Qantas Business Class meals & menus

[Daver6]

@exLXCXFF is not referring to the "mid flight" menu. "Page 2" is not showing, but I presume they are referring to having your main meal courses at a time suitable to you. Similar to this:

View attachment 319621

Try doing it in practice ... you will generally find yourself being politely discouaged from doing so.

I saw this on a J flight (I think it was LHR-PER in Nov). I specifically asked the CSM whether QF finally has dine on demand. I was informed the part text you've shown is in reference to the mid-flight snack and that there is no dine on demand (like QR for example).

Perhaps it was their was of discouraging it, but just going on the information provided by the crew when asked the question.

 

[serfty]

Perhaps it was their was of discouraging it, but just going on the information provided by the crew when asked the question

Discouragement!

Otherwise why have the paragraph at all if it was just for the mid flight snacks?

Unfortunately Qantas FA's hate it.

 

[NSun]

QF67 - SYD to BLR this morning, noting that page 2 says you can have your food whenever you want View attachment 319537

I'm flying QF69 MEL-DEL in 6 weeks and love Indian food.

I hope I get a similar menu, or at least something different to what I've had the last three times in J ex-Aus.

 

[kermatu]

SYD-MEL 17:15 737 flight. New 3 option menu, same as @Berlin had above - pea soup, lamb salad or chicken with sweet potato and veg. Now I quite like the QF soups, but my shirt and napkin tend to get more of it than I do. And I'd had a meat with sweet potato dish just before, so chose the salad.


The CSM noted to me only one of her 6 salads actually had meat. She was very embarrassed. I'm also pretty sure mine was stock standard supermarket deli roast meat - could even have been beef. Salad was fresh but tasteless, other than the half dozen olives underneath - I didn't eat much else.

But my lack of interest in the food gave me a chance to focus on a superb conversation with my shadow-taker* - an off duty long-haul FA. Aside from a nice chat about family and our lives during the pandemic and recovery (including her alternative employment then return to long-haul travel), we discussed the good and the bad things about QF at the moment. Some good insights to me at least about how staff feel, and I appreciated the opportunity to share some views. Hopefully I get to fly with her on duty some day.

Honest and efficient service from the CSM on a 1 hour flight with a full J cabin - plenty of time for two fresh drinks after the meal. So overall a good flight, despite the poor meal.


* She laughed when I noted this.

 

[JohnM]

The return of soup will please PJM who is a very light eater and, although not vegetarian, generally avoids meat.

But the irony is that for our next trip, PER-SYD-PER in June, I've booked whY on A330s because I have been so disgusted with the J garbage they have dishing up for far too long . I did intimate in a post upthread that I planned to do this. I selected early afternoon flights and we will eat in the JLounge and ignore inflight food. T-80 pouncing should see us in front seats on the side.

Subsequent flights booked for this year are on Alliance whY-only A320s PER-DRW-PER in August and PER-DRW/Kimberley Coast voyage/BME-PER in September.

Next opportunity to try QF J are trips booked PER-SYD-ZQN in January 2024, but trying NZ J on the direct AKL-PER flight back.

 

[obla]

SYD MEL QF449

First time with the new menu but only two choices, pea and mint soup or the cheese plate (with gherkins, crackers, grapes etc). Went with the soup and it was definitely aromatic. Definitely enjoyed the soup as a snack as opposed to a heavy meal at this time of the afternoon.

 

[Berlin]

BNE-SYD dinner flight on 737:
Lovely flight experience yesterday on my way back from Brissy. J lounge in BNE had the former “cantina” kitchen open but served a very tasty lasagna alongside a weird and bland potato salad.



I had three serves of the lasagna so came onto the plane quite full already which is something I otherwise only do when dining in the Flounge before an international flight.

Crew on this leg was an absolute delight and dinner offerings were Veal tortellini, a chicken Waldorf salad or a chicken and corn soup. I was torn between the pasta and the soup but in the end decided for the former as there’s nothing wrong with pasta followed by pasta in my eyes It was a good choice, the tortellini tasty with a decent amount of veal filling and just a tiny bit too much fizzly spinach snuck into the sauce alongside some rather yummie mushrooms.



One again, I was pleased to see the Pepe Saya butter which now seems to be standard. I had a Shiraz Grenache blend with it that I hadn’t tasted before, even though I source most of my wine through Qantas. It was exceptionally tasty, so much so that I asked the FA to take a picture of the bottle.



