Virgin Australia Business Class - Meals, Menus & Service

[serfty]

Oh didn't know gin was included. Only been offered wine, sparkling, water.
Is gin in the evenings?

Had some chicken skewers last week at 430 BNE to SYD. Tasty and a nice Chili kick

pre departure it is normally just those three ...
However, once airborne from seat belt sign off to seat belt sign on, gin, scotch, red and white wines, beers etc.. can be had in business.

 

[Astro]

BNE to SYD this week - Egg Tortilla was nice!

 

[QF WP]

There are six distinct F&B offerings - breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner and evening snack. Whilst I don't know the exact times each are served on VA, I'm going to ask a couple of my contacts.

 

[jpp42]

Flew VA 82 HKG-SYD last night in J, sorry I didn't get any photos or keep the menu for posting here, but there was one oddity - everything containing pork on the dinner menu had been replaced with chicken - but the menus had not been re-printed. The flight attendants had to explain this as they were collecting orders. Did VA somehow change their HKG caterer to a halal one? It seems strange as there is generally no shortage of pork in HK/China! I didn't notice whether this applied to breakfast - I had selected a rasher of bacon for my breakfast but managed to completely sleep through the meal (I hadn't requested a wake-up).

 

[Mr H]

Flew VA 82 HKG-SYD last night in J, sorry I didn't get any photos or keep the menu for posting here, but there was one oddity - everything containing pork on the dinner menu had been replaced with chicken - but the menus had not been re-printed.

I think there is some kind of swine fever in Asia and Australia has very strict bans in place for importing pork products. A couple of people have had visas cancelled for it. I wonder whether airlines have been told not to carry pork into Australia.

 

[westsurf]

I’d suggest that’s exactly the reason.

 

[The-Aviator]

27/10/19 | VA82 | HKG to SYD

Finally back to provide a review of my return home on the red-eye flight to Sydney. Started with a pre-departure champagne as always...



Menus and wake-up cards were handed out. As some have mentioned above, due to the African Swine Fever outbreak pork has been removed on the VA flights leaving Hong Kong. I overheard the flight attendants discussing this amongst themselves and the FA on the other aisle mentioning it to passengers, however the menu cards are yet to be updated and my FA didn't mention it or advise what the substitutes were.





Once airborne I ordered a gin and tonic, served with warm mixed nuts.



Shortly after the bread basket came around. Unfortunately the garlic bread was not hot at all, but the taste was certainly still there!



For my starter I went with the smoked salmon. Ordinarily I would have chosen the duck and pork wonton soup but I overheard they had replaced the pork with tofu, and I'm not a fan of tofu! Not usually a salmon person but I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed this starter, generous serve of salmon and the garlic yoghurt and tabbouleh went really well with it.



My travelling companion went with the wonton soup.



And for my main I chose the braised beef brisket. Mixed thoughts on this dish; it was flavourful but the portion size was somewhat small and the broth was rather watery, which meant it tended to jump around everywhere, with a fair bit of splash onto the tablecloth and my clothes!



My travelling companion ordered the Massaman vegetable curry.



For dessert I chose the cheese plate, served with a glass of the Grant Burge Aged Tawny. I personally preferred the cheeses served on the outbound flight and the truffle honey over the quince paste, but still an enjoyable cheese option.



And it appears I've hit the photo attachment limit so I will put breakfast in a separate post!

 

[The-Aviator]

27/10/19 | VA82 | HKG to SYD

Part two due to photo attachment limits! Enjoyed a reasonably comfortable (albeit brief) sleep, I rarely sleep well on planes and the cabin was a little warm for my liking, but the flight attendants were certainly quick to get everyone's beds ready when requested. I stayed away from the late night snacks except for an extra bottle of water from the galley, however the usual pantry selection was available for those looking for something substantial.

As we approached Sydney breakfast was brought around. They started by serving everything but the main, I had ordered fresh orange juice, seasonal fruits with natural yoghurt, Sultana Bran, a croissant, a muffin and a hot chocolate. I'm guessing they ran out of croissants as it wasn't served to me and I didn't bother asking for it as the meal turned out to be plenty for me. Highlights for me were the delicious fresh juice, the perfectly sweet hot chocolate and the Sultana Bran which is my favourite cereal!



Shortly afterwards the plated main was brought around. I ordered the scrambled eggs and for the sides I requested sweetcorn fritters, streaky bacon, sourdough toast and sauteed kale. The bacon was replaced by two sausages due to the ASF pork ban. Overall a tasty and very substantial breakfast!



