Qantas First Class menus

[kermatu]

Superb crew and service. Boarded early with F Host. Was the only person onboard for about 10 minutes as they had problems with catering. Upper deck waited 15 further minutes to board apparently.
Meant plenty of time for champagne and chats with the crew on the ground.

Honestly the only disappointing part of the flight was the canapés.

Expected the small caviar serve but it tasted a bit off. The crisp was bitter.

Requested a small soup to sample.

Kerry said she was embarrassed to serve such a small bowl but it was exactly what I asked for. And it was delicious.

Initially selected the tapas starter but was able to change after takeoff to the beef.

Strong flavours. Excellent quality.

Then the toothfish.

After everything I had thrown at my tastebuds in the past 72 hours I did not expect such a simple looking dish to delight - but it was fantastic. Top quality. Reminded me of fresh caught and cooked Tassie seafood from my youth. Kerry cheekily said this was her favourite too.

Very generous cheese plate.

The cheddar was outstanding. The blue good, but others were just ok. To be fair I was bursting.

If I see affogato I will partake.


Finally, and after a maybe 2 hour coma, was very impressed to be offered supper just 47 minutes from landing.

Substantial and very tasty.

Great service, warmth and kindness from all the crew, a number of whom spoke with me on descent and upon disembarking to wish me well. Gav the CSM (who was quite present in the F cabin), Kerry my main FA and a Turkish gentleman whose name I didn’t catch unfortunately, the standouts. One of my best flights.

 

[KSC]

Superb crew and service. Boarded early with F Host. Was the only person onboard for about 10 minutes as they had problems with catering. Upper deck waited 15 further minutes to board apparently.
Meant plenty of time for champagne and chats with the crew on the ground.
View attachment 374558
Honestly the only disappointing part of the flight was the canapés.
View attachment 374559
Expected the small caviar serve but it tasted a bit off. The crisp was bitter.

Requested a small soup to sample.
View attachment 374562
Kerry said she was embarrassed to serve such a small bowl but it was exactly what I asked for. And it was delicious.

Initially selected the tapas starter but was able to change after takeoff to the beef.
View attachment 374560
Strong flavours. Excellent quality.

Then the toothfish.
View attachment 374561
After everything I had thrown at my tastebuds in the past 72 hours I did not expect such a simple looking dish to delight - but it was fantastic. Top quality. Reminded me of fresh caught and cooked Tassie seafood from my youth. Kerry cheekily said this was her favourite too.

Very generous cheese plate.
View attachment 374563
The cheddar was outstanding. The blue good, but others were just ok. To be fair I was bursting.

If I see affogato I will partake.
View attachment 374565
View attachment 374564
Finally, and after a maybe 2 hour coma, was very impressed to be offered supper just 47 minutes from landing.
View attachment 374566
Substantial and very tasty.

Great service, warmth and kindness from all the crew, a number of whom spoke with me on descent and upon disembarking to wish me well. Gav the CSM (who was quite present in the F cabin), Kerry my main FA and a Turkish gentleman whose name I didn’t catch unfortunately, the standouts. One of my best flights.

I have not flown first on Qantas only business. I can honestly not fault the food on my last slight SYD-HNL and has been my first international since 2020. This looks a step up which I think would be great.

I feel I must of missed the whole post covid, when things were bad for a while.

 

[Kangol]

QF1 SYD-SIN menu late last week:
View attachment 374553
View attachment 374554
View attachment 374555
View attachment 374556
The Cab Sav was excellent.
View attachment 374557

Good news about the CH!
Bad news about the cognac - I gave them feedback about the downgrade from Martell Cordon Bleu.
Sounds like it fell on deaf ears.

 

[anat0l]

QF1 SYD-SIN menu late last week:
View attachment 374553
View attachment 374554
View attachment 374555
View attachment 374556
The Cab Sav was excellent.
View attachment 374557

Can't comment on the wine list, but the food menu actually looks pretty good.

 

[anat0l]

Then the toothfish.

After everything I had thrown at my tastebuds in the past 72 hours I did not expect such a simple looking dish to delight - but it was fantastic. Top quality. Reminded me of fresh caught and cooked Tassie seafood from my youth. Kerry cheekily said this was her favourite too.

Glacier toothfish is supposed to be quite a delicacy. Up there with the likes of Chilean sea bass.