After landing and upon leaving the plane, the super nice FA scrambled to open their stash of wine bottles back up and handed me a brand new unopened bottle of this drop which was such a nice gesture and definitely made my night. Bravo to Qantas for a lovely experience both on the ground and in the air, tasty food and good wine. And Qudos goes to the crew which was truly excellent. Loved this flight!

 

[cpatters]

Looks like some significant changes are coming very soon both on the ground & in the air!

https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/media-releases/qantas-invests-in-new-menus-larger-meals-and-premium-produce/

 

[Berlin]

Looks like some significant changes are coming very soon both on the ground & in the air!

The drumming up of the former soup or salad option as a "Plant based dining" choice makes me a bit sceptical to be honest but the recent changes on Domestic J have been good so I'm in 'Let's wait and see' mode. Those ever rotating meal choices in International J definitely need a change at least but improvement would be even better. So tired to see exactly the same meals as even before Covid!

 

[JohnM]

Looks like some significant changes are coming very soon both on the ground & in the air!

https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/media-releases/qantas-invests-in-new-menus-larger-meals-and-premium-produce/

B-b-b-but what about the cheese in DOM J?

 

[Berlin]

B-b-b-but what about the cheese in DOM J?

I’m with ya, that would be my biggest “enhancement” too if I could chose!

 

[Justinf]

SYD-MEL 8.45am Thursday March 17
The final leg of a two week holiday to Japan - a trip report forthcoming.
This was actually surprisingly good.
The drinks here were apple juice and coke - not white wine and bundy and coke for those that may be familiar with my trip reports.

 

[cjd600]

SYD-MEL 8.45am Thursday March 17
The final leg of a two week holiday to Japan - a trip report forthcoming.
This was actually surprisingly good. View attachment 319912

Oh yes, love a @Justinf trip report!!
Bring it on

 

[RooFlyer]

Looks like some significant changes are coming very soon both on the ground & in the air!

https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/media-releases/qantas-invests-in-new-menus-larger-meals-and-premium-produce/

Looks like Fred Perry's (TM @TonyHancock ) recent reported admiration for QR catering has had an effect

 

[sudoer]

Looks like some significant changes are coming very soon both on the ground & in the air!

https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/media-releases/qantas-invests-in-new-menus-larger-meals-and-premium-produce/

With each regular menu change, Neil Perry and his team create nearly 250 new dishes for the domestic and international network.

Regular would be a stretch..

 

[obla]

Looks like some significant changes are coming very soon both on the ground & in the air!

https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/media-releases/qantas-invests-in-new-menus-larger-meals-and-premium-produce/

• Return of pre-take off water and juice in Business on long domestic flights.

Would love if this extended to all domestic flights!

 

[1022]

Would love if this extended to all domestic flights!

If VA can manage this on all dom flights I don’t understand why QF can’t.

 

[RooFlyer]

With each regular menu change, Neil Perry and his team create nearly 250 new dishes for the domestic and international network.

I'm astounded that Perry allows his name to be associated with some of the appalling meals we've seen imaged and described here over the past while. Apparently they are all his (and his team's ) 'creation'.

Regular would be a stretch..

'Regular' can enter the lexicon alongside 'enhanced'.

If VA can manage this on all dom flights I don’t understand why QF can’t.

VA of course, mange not only water and juice, but also sparkling.

More seriously, I hope this truly is the beginning of some sort of recovery for Qantas soft product in general. Food & bev is the most obvious aspect of this, as a tray will be plonked down in front of most of the pax. If the reaction is 'that looks/smells/tastes nice', that will go towards obviating many of any bad impressions elsewhere. But will they be 'consistently inconsistent (TM)' ?

 

[sudoer]

If VA can manage this on all dom flights I don’t understand why QF can’t.

I don't usually defend Qantas, but PDB service while a 737 is boarding is always painful to watch and will occasionally impact on-time performance. It would be more exacerbated on a QF 737 due to the bigger J cabin compared with VA. Not quite apples with apples.

 

[ozflier]

I'm not sure if Neil Perry has been responsible for some of awful meals on offer in business eg plant based dining choices , over spiced sauces and of course tasteless green leaf only salads .
Maybe it was just cost saving on QFs part and Neil got the blame.
Whatever , if QF is prepared to spend more on dining , that's great ,and please Neil , keep out of the kitchen !