Qantas Business Class meals & menus

[RooFlyer]

I meant more meal/food offering wise ... you know, like the pizza at PER or Spice Bar at MEL ... something that is *special* CBR only thingy ...

There might be a sandwich maker lying around somewhere, which was installed in the HBA lounge some years ago with great fanfare. It disappeared, so I assumed it had gone to one of the Chairman's Lounges ... but maybe not.

 

[Daver6]

I know that this thread is about the food on the plane and I’ll add to this discussion again shortly. BUT, given we all like to whinge about Qantas, myself included, I just had to post about this:

I’m currently in the Perth Business lounge and the whole place started smelling like freshly baked pizza a few minutes ago. I’m used to the glibbery glib food at the Sydney Domesric lounge (if you can call that slob “food) or the arguably better but usually bland Asian fare in Melbourne so this is a revelation to me.
View attachment 313760
Qantas- please please please, can we get this in Sydney? Ideally everywhere? I promise I will fly even more often for this pizza feast. It not only looks and smells good, it also tastes excellent. Lots of gooey cheese, nice crust on the base and even condiments like chilli oil to spice it up. I’m in pizza heaven

I agree PER and the pizzas are the best of the dom J lounge options. My biggest gripe with it is the limited hours it operates. Breakfast finishes at I think 10 or maybe 10:30am. Pizzas only start at midday. Do if you have a 12:15pm departure you miss out on any proper food with only the NP slop available. Pizza should commence as soon as breakfast is finished.

The other thing I like about the pizza is when arriving back in PER, if I don't like the food on offer on the flight, I can just duck into the lounge for a slice or two before heading home.

 

[RichardMEL]

The pizza discussion is probably best under one of the lounge threads, but it is part of the experience I guess.

IIRC when the PER concept lounge was launched, and then BNE, MEL the idea was to have different "themes" as a bit of a gimmick. I mean Spice Bar makes sense for MEL in many respects actually and in general it works. The Mexican Cantina in BNE... always struck me as a bit odd, but Mexican is a popular cuisine so does make sense too from that point of view.

Pizza is such a favourite party pleaser you can understand why they are so popular (I noted somewhere recently in the OOL QC they had little pizza squares, which were pretty good - even if just cut up and reheated McCain of some sort - and were very popular). It's one of those comfort food options - like when SYD dom J used to have the party pies come out at 3 (which seems to have gone away). Some act a bit snobbish as to "oh why have cheap 'common' food in a "business" lounge" - but the punters all consistently say it works for them. Just like whenever Perry is interviewed about the F lounge menus and the consistently popular items like the pav, the s&p squid etc are all "comfort foods" that people actually do seem to prefer in general.

Who knows why? stress of travel? just something simple and tasty can work?

of course it's cheaper for the airlines too in some respects to offer such things - but does that have to be a bad thing if they're done right? Sure you could go upmarket and offer oxtail soup and cook to order steaks or something, but I wonder how popular those would be - SPECIALLY in a domestic lounge situation. Sometimes these easy to eat and comforting things are just the thing.

I know not all will agree with this comment but I do think the punters have voted. Now sure, some could say "well there aren't many other optons so "free" food it is" which is fair enough, but even at the other lounges they usually have other options - eg Spice Bar has the other self serve buffet options that sometimes might be apasta or curry or something that's not Asian also. PER has other options too, so it's not just the only thing available.

I also note that VA has a deal currently with Betty's Burgers to provide burgers in some lounges on thurs and fri nights, and they appear to be VERY popular too. So pizza, burgers... it all works


So I suspect if SYD ever gets redone (see the other long running thread on THAT thorny subject !) I suspect it won't be Pizza but some other "theme" - probably Neil's leafy Salad Bar or something!!

 

[exLXCXFF]

probably Neil's leafy Salad Bar

PLEASE NOT!!! Please, don't even give them such ideas!!!

 

[RichardMEL]

PLEASE NOT!!! Please, don't even give them such ideas!!!

oh come on. it screams "Green Tier. Sustainable. Healthy" and all that... Kale smoothies the drink of the lounge.

When it happens don't blame me! lol

 

[k_sheep]

Getting vaguely back on topic - you know the prosciutto salad that was doing the rounds a while ago? Does anyone know what grain it was used in the salad? It was really tasty and I'd like to experiment with it.
I thought it might be pearl barley, but I think it was a bit of a bigger grain than that.

 

[Daver6]

Getting vaguely back on topic - you know the prosciutto salad that was doing the rounds a while ago? Does anyone know what grain it was used in the salad? It was really tasty and I'd like to experiment with it.
I thought it might be pearl barley, but I think it was a bit of a bigger grain than that.