Have to admit the description on the menu didn't seem to appeal - if not only for the fish - so glad to hear it was a winner (especially, as you said, your palate may have been starting to tire out).

 

[bussyboy]

Normally my somewhat picky palate struggles with these menu choices, but that looked like a fantastic selection of dishes

 

[RooFlyer]

@kermatu - that looks like the QF First of the past . Wines I think $30-odd up to $150-odd so not bad also (If I have them right).

 

[anat0l]

Now I just wish they would bring back the tasting menu.

 

[Chalkie]

@kermatu - that looks like the QF First of the past . Wines I think $30-odd up to $150-odd so not bad also (If I have them right).

I agree. That does look more like a "proper" QF F menu.

I've got some QF F sectors later this year (SYD-SIN; LHR-SIN; SIN-SYD). 'Twill be interesting to compare. The high water marks of my previous QF F travels was the Winston Churchill Pol Roger on ex-LHR sectors (one time there was a visible and audible improvement in cabin mood when the F pax found out the WCPL was on offer) and a trans-pacific trip where I had the best and most personalised service ever!

 

[kermatu]

Was actually quite a tough menu to choose from. Unfortunately I didn’t see any other dishes to compare. Will be interesting to see if any of them pop up on the business meals thread - not the toothfish though!

The Cab Sav was really good. Did try the Shiraz which wasn’t quite so good. But did seem like a better list than before.

Probably swayed a bit by the wonderful crew, but I thought it was a solid and improved F offering.

Still quite a few shortcomings in the overall F product that could be rectified pretty easily if there was a wiill - amenity kit, headphones, top shelf spirits etc. (EDIT - and any time dining).

Have some EK F flights this week to compare!

 

[anat0l]

Still quite a few shortcomings in the overall F product that could be rectified pretty easily if there was a wiill - amenity kit, headphones, top shelf spirits etc. (EDIT - and any time dining).

Amenity kit could definitely be better! But the overall industry trend isn't looking great in this regard.

Even if it doesn't say it on the menu, I would have thought a polite request to take the meal at almost any time would be reasonable. (This is different to truly "any dish on the menu at any time")

Have some EK F flights this week to compare!

Don't think there will be a comparison in many aspects - EK will win - although IME - and this sounds dumb - I think QF F would either be competitive or even better on the food front. Sure EK F will have caviar that QF can't match, but aside from the entrees (appetisers) my experience overall with other EK F courses is pretty average (and the menu has sounded / read similarly).

 

[jase05]

That QF menu looks pretty good. I’m quite fussy and don’t eat seafood or vegan/vegetarian dishes so have found it becoming increasingly harder to choose a meal I’d eat so great to see a couple of options that I would go for

 

[kermatu]

Even if it doesn't say it on the menu, I would have thought a polite request to take the meal at almost any time would be reasonable. (This is different to truly "any dish on the menu at any time")

Too many reports of this failing in the past. And when your order is taken before takeoff it’s a pretty clear sign.

EK definitely wins across most categories. Will post in the relevant forum later. But in terms of meals the eat anything from the menu any time (with 15 minutes notice) has always been emphasised to me. Also love the fact that most menus on EK accommodate that an individual pax may like breakfast on a 3am flight while another might want dinner at that time, or lunch closer to arrival. Appreciate EK schedules are very different to QFs though!

 

[Fergo747]

Too many reports of this failing in the past. And when your order is taken before takeoff it’s a pretty clear sign.

EK definitely wins across most categories. Will post in the relevant forum later. But in terms of meals the eat anything from the menu any time (with 15 minutes notice) has always been emphasised to me. Also love the fact that most menus on EK accommodate that an individual pax may like breakfast on a 3am flight while another might want dinner at that time, or lunch closer to arrival. Appreciate EK schedules are very different to QFs though!

Yes agreed about failings in the past. The best I have done in the was to have the meal out of Syd going to DFW 'delayed' (as I had stuffed myself in the lounge) by asking to have my meal served at as the last pax in F (was in 1A). Given the glacial pace of QF service this was sufficient.

Re EK, and yes whilst their schedules are very different the premise of being able to eat the type of meal when you want is much appreciated compared to QF 'you must eat what / when we tell you' approach. I mean if one is spending upwards of $15k for a seat, you should be expected to have a little say in this.

