Qantas Business Class meals & menus

[jase05]

Why? All looks quite tasty and I can’t wait to try it next week.

Not sure what your issue is but at least there’s no kale in sight…

Taste is obviously most important but would it kill QF to take a bit of pride in their meals and present it so it doesn’t look like it’s come straight from a prison canteen?

 

[Berlin]

Taste is obviously most important but would it kill QF to take a bit of pride in their meals and present it so it doesn’t look like it’s come straight from a prison canteen?

If you were talking about some of that glob they serve on Domestic flights or worse even, some of the rather boring food in the Domestic lounges, then I'd understand. But with the above images from International flights, I think you're seriously being too harsh- it looks all fine to me tbh.

If you want super dooper presentation, then it's up to First class or maybe try Qatar but the Middle Eastern carriers are a bit of an unfair comparison in my eyes. Compare it to similar legacy carriers in Europe or the US, Qantas often wins even. I take those pork and mushroom dumplings over some boring scones with cream on BA any day.

 

[RealtimeY]

Frozen sangas, chicken wings and curry: This is what Australia’s 43,000 prison inmates really eat

‘Inmates certainly aren’t eating like kings.’

7news.com.au

 

[sudoer]

SYD-MEL 8am departure - hot option, Frittata



MEL-SYD 6pm departure - pork fillet with mash. Other options chicken soup and chicken salad.

 

[wannabeinvestmentbanker]

Finally got the updated cheese plate

This suited my purpose perfectly.

People seem to be quite critical but it’s all very personal. Sometimes I just want pretzels and wine and people say it looks disgusting.

Everyone has a very different expectation based on frequency and purpose.

 

[Scash]

QF51 BNE-SIN yesterday. I had the dumplings and the beef. dumplings were amazing. Beef was over cooked and a bit tough but still nice (sorry about the photo of the half eaten beef ). Didn’t have desert or anything else as I was too full.

View attachment 335419

 

[MelbFlyer]

I've got a QF29 flight in business to Hong Kong in October and looking at some meals that are presented here, I've got very low expectations for my first flight in business with Qantas.

I've gone back and looked at my previous trips in business - on CX and SQ, whilst they still look average, I still think it's presented better than on QF.

 

[LadyC]

MEL-SYD lunchtime options Chicken Waldorf salad, chicken and corn soup or a veal ravioli with kale and mushrooms sauce. The pasta looked very dry and unappetizing.

 

[BNEFlyer]

MEL-SYD lunchtime options Chicken Waldorf salad, chicken and corn soup or a veal ravioli with kale and mushrooms sauce. The pasta looked very dry and unappetizing.

View attachment 335439View attachment 335440

The salad looks good, but messy to eat especially from a plate.

 

[LadyC]

The salad was quite reasonable- the apple gave it a good crunch. A bit light on the chicken though.

The salad looks good, but messy to eat especially from a plate.

 

[ozflier]

Well it looks like Neil Perry's influence has not gone yet in Qantas catering.

I just flew BNE-PER..

No pre takeoff drinks but, to be fair, the crew got moving soon after the seat belt sign came off and took our drinks order!

The menu ( not provided ) was
chicken with a spicy sauce which I had ,
beef with massaman curry which my seatmate had
or a Korean salad for the vegetarian offering.

Both dishes were too spicy for us but the underlying meat was good though could have been more of it.

Needless to say , Neil's signature salad was a small slices of salmon on top of a bowl of tasteless ? barley seeds !

We had asked for the economy class offering of meat balls with a red sauce which the man opposite ( ? Chairmans Lounge ) was given but we were refused because there were not enough loaded .

For a 5 hour 35 minute flight, I was surprised how small the main course plate was .

We were underwhelmed by the offering to say the least.

I am quickly losing my loyalty to Qantas and hope that the current competitors do more flying but more importantly , foreign airlines are allow to carry domestic passengers between intra Australian ports ( waiting on the ACCC for this )!

 

[Daver6]

QF770 PER-MEL lunch

No PDB offered. Pre-meal drinks offered though. I went the ginger chicken with soba noodle. Meal was really good. Main had some good bite to the ginger sauce. Salad with prawns was fresh and delicious. Hidden under the crackers was a stick of aged cheddar wrapped loosely in wax paper. Wine was the Penfols Max Chardy. Usual ice-cream offered but declined. All up, pretty satisfied with the F&B offering on this flight.