I just asked MrsDaver6 and she seems to think it was pearl barley too.

 

[Rangalad]

Getting vaguely back on topic - you know the prosciutto salad that was doing the rounds a while ago? Does anyone know what grain it was used in the salad? It was really tasty and I'd like to experiment with it.
I thought it might be pearl barley, but I think it was a bit of a bigger grain than that.

Fregola maybe?

 

[kermatu]

HBA-MEL 12:50 737 service. Two options for lunch - pasta with pork, or Kung Pao chicken. Cheese and crackers the alternative to a meal.
Was tempted to go with the pork again (this time described as pepper pork rather than smoked), but ultimately went for the chicken.



Rice and veg were average, but the chicken was great. Two good sized pieces and a very tasty sauce. Very enjoyable. Sourdough bread offered and it was also nice, along with Lindt ball and mini-block

No PDB, but drinks topped up through the flight and the CSM did a good job. Nice flight.

 

[Berlin]

I actually know the answer for once. Through Sunday 25th December the 80g blocks are being served then from 26th December through 31 march (irrc) it will drop to 40g bars. Similar to what you use to get after they stopped proper deserts on short flights.

Are you sure??? The big ones were still served in the first days of the New Year and since then they’ve disappeared completely. At least I didn’t have any on my SYD-PER yesterday and I haven’t seen the smaller 40g bars appear on other post’s either…

 

[SJF211]

Are you sure??? The big ones were still served in the first days of the New Year and since then they’ve disappeared completely. At least I didn’t have any on my SYD-PER yesterday and I haven’t seen the smaller 40g bars appear on other post’s either…

I’m guessing I miss heard, which is more then likely and it was actually 31 December (which to be fair does make more sense). They have appeared a few time post Christmas see posts #4692 and #4695 but not since.

 

[kermatu]

MEL-CBR 5pm 717 service. My run of decent food and flights came to an end here.

Flight delayed by an hour but with no apparent or explained reason either in the lounge or at the gate. No PDB. Once airborne there were some clouds around so seatbelts for pax and crew stayed longer which truncated the service. Only one item offered - the reuben toastie.



Having eaten on the previous flight and in the lounge, I wasn't that hungry, but given the flight delay I decided to try it. It was terrible.



The pastrami was average (though at least not fatty) but the sandwich had a layer of paste that reminded me of the "pickles" or sandwich spreads I used to get in sandwiches back in primary school - just awful. I could only stomach a couple of mouthfuls.

I wouldn't describe it as a reuben but I can at least confirm it's definitely not the croque monsieur that was on the menu last year.

Wine and chocolates as per previous flights - all good. Service ok but not very warm, and when the pilots asked for the cabin to be prepared for landing immediately after we began the descent, everything was packed away and nothing else offered. Short flight and there were a few bumps on final, but a little disappointed no attempt was made to seek and accommodate additional requests (such as using plastic cups for further drinks).

 

[jase05]

MEL-CBR 5pm 717 service. My run of decent food and flights came to an end here.

Flight delayed by an hour but with no apparent or explained reason either in the lounge or at the gate. No PDB. Once airborne there were some clouds around so seatbelts for pax and crew stayed longer which truncated the service. Only one item offered - the reuben toastie.

View attachment 313868

Having eaten on the previous flight and in the lounge, I wasn't that hungry, but given the flight delay I decided to try it. It was terrible.

View attachment 313869

The pastrami was average (though at least not fatty) but the sandwich had a layer of paste that reminded me of the "pickles" or sandwich spreads I used to get in sandwiches back in primary school - just awful. I could only stomach a couple of mouthfuls.

I wouldn't describe it as a reuben but I can at least confirm it's definitely not the croque monsieur that was on the menu last year.

Wine and chocolates as per previous flights - all good. Service ok but not very warm, and when the pilots asked for the cabin to be prepared for landing immediately after we began the descent, everything was packed away and nothing else offered. Short flight and there were a few bumps on final, but a little disappointed no attempt was made to seek and accommodate additional requests (such as using plastic cups for further drinks).

Geez that looks ordinary

 

[k_sheep]

I just asked MrsDaver6 and she seems to think it was pearl barley too.

The taste and texture is right (having had some in my dinner tonight) - I might just need to add more liquid / cook longer and it'll swell more.

Fregola maybe?

Ahh I recognise that from the second iteration of the dish! Might pick some of that up too

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

MEL-CBR 5pm 717 service. My run of decent food and flights came to an end here.

Flight delayed by an hour but with no apparent or explained reason either in the lounge or at the gate. No PDB. Once airborne there were some clouds around so seatbelts for pax and crew stayed longer which truncated the service. Only one item offered - the reuben toastie.

