Qantas Business Class meals & menus

[amaroo]

BNE-SYD midday flight

 

[chooms]

BNE-PER evening flight (dinner on the A330). By far the best Dom J meals I've had on QF in a while...



Seared Ocean Trout:




Red Braised Chicken:


Meringue:


Affogato Ice Cream:

 

[RichardMEL]

Noted a decline, I feel, in the standard a bit.

MEL-ADL freshment flight. Now I do know MEL-ADL, like MEL-CBR is a short flight usually with barely 40min for the service window but on previous sectors I've had a full tray on ADL flights with more of the smaller one on CBR(which makes sense).

I don't know if this is a one flight wonder, or a new "standard" but to me this was (slightly) downgraded. Same old toastie (Turkey) but no offer of pred - the "tartlet" thing was pre-plated (yet so was the butter...) and the little bag "sweet' rather than the more usual Koko black chocolate.

Service was from the galley rather than the cart (J was about 60% full - I had a shadow -as in there was an actual block according to EF.. rather unusual in my experience. I didn't ask for it but was happy enough).

No wine was offered (this was 1130am departure) though I am sure some was loaded. I think CSM was doing all he could to get the trays out to everyone.

 

[amaroo]

SYD-WLG



Interesting that the menu is dated Sep 18...

 

[jase05]

Was it tasty?

 

[Berlin]

Interesting that the menu is dated Sep 18...

Was your flight just this week? Then you’ve been unlucky mate, the new ones are just being rolled out.

Had a “Mar 19” one yesterday AKL-BNE. Will post it shortly. Luckily, 3 of the 4 wine choices also got changed with the new menu.

 

[amaroo]

Was it tasty?

I’ve had better pies, but it was ok.

Was your flight just this week? Then you’ve been unlucky mate, the new ones are just being rolled out.

Had a “Mar 19” one yesterday AKL-BNE. Will post it shortly. Luckily, 3 of the 4 wine choices also got changed with the new menu.

This week.... missed it by that much. Something to look forward to.

 

[jase05]

I’ve had better pies, but it was ok.

Excuse my ignorance but what exactly is the difference between a pithivier and a pie?

 

[amaroo]

Excuse my ignorance but what exactly is the difference between a pithivier and a pie?

My guess - nothing. I’ve only ever seen the word on a QF menu

 

[Berlin]

My guess - nothing. I’ve only ever seen the word on a QF menu

It’s a type of pie with a flaky crust that is famous in a certain region of France: Pithivier - Wikipedia

Needless to say that Qantas uses this solely to sound fancier than “pie”. I found it quite nice but the whole bottom gets soggy in the water from the peas and beans, typical airplane issue.

 

[Berlin]

This week.... missed it by that much. Something to look forward to.

Don’t expect too much- my menu from yesterday contained quite a few meals that were exactly the same on some of the previous ones. A really nice dinner nevertheless:

AKL-BNE, Friday 22nd March, dinner flight on A330-300:

The crew on this flight seemed to be all over the shop while very friendly and most of the time extremely attentive. Just a few things that were “off” the usual but I probably only notice because I fly the Trans-Tasman almost every weekend at the moment. I was on the aircraft for about 15 minutes by the time I finally got offered a glass of champagne while strangely the other side of the aircraft (I was in 2J) had gotten their drinks ages before. Not a big deal as the champers was the Duval which I prefer over the Mosaique and we also received amenity kits.

I mostly use the eye shades in those kits (being one of those funny people who cannot sleep other than in total darkness) and LOVE the current Qantas J kits with their artsy designs and matching eye shades so I asked to have the blue one for a change. The cabin attendant told me that it’s the women’s one but then just before takeoff passed my seat and snugged an extra lady’s one in the side pocket for me after all which was awesome of him. Couldn’t care less about the eyeshades “being for women” as I was only after the different design anyway.

I digress, this thread is about the food! This was the “new” March-September menu on my seat:



The chicken main was was exactly the same as on one of the previous ones -well, maybe there wasn’t any olive tapanede back then but I vividly remember it coming with braised zuccini and not being the best meal. I usually love the soups but pumpkin is one of the few ones that I’d never touch. Not many soups I don’t like actually- apart from fish/seafood ones that I’m allergic to, I almost like all of them. Bar that awful “Spinach and Kale” soup I had been offered a while ago, I think it was on Emirates. Who would do such a thing, other than Satan himself! Bah

Anyway, the three new dishes on the menu were the Buffalo mozzarella, the toastie and the beef noodle salad. Knowing that these toasties are absolutely ridiculous in size and totally inadequate for an international flight in Business class, my choice was pretty much made even though that meant not a single bite of hot food (which, I’d argue, is equally inadequate for a 3 hour J class flight). To my utter delight, 3 of the wines also have been swapped though it’s still a choice of one NZ Pinot Noir (that’s the one wine which stayed the same but it’s quite a nice one), one Aussie Shiraz (Oliver Taranga now which is one of the better winyards in the Maclaren Vale), one Kiwi Sav Blanc which I don’t remember but it was a new one and the excellent Voyager Estate Chardonnay from the Margaret River.

Also quite oddly, we were offered a drink after takeoff while being handed the usual bag of almonds and pretzels rather than taking the drink order and then bringing the pretzels out with the drink which is the usual order. As I said, some things were just a bit off, for whatever reason. Shortly after my Bloody Mary, the starter was served:



The buffalo mozzarella didn’t take close to any buffalo mozzarella I’ve ever had in Italy but I trust it wasn’t a lie und just felt and tasted totally different because it was half frozen on an airplane. The way this dish was presented and the pea-mint-pistachio addition made it work quite well regardless and the fore mentioned Chardy was perfect with it. I asked for a Shiraz with the main but then realised very quickly that it didn’t pair well at all so decided to ask for another Chardonnay and then rather finished the red with my cheese platter afterwards. In itself though, the Asian beef noodle salad was AMAZING in taste and also more substantial than expected:



Couldn’t complain at all, very authentic dish with quite a few strangely complimentary flavours. Would definitely recommend this one, and the Chardonnay with it.

Desert and coffee was both served from the trolley like on longer J flights which is rather unusual on the trans-Tasman. Liked it though and service generally got really good once crew got into their patterns: Spotting your empty glass and coming to refill without you having to even ask, remembering that I mentioned the cheese plate 20 minutes ago when I swapped my wine and then bringing me one before coming through with the trolley and so on. The kind of attentive service that I love on Qantas (in the cases it exists) which you’d hardly ever find on, let’s say, Emirates or BA. All in all, very nice flight and a good meal though I’d prefer more new and more substantial hot options on the menu.

 

[VPS]

Pork with mustard sauce on QF 697 from MEL to ADL last night
The pork was tender and the beans were crunchy and I really enjoyed it. Good reliable Shaw and Smith SB with it I didn't try the cheesecake

 

[zig]

Don’t expect too much- my menu from yesterday contained quite a few meals that were exactly the same on some of the previous ones. A really nice dinner nevertheless:

AKL-BNE, Friday 22nd March, dinner flight on A330-300:

The crew on this flight seemed to be all over the shop while very friendly and most of the time extremely attentive. Just a few things that were “off” the usual but I probably only notice because I fly the Trans-Tasman almost every weekend at the moment. I was on the aircraft for about 15 minutes by the time I finally got offered a glass of champagne while strangely the other side of the aircraft (I was in 2J) had gotten their drinks ages before. Not a big deal as the champers was the Duval which I prefer over the Mosaique and we also received amenity kits.

I mostly use the eye shades in those kits (being one of those funny people who cannot sleep other than in total darkness) and LOVE the current Qantas J kits with their artsy designs and matching eye shades so I asked to have the blue one for a change. The cabin attendant told me that it’s the women’s one but then just before takeoff passed my seat and snugged an extra lady’s one in the side pocket for me after all which was awesome of him. Couldn’t care less about the eyeshades “being for women” as I was only after the different design anyway.

I digress, this thread is about the food! This was the “new” March-September menu on my seat:

View attachment 158030

The chicken main was was exactly the same as on one of the previous ones -well, maybe there wasn’t any olive tapanede back then but I vividly remember it coming with braised zuccini and not being the best meal. I usually love the soups but pumpkin is one of the few ones that I’d never touch. Not many soups I don’t like actually- apart from fish/seafood ones that I’m allergic to, I almost like all of them. Bar that awful “Spinach and Kale” soup I had been offered a while ago, I think it was on Emirates. Who would do such a thing, other than Satan himself! Bah

Anyway, the three new dishes on the menu were the Buffalo mozzarella, the toastie and the beef noodle salad. Knowing that these toasties are absolutely ridiculous in size and totally inadequate for an international flight in Business class, my choice was pretty much made even though that meant not a single bite of hot food (which, I’d argue, is equally inadequate for a 3 hour J class flight). To my utter delight, 3 of the wines also have been swapped though it’s still a choice of one NZ Pinot Noir (that’s the one wine which stayed the same but it’s quite a nice one), one Aussie Shiraz (Oliver Taranga now which is one of the better winyards in the Maclaren Vale), one Kiwi Sav Blanc which I don’t remember but it was a new one and the excellent Voyager Estate Chardonnay from the Margaret River.

Also quite oddly, we were offered a drink after takeoff while being handed the usual bag of almonds and pretzels rather than taking the drink order and then bringing the pretzels out with the drink which is the usual order. As I said, some things were just a bit off, for whatever reason. Shortly after my Bloody Mary, the starter was served:

View attachment 158032

The buffalo mozzarella didn’t take close to any buffalo mozzarella I’ve ever had in Italy but I trust it wasn’t a lie und just felt and tasted totally different because it was half frozen on an airplane. The way this dish was presented and the pea-mint-pistachio addition made it work quite well regardless and the fore mentioned Chardy was perfect with it. I asked for a Shiraz with the main but then realised very quickly that it didn’t pair well at all so decided to ask for another Chardonnay and then rather finished the red with my cheese platter afterwards. In itself though, the Asian beef noodle salad was AMAZING in taste and also more substantial than expected:

View attachment 158033

Couldn’t complain at all, very authentic dish with quite a few strangely complimentary flavours. Would definitely recommend this one, and the Chardonnay with it.

Desert and coffee was both served from the trolley like on longer J flights which is rather unusual on the trans-Tasman. Liked it though and service generally got really good once crew got into their patterns: Spotting your empty glass and coming to refill without you having to even ask, remembering that I mentioned the cheese plate 20 minutes ago when I swapped my wine and then bringing me one before coming through with the trolley and so on. The kind of attentive service that I love on Qantas (in the cases it exists) which you’d hardly ever find on, let’s say, Emirates or BA. All in all, very nice flight and a good meal though I’d prefer more new and more substantial hot options on the menu.

I flew AKL - BNE yesterday and made the same menu selections, so I won't bother to post photos.
The buffalo mozzarella was hard and chewy, nothing like the texture mozzarella should be, however if you put that aside, it wasn't a bad dish, the peas and pistachios worked well. I poured the balsamic dressing intended for the green leaves over the mozzarella instead and it helped this dish along.
The beef noodle salad was one of the best meals I have had on QF in a long time. It was a substantial size and I wasn't able to finish it.

 

[Berlin]

Pork with mustard sauce on QF 697 from MEL to ADL last night
The pork was tender and the beans were crunchy and I really enjoyed it. Good reliable Shaw and Smith SB with it I didn't try the cheesecake

Wow. Qantas being at its inconsistent best. A rather short little flight from Melbourne to Adelaide and you get such a great meal and then sometimes you fly trans-Tasman or East coast to Perth and hardly find any appealing hot meal on the menu. I find this just weird, really.

 

[QF Tragic]

MEL- AKL-MEL menu's for QF153/158 (A330) from Saturday 23 March & Sunday 24 March. I had the Olivers Taranga Shiraz on the trip to Auckland and on the return I had the Handpicked Wines Central Otago Pinot Noir which was very nice.

 

[Berlin]

MEL- AKL-MEL menu's for QF153/158 (A330) from Saturday 23 March & Sunday 24 March. I had the Olivers Taranga Shiraz on the trip to Auckland and on the return I had the Handpicked Wines Central Otago Pinot Noir which was very nice.

Lots of old menus still floating around I notice. Same bad luck two days ago but the dinner was delicious nevertheless:

BNE-AKL Monday 25th March, dinner flight