Virgin Australia Business Class - Meals, Menus & Service

[danielt25]

I must admit the VA presentation trumps the QF presentation for domestic meals.

 

[aaronm]

MEL-AKL breakfast yesterday morning, falafel with bacon. I am not a falafel fan but decided to this might be better than the muesli alternative. Quite a dry dish, probably needs some eggs or tomato in there as well. Mediocre brekky aside, the FA was great, just the right amount of “checking in” to see if I wanted drinks/snacks/etc.

 

[Lord_Lenny]

I'm impressed so far, looks like we should be reasonably well looked after for dinner on our way to Adelaide in April. May even have to cash in some points for an upgrade on the way home too

Forgot to take pics, but:

• VA436 SYD-ADL 18:15 departure
  • Beef pie with pea garnish - Very tasty
  • The usual cheeses etc.
  • Pre-departure drink choice of water (still/sparkling) & Orange Juice
• VA417 ADL-SYD 11:00 departure
  • Brie and Leek quiche
  • Flourless orange and almond (I think) cake
  • Cheese etc.
  • Pre-departure drink choice of water (still/sparkling), Juice or Sparkling wine

Service on both legs was great, hit the sweet spot between attentive and leaving us alone. Wine with meal topped up regularly, and the usual snack basket service as well. Our FA on the ADL-SYD leg was doing his second ever J leg, apart from a bit of fumbling with the bread (that fork and spoon combination claw thing looks quite tricky) you'd never know.

When I think about it this was actually one of the best little J trips I've had in a while. The extra bit of flight time to ADL makes a difference, it's not as rushed as SYD - MEL or BNE

 

[DSFlyer]

Does anyone have the current menu Australia to LA and back?

 

[clipped_wings]

Does anyone have the current menu Australia to LA and back?

LOL, I don't even think VIRGIN have the menu. The link on their (updated) website is still Circa 2015.

Hope the food isn't............

 

[HeavyElectricity]

VA564 PER-SYD on Sunday


Menu:





Post take-off drink with almonds:



Starter - Poached chicken salad with egg noodles:



Main - Pork and mushroom ragu with potato gnocchi:



Desert - Flourless chocolate cake:

 

[dk4]

Forgot to take pics, but...Beef pie with pea garnish - Very tasty

There are two dishes which I have encountered fitting that description - one has minted peas on the side (with a more onion flavoured savoury mix under the crust) and the other has mush-peas on top (with a more spicy savoury mix under the crust). Here's a pic of the mushy-peas version.


Also, Virgin seems to have canned the fruit platter on perishable/fresh pantry flights at the moment (apparently due to the recent rock melon scare) I hope it returns soon! (Here's a pic of the finger sandwich options currently available; cheese & capsicum and chicken & pesto. Sorry for the poorly lit pic, was late at night.)

 

[HeavyElectricity]

VA569 SYD-PER on Friday night

Whilst I wouldn't classify it as bad, unfortunately this was my "least-best" experience in The Business in all my ~25ish flights. Crew seemed fairly uninterested, and there were continuing problems with the IFE throughout the flight (exiting from the playing movie and returning me to the 'home' screen every 20ish minutes). Not that it was anyone's fault, but an infant screaming from economy on/off throughout the flight could be heard pretty loudly even at the front of the business cabin.

The main dish - Moussaka - really wasn't too great, and just tasted to me of pulled-lamb in liquid. I'd chose the barramundi over this one if I get this same menu again. After the meal service no further drinks were offered (including water), and the cabin crew turned off the lights and did the 'disappear behind the curtain' trick. Unlike my (shorter) outbound flight, there were no offers of snacks from the pantry.

Whilst it was all fine, service was nowhere near as good as my outbound flight, which by comparison was absolutely fantastic.


Menu:



Post-departure drink with almonds and olives:



Starter - Poached chicken with couscous and fetta (was great):



Main - Lamb moussaka (not great - would choose the fish next time instead):



Dessert - Orange cake (ok - but would pick the cheese plate over this choice next time):

 

[Mattg]

VA992 BNE-SYD
20:05 departure, supper service

The choices were fennel & black bean empanadas or an antipasto platter. I chose the empanadas which were tasty. Good service too.

 

[Lord_Lenny]

There are two dishes which I have encountered fitting that description - one has minted peas on the side (with a more onion flavoured savoury mix under the crust) and the other has mush-peas on top (with a more spicy savoury mix under the crust). Here's a pic of the mushy-peas version.
View attachment 123102

That's the one, was perfect for a Friday evening flight.

 

[Bagpuss]

Is it just me who separates the salt and pepper on the a330 service? It's just plain rude. (Whenever I point it out the crew they always chuckle.)

 

[theoracle30]

Is it just me who separates the salt and pepper on the a330 service? It's just plain rude. (Whenever I point it out the crew they always chuckle.)

I like my Opera House salt and pepper shakers to be 'humping' (for lack of a better word), just the way they were designed to be

 

[blackcat20]

Is it just me who separates the salt and pepper on the a330 service? It's just plain rude. (Whenever I point it out the crew they always chuckle.)

What's rude about the Opera house?

 

[Bagpuss]

What's rude about the Opera house?

As bl5965 noted "salt and pepper shakers to be 'humping' (for lack of a better word)"

 

[dk4]

So you prefer virgin S&P when flying Virgin widebody J!

 

[blackcat20]

As bl5965 noted "salt and pepper shakers to be 'humping' (for lack of a better word)"

I realise that....

 

[QF WP]

I'd use the term "spooning". I'll give due consideration next week and again the following week with 2 return flights to MEL. Maybe if I have the time I can use my daughters Funimate App and do a video

 

[zig]

NTL - MEL - afternoon snack service
Started eating before I took the photo. Jamon with feta, olives and capsicum relish. I added the side salad to it which had fresh peas and mint. It was a great meal - light and fresh. The alternative was a Moroccan lamb jaffle.
PDB was water and juice. I asked for sparkling wine and was served it, but no one else was then offered it(I was served first).

 

[zig]

MEL - NTL - lunch

No PDB was offered! We were just handed a bottle of water each just before take off.
This was meant to be a papaya salad with chicken and glass noodles. There wasn’t any sign of papaya. It was under seasoned and had too much sweet chilli sauce. It was ok only and I didn’t eat much of it. The alternative was the beef pie with peas.

 

[danielt25]

VA333 MEL/BNE 23/4 15:00 departure

Water juice or sparkling wine
Choices salad or lamb jaffle

Jaffle tasted like it was cooked on board, unlike the toasted sandwiches from QF which appear reheated.