View attachment 313868

Having eaten on the previous flight and in the lounge, I wasn't that hungry, but given the flight delay I decided to try it. It was terrible.

View attachment 313869

The pastrami was average (though at least not fatty) but the sandwich had a layer of paste that reminded me of the "pickles" or sandwich spreads I used to get in sandwiches back in primary school - just awful. I could only stomach a couple of mouthfuls.

I wouldn't describe it as a reuben but I can at least confirm it's definitely not the croque monsieur that was on the menu last year.

Wine and chocolates as per previous flights - all good. Service ok but not very warm, and when the pilots asked for the cabin to be prepared for landing immediately after we began the descent, everything was packed away and nothing else offered. Short flight and there were a few bumps on final, but a little disappointed no attempt was made to seek and accommodate additional requests (such as using plastic cups for further drinks).

Aka another "Yarra Burns".
"Dnana" they must use super heated electric ovens to melt the goo.

 

[servicerequired]

MEL-CBR 5pm 717 service. My run of decent food and flights came to an end here.

Flight delayed by an hour but with no apparent or explained reason either in the lounge or at the gate. No PDB. Once airborne there were some clouds around so seatbelts for pax and crew stayed longer which truncated the service. Only one item offered - the reuben toastie.

View attachment 313868

Having eaten on the previous flight and in the lounge, I wasn't that hungry, but given the flight delay I decided to try it. It was terrible.

View attachment 313869

The pastrami was average (though at least not fatty) but the sandwich had a layer of paste that reminded me of the "pickles" or sandwich spreads I used to get in sandwiches back in primary school - just awful. I could only stomach a couple of mouthfuls.

I wouldn't describe it as a reuben but I can at least confirm it's definitely not the croque monsieur that was on the menu last year.

Wine and chocolates as per previous flights - all good. Service ok but not very warm, and when the pilots asked for the cabin to be prepared for landing immediately after we began the descent, everything was packed away and nothing else offered. Short flight and there were a few bumps on final, but a little disappointed no attempt was made to seek and accommodate additional requests (such as using plastic cups for further drinks).

Absolute slop. Whoever comes up with these dishes ... time to move on!

 

[RooFlyer]

Whoever comes up with these dishes

Step forward, the inspiration of Mr N Perry:

https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/media-releases/qantas-and-neil-perry-serve-up-a-celebration-of-25-years/

 

[Berlin]

HBA-MEL 12:50 737 service. Two options for lunch - pasta with pork, or Kung Pao chicken. Cheese and crackers the alternative to a meal.
Was tempted to go with the pork again (this time described as pepper pork rather than smoked), but ultimately went for the chicken.

View attachment 313794

Had exactly the same dish on my PER-SYD the other day, just with a side of that “focaccia” instead of the bread which, btw, is really terrible (always tastes like stale bread somehow).

I was a bit disappointed because my partner had gotten this much more appetising dish of veal tortellini just a few days earlier on the same route (was the 2nd Jan., hence still some Koko Black) and he said it was excellent:



Alas, on my flight the choice was above chicken dish and then the option of fish or fish: Baramundi or a tuna salad. I can’t eat fish or seafood so that didn’t leave any choice. I never understand why airlines do that- if one of the hot dishes is fish, surely you don’t have to make the salad option also fish? Anyway- to my slight surprise, and I totally agree with the post above- the chicken was really really tasty. Not sure if I would really call it Kung Pao but seeing what Qantas calls a Reuben (I’m still trying to get over that shock after reading the post above…), it might as well be. Chicken was decent meat and the sauce nice and spicy- one of the rare airplane meals that I did not need the entire satchel of salt and pepper to spice it up. I had way too many glasses of Heirloom Chardonnay with it which was a decent drop and we were served the usual boring Maggie Beer ice cream towards the end. Crew was not quite as nice and proactive as on my recent Qantas flights but the much nicer seat on the A330 made more than up for it. Wish they served a cheese option on these longer flights at least instead of just desert cake plus chocolate plus ice cream.

 

[Port Power]

Friday 6th QF9 MEL-PER. As shown by @dk4 , this is what domestic J should be. PDB was also offered. After a few Champagnes in the F lounge, I went with water! I forgot to photograph my main meal, which was salmon on non-greasy fried rice with a delicious sauce. A cheese board was offered in place of the incream sandwich, and a Lindt chocolate bar was also given.

 

[Quickstatus]

Kung Pao chicken

That's not Kung Pao Chicken
This is Kung Pao chicken
- actually served at one of the restaurants of a QF you know who celebrity chef

The main point is that the chill peppers are about half of the ingredients on the dish
And the chicken is cubed