mercedes and Irene (CSM), including keeping us informed during a one hour delay due to engineering requirements, meaning we were towed back to the gate after push back.
View attachment 197093
View attachment 197094

Great to see beef steak on offer!

 

[robinsparkles]

Premium economy menu on QF36. The pesto was pretty average and the hot brekky (not pictured) was below average.

 

[Berlin]

SYD-MEL 18th November, “refreshment” flight on 737-800:
Complete mess at boarding, even worse than the usual “What is priority boarding?” Qantas nonsense. Somehow got stuck in the overheated aerobridge with all the great unwashed for at least 10 minutes or so without movement. On the plane, usual bottle of still water on my seat.

Food choices of sweet corn soup or lamb pies. As I already had two cups of corn soup up in the lounge, I go for the latter. Got served to mini pies with a little glass of tomato sauce:


Wine was an excellent Grenache which was a welcome change from the usual Shiraz or Pinot. Found the set up quite nice for a “refreshment” flight and later we were offered little chocolate cakes as well which I turned down though I get many passengers would love those.

Decent uneventful flight. Pies were yummie enough for such a short flight and at least it was two, not one, (mini-)pie.

 

[kermatu]

Premium economy menu on QF36. The pesto was pretty average and the hot brekky (not pictured) was below average.

View attachment 197317

But wow - you got the First class salad! Impressive.