It is excellent. No pics I'm afraid but flew ADL-MEL and then MEL-CBR on the weekend. Used my two remaining comp upgrades (expiring shortly) to get J. In part to see what the short haul service is like c.f. QF.
ADL-MEL was 11:35 departure. Flight pretty full (including a footy team) so was only able to secure upgrade in the lounge - so catering not assured. Well explained in the lounge and by the CSM on boarding. Nevertheless, my luck held and got my first choice. Chicken, kale, walnut and berry pasta. It was delicious. Other option was the cos and radish salad with optional prosciutto (as posted above, had by my seatmate, she said it was delicious). Interestingly only two of the salad option loaded. At least 4 pax had the pasta. One declined to eat anything, the other asked for something else and was given a sandwich from Y (but nicely presented on a plate, from what I could see). Great service from CSM Stephen, who solo served 8 of us on a short flight with a couple of drink top-ups.
MEL-CBR was a 15:15 departure. Two hot options. Satay sticks, or two mini cheese tartlets. I had the latter. CSM gave me three. Very tasty, and not that small either. Again CSM (Adam, I think) did a great job looking after 8 pax solo, offering top-ups well into descent and on a very short flight. Two pax asked for cheese and crackers and a plate was made up from the J chese and suplemented by the pack from Y (I presume available for purchase).
While only having 8 pax maximum does help a bit, VA is so far ahead of QF on these short flights. Two hot options for a mid-arvo flight in particular. Orders taken before take-off, and no messing around with a trolley. Notable though that the Y FAs did not come up to help, but maybe they were fully occupied. (QF one of the FAs usually shows up after maybe 15 minutes to lend a hand and 'speed' things up).