This was my first overnight flight in long-haul business class in a number of years but I feel it has remained consistent over the years that the style of service on overnight flights is quite different to daytime flights. Whilst on the outbound flight to Hong Kong the crew were quite talkative and we had not just the flight attendants but also the cabin manager coming over to introduce themselves and greet us by name, on this flight it seemed a bit less personal and more about minimising intrusions to maximise passenger sleep time. Not a complaint as I'm sure this is what most business passengers would be looking for on an overnight flight and they were certainly very quick to prepare people's beds even during the meal service if requested, but just something to think about. If you're flying The Business to enjoy the food and entertainment and don't really care about the sleep, then fly during the day! Overall I would also say that the quality of the food and the options available were better on the flight out than the flight home, perhaps something for VA to think about the next time they review their catering in Hong Kong.

I'm heartened by the news this week that VA is going to keep the SYD-HKG route going, on both legs I thought the loads seemed reasonably good and by routing all the domestic traffic through Sydney only rather than splitting between Melbourne and Sydney, hopefully they can make this route profitable and sustainable. I would certainly be keen to fly with them on this route again and would love to give their BNE-HND route a go once that goes live too!

 

[PDog]

Thanks for the report @The-Aviator ! And extra thanks for re-affirming my life-rules: don’t order soup on a plane ;-)

 

[QF WP]

Particularly if you are in smart or business attire and need to look presentable on arrival. Soda (or sparkling) water is your friend however and some towels/napkins. I normally put one or 2 inside my shirt/pants so I can be liberal with the soda/sparkling water as I clean up and they suck up the excess fluid.

 

[kermatu]

BNE-CBR 19:20 flight in October. Weekend flight. I was the only J pax. So obviously attentive service. But some gaps when CSM back helping in Y. Never a problem though.

PDBs the usual offering. While CSM did want to serve me early, on account of expected turbulence in latter part of flight (somewhat eventuated), and to be able to help out in Y -- was happy to delay a bit to allow a pre-dinner drink.

Meal was the BBQ pork or a beet salad. Pork for me:



Great dish, with extra chilli dressing added on request. Cheese was good. Didn't try the cake. Wine top-up too.

Another meal was served on a tray to someone in Y. Can only imagine it was to the uniformed pilot in Y - but didn't see. If it was to a pax, be interesting to know the basis.

Requested drink later in flight and asked about pantry items.



Me happy. Offers of top-ups through to descent.

Good flight with excellent food and service. Nice but a bit weird having an empty cabin. Even to the point of a crew member standing at row 2 on arrival and stopping any Y pax from even entering my space let alone leaving before me!

 

[Astro]

Mid-morning flight MEL-SYD... I guess you'd call it morning tea. Was nice. Served with the yoghurt and fruit & a bread roll. The Salmon was nice - kinda hard to stuff up smoked salmon though.

 

[QF WP]

I love it when a mere photograph can make me salivate. Yours is a winner @Astro.

 

[cqtiger]

55 min flight ROK BNE took my order as soon as I sat down. Excellent service

 

[Mexpirate]

PER to HBA via MEL, I forgot to get pictures of dinner on the return flight to Perth - service was excellent all round, very attentive and instant refills

 

[raroson]

Being told by the FA that my Business flight has a ‘lite lunch’ service. Apparently now on flights departing between 11:30am and 12:30pm...

 

[Inlander]

Being told by the FA that my Business flight has a ‘lite lunch’ service. Apparently now on flights departing between 11:30am and 12:30pm...

Hmm can you get a photo?

 

[Astro]

This was a 10am departure out of OOL to SYD a few days ago. I'm not sure if I have flown at that time recently but would call it morning tea rather than a light lunch or lunch for that matter.

Toasted banana bread with ricotta and berries. Pretty good feed for mid morning.

 

[raroson]

Hmm can you get a photo?

FA told me that a new 'week old' policy for flights departing between 11:30am - 12:30pm. Was served the cheese, cracker and dip, the usual desert and a small hot item being a quiche. No longer a more substantial hot plated meal and no bread roll service.

 

[jase05]

FA told me that a new 'week old' policy for flights departing between 11:30am - 12:30pm. Was served the cheese, cracker and dip, the usual desert and a small hot item being a quiche. No longer a more substantial hot plated meal and no bread roll service.

So they are going the same as QF with their “snack” service?