 

[anat0l]

Yes agreed about failings in the past. The best I have done in the was to have the meal out of Syd going to DFW 'delayed' (as I had stuffed myself in the lounge) by asking to have my meal served at as the last pax in F (was in 1A). Given the glacial pace of QF service this was sufficient.

Re EK, and yes whilst their schedules are very different the premise of being able to eat the type of meal when you want is much appreciated compared to QF 'you must eat what / when we tell you' approach. I mean if one is spending upwards of $15k for a seat, you should be expected to have a little say in this.

The funny thing is that "dine anytime" is a fairly new concept (in any class of service, viz. F or J).

Sure, Qantas haven't moved with the times (pun intended) on this, but even CX were only in the last five years or so touting that they had anytime dining. Some carriers (TG, LX and LH to name a few, or at least they were not about 5 years ago) also haven't embraced the idea.

 

[sudoer]

Qantas haven't moved with the times (pun intended) on this

You could even say they have gone backwards with the loss of Meal Select.

 

[RooFlyer]

Sure, Qantas haven't moved with the times (pun intended) on this, but even CX were only in the last five years or so touting that they had anytime dining. Some carriers (TG, LX and LH to name a few, or at least they were not about 5 years ago) also haven't embraced the idea.

I was on LX First last year and definitely could eat when I wanted. QR of course is standard in J and F and has been for as long as I can remember.

 

[kermatu]

And true to form my very next QF F experience was underwhelming to say the very least. QF2 SIN-SYD.

Admittedly followed a handful of EK F experiences, but even objectively comparing to the experience on QF1 on the way up, could have been on a different airline.

Will post some details later. It’s been several days since this flight and still contemplating how detailed or negative I should be. But for now and to be strictly on topic, here is the menu:

 

[kermatu]

I’ll try (but probably fail) to be brief and focus on the menu. But my experience:
- Started well with escort by the lovely Ting Ting from the F lounge to (and through a very crowded) gate, then straight onboard.
- After seating in 1K waited 15 minutes before FA Ebony came round.

Champagne nice but canapés even more pathetic than before last year’s so-called revamp.
- No orders for meal or post-takeoff drink taken on the ground. A sign of delays to come.
- After takeoff requested a drink from Ebony which was promptly provided. Food order taken a few minutes later.
- Visited by Matt the CSM. Promised a quick service. Had no idea where I was headed then made a smart*rse comment effectively that I wasn’t stopping or indeed living in Sydney. Clearly his magic place. Thankfully (I guess) never saw him again.
- 1 hour after meal order taken, glass of wine provided. It was nice but not as good as my previous EK reds.

- 20 minutes later table was set. 15 minutes later soup provided:

It was fine but again couldn’t match my recent EK tomato consommé which came with lobster medallions..,
- Now I’m a slow eater, yet the bread came 15 minutes after I had finished the soup. I waved it away saying “it’s too late thanks”. The next time I saw Ebony I apologised for the dismissive comment. She was very gracious and said it was justified as there were “problems” with the service.
- One of the (very good) J attendants came back down at this point saying to Ebony she was finished upstairs. I didn’t even have my starter!
So the main point is the service was ridiculously slow, with long gaps between courses.

Prawn starter. Had some interesting flavours. Not really to my liking but I’m not critical of it because of that.

I probably chose a J meal but with no advice from the FAs nor ability to see menus beforehand I couldn’t know. It is what I felt like. And while the piece of fish was actually excellent and well prepared, this was a very bland and poor looking F dish.

Cheese plate was better presented but very average quality. Tasted like $5 supermarket cheeses.

Meal finished approx 3 hours 15 minutes into a 7 hour overnight flight. I don’t mind slower service as I don’t sleep much, but this really frustrated even me!

 

[kermatu]

While I’m ranting will again reiterate how poor the QF F headphones are and the pencil case amenity kit. I actually got a better kit in J on QF 9 to PER days later.

But I can finish on a more positive note. Declined offers to make-up the bed. Try as I did to sleep couldn’t, which Ebony noticed. About 90 minutes out she asked if I’d like to start breakfast. I happily agreed.

Salmon salad was tasty, fresh. Best thing eaten on the flight.

And this pic looks terrible but was exactly what I requested.

Felt like cheese and Vegemite, in a croissant. Staff delivered. Made better use of the cheese, and at least left a positive taste to end the experience.