 

[RooFlyer]

All up, pretty satisfied with the F&B offering on this flight.

Yes, that does look pretty good. Decent pour

 

[Daver6]

Yes, that does look pretty good. Decent pour

Especially when I asked for a half glass

 

[TheRealTMA]

Especially when I asked for a half glass

Bug*er!

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Anyone got any info on the red eye, last QF flight from MEL - AKL, dep 23.xx?
I do get lounge access as a J pax, but as its the last flight, bet that there will be min items by 9.15pm.
Will take photos tho, of what they offer.

 

[Berlin]

SYD-DFW, 6th July:
Aaah, for the first time since Covid on a proper long haul Qantas International flight and I realised straight away why I missed it so much. Despite all the complaints and whinging, it was an excellent experience from start to finish and dwarfing both SQ and especially JAL which I have used more frequently recently, by a far in my opinion.

My ticket was excellent value being booked on AA paper with the long haul flights codeshare on QF metal. $7200 return to Europe, including stopovers in the US on the return. If prices stay similar (i.e. inflated via Asia but affordable via the US), this will be my preferred route to Europe from now on, especially as I prefer a nice long route like SYD-DFW over the shorter ones, in J or higher of course.

After battling the chaos that Sydney airport was due to “technical issues in Canberra” (check in taking ages due to border control issues and, as ever so often, the e-gates at emigration not working), I had an excellent time in the Flounge though there was a lot of new staff around that clearly needed better training. Spa appointment was offered pro-actively and was as blissful as always and much welcome before the long flight to Dallas. On the airplane, staff was friendly excellent and casually friendly which I personally prefer 10 times over the non genuine bowing on the floor nonsense that Asian airlines tend to offer. Menu the same as posted a little up-thread. Selected the pork and mushroom dumplings followed by the chicken Kiew and then the cheese plate.



The dumplings were, no exaggeration here, one of the best airplane meals I had in a very long time. Quite spicy with a delicious sauce- perfect. Then the chicken which I found was the perfect follow up with a very different taste pattern. Unlike many chicken dishes, it was the opposite of dry and I very much enjoyed the creamy mash and side of bacon and peas as well.



And just when I thought that maybe a bit of pro-activity was missing, I got another wine top up and was asked wether I’d like to try some desert wine later. Oh yes I did! And finally, I had the cheese plate which was generous and included very tasty cheeses which felt rather high quality:



Breakfast was served prior to landing and despite missing the promised avocado (“sorry, no avo was loaded”) was rather tasty and especially the scrambled eggs done very well- actually, I don’t know any order airline that does breakfast quite as well as Qantas does.



Any negatives? I hate hate HATE how Qantas force closes this stupid electric window blinds (my main reason to really not like the 787) for almost the entire flight and well into daylight in the US, hence generously adding to your Jetlag unnecessarily. I don’t book a window seat to stare at snoring other passengers but rather to have a view. And the snorers who somehow manage to sleep more than 8 hours on an airplane- you’ve been provided eye masks. Nice ones I must add, as are the PJs that Qantas thankfully still provides in Business. And I’d love a hot towel which Qantas seems to think is unnecessary. It’s not at all in my eyes and above all, pouring some hot water on a towel isn’t costing them anything. At. All.

All in all- an excellent flight and clearly a premium product which can compete with pretty much anything out there, maybe with the exception of QR but then again you can avoid the mess that DOH is. Would definitely continue to go out of my way to fly Qantas when possible (and not overly outrageously expensive as it too often is post-Covid).

 

[JessicaTam]

Thanks for the comprehensive review @Berlin.

 

[RooFlyer]

Thanks @Berlin - again, I'd have to say I agree with you on the tucker, judging by the pics. (But not on DOH, which while can be crowded, is super efficient )

 

[PlaneCrazy]

Glad you had a great trip @Berlin and that the dining experience is improving. I think when you get the stereotypical Qantas crew at their best they are amazing. So you booked the flights via AA.com? Seems like a great deal.

The main reasons I no longer fly Qantas are that they are priced for those who are not spending their own money and dealing with them (outside of an airplane or airport) is generally an excruciating experience. I'm still waiting for the refund of over $1k in taxes on a reward flight I cancelled 5 months ago despite being told on several occasions it's been escalated to the highest level and will be processed in 5-10 working days. What other sophisticated, Australian company gets away with that on a regular basis?