Virgin Australia Business Class - Meals, Menus & Service

[clipped_wings]

The following two entries were from VA1 in October last year. I know it's not that recent but gives you an indication of the quality, which was excellent. I believe there is a new menu for this route - we are looking forward to our degustation in January

 

[clipped_wings]

Cheese board is always my choice. And the breakfast was amazing.

 

[blackcat20]

MEL-CHC last Friday

Slow cooked lamb (I think shank) on a pearl barley. Stonier Pinot and Tintara Shiraz were the Reds on offer.


CHC-MEL on Sunday, another lamb, this time with gnocchi. There was a Mexican style chicken salad on offer as well. Our FA served the cheese and dessert separately to make it more three course than tray style eating.

 

[EuroKick]

ADL-CBR amazing. Even had the lovely lady in the VA safety video. The satay are definitely up there with the best. A side of rice would’ve been nice though

 

[chooms]

ADL-SYD Dinner last night. Had the Chicken, kale, walnut and berry pasta as mentioned by a few above. When it first came out I must admit it looked a bit of an odd combination but was simply stunning with a ton of flavour. Large pieces of chicken that were moist and deliciously spiced plus a generous amount of creamy sauce on the pasta. Not a huge amount of kale which suits me and the walnuts and berries added some nice flavours to the dish. Excess sauce mopped up with an extra roll. Very enjoyable dish and would choose again. Other option was a pear and walnut? salad I think. Only 4 of us in J and all had the pasta. A couple of glasses of very pleasant Pinot Gris to wash down a very good meal. No PDB as we were rushed departing thanks to the inbound arriving late but apart from that service was great and attentive.
View attachment 174747

I am long term QF WP and I flew with VA in J CBR-BNE this week and had this exact meal. By far the best J dish I’ve had on a domestic flight in a long time.

 

[Stealthflyer]

HBA - MEL lunchtime. The offerings were the same as my recent flight to DPS: chicken pasta or prosciutto salad. I once again chose the salad. There were some miserable gluten free chocolate biscuits served with the meal. I took advantage of the wine seeing as there is (STILL!) no lounge in Hobart. They didn’t hand out a wine list, merely offering sparkling, white or red - no specifics given.

The salad was nice enough. They went a bit overboard on the dressing this time though.

 

[ElegantCow]

I had three Business Saver flights on 6th July 2019, HBA-MEL-BNE-DUD.

HBA-MEL was a 10.15am departure and had the option of a potato and spinach slice (photo below), and chicken (and something other) finger sandwiches.



MEL-BNE (12:30pm departure) and BNE-DUD (6:00pm departure) had the same options, a chicken and kale penne, or a salad with some prosciutto. The pasta is photographed below.

 

[zig]

I had three Business Saver flights on 6th July 2019, HBA-MEL-BNE-DUD.

HBA-MEL was a 10.15am departure and had the option of a potato and spinach slice (photo below), and chicken (and something other) finger sandwiches.

View attachment 175425

MEL-BNE (12:30pm departure) and BNE-DUD (6:00pm departure) had the same options, a chicken and kale penne, or a salad with some prosciutto. The pasta is photographed below.
View attachment 175426

Those 2 choices have been on high rotation recently. Both are nice, but if you are flying a lot there isn’t much variety.

 

[jase05]

Those 2 choices have been on high rotation recently. Both are nice, but if you are flying a lot there isn’t much variety.

Yep, had the pasta again tonight CBR-ADL. Very nice again but a bit of variety would be nice. Did get a wonderful banana and fig cake tonight instead of the cookies though

 

[zig]

Yep, had the pasta again tonight CBR-ADL. Very nice again but a bit of variety would be nice. Did get a wonderful banana and fig cake tonight instead of the cookies though

That sounds like a nice change. I’ve had nothing but the cookies for 12 months.

 

[texanaust]

Mel-Lst Breakfast on a 50 minute flight:




Flagship Qantas A330 J service Per-Syd last week:



The menu was Greek style yoghurt with sour cherry compote. Followed by a Parmesan, potato and sage frittata with beef chipolatas. The frittata was terrible, so I only ate the sausages. We were also supposed to get a Ginger spice cookie which never eventuated. Alternatively I could have had the 'Granola.' In fairness, there was also a sandwich, but the P1's snapped those up.

I've forgotten the menu from the Lst flight, but it was delicious and you get the 'Granola' too!

 

[BNEFlyer]

SYD-BNE 5pm Friday night dinner service. Sausage roll or noodle salad offered. Well presented, but I’d expected something a bit more substantial so was pretty disappointed overall. Full cabin but service was still good.

5pm isn't a dinner service, it's afternoon tea/snack/refreshment. Dinner starts at 6:00pm.

 

[juliusg]

VA442 Syd/Adel Friday 19 July. Superb service by Alex, we both had the chicken pasta with celerac, walnuts, raisons, kale and ricotta. Delicious! Wine was plentiful. World class.

 

[Lemon_Party]

MEL-BNE 6pm Monday service.
Lamb with pearl barley, bread, cheese and crackers and a couple of chunky cookies. Pretty good and the usual excellent service. 3/8 load...

Excuse the poor photo...

 

[clipped_wings]

Apologies for what?? That looks amazing! I happen to love the cool purple glow.....

 

[juliusg]

VA417 Adel/Syd on 21 July, snack is potato and spinach warm thing with tomato relish. Other option was a chicken sandwich. Perfectly adequate, great service by Zoe, a true brand ambassador!

 

[Pleb Status]

VA470 BNE-PER 21JUL19 A332 J Transcon

After completing two, seven week long multi sector J trips over the past four or so months, travelling numerous long haul J sectors on AA, BA, CX, QF, QR and even SQ (regional only however), the experience has confirmed just how well (IMHO) the VA domestic A332 J hard and soft products compare to the 'best' that can be provided by their (much 'hyped' and 'worshipped') international rivals.

Focussing on the food (the topic here), few of these international rivals can come even close to providing what we get on a domestic service. The quality of the VA domestic A332 J transcon menu, the ingredients and the presentation consistently exceed that provided by all of the above. Some QR and SQ menus may be able to compete but the others (particularly AA and BA) cannot.

It is actually a little disappointing that the above is the case. After spending thousands of hard earned dollars (or hundreds of thousands of points with thousands of dollars in QFF surcharges), you would like to think you would get an international J product/service from supposedly 'world leading' airlines that at least equals a domestic J product/service of a small airline in a relatively low population country...

 

[juliusg]

VA have really pushed forward with the J catering, continual improvement..... It is GOOD.

 

[Astro]

It is GOOD.

It's really good. I had the chance to do two sectors with Qantas last week. Qantas is ok but you really appreciate how far VA have come when you go back to the J food/service on VA.

 

[QF WP]

I'm looking forward to a couple of flights coming up (BNE/MEL/BNE) in VA J. Have a breakfast and a dinner flight so will get the best of both. My mouth was salivating over the @Pleb Status photos (pity it's transcon), however most of the other recent ones I'd happily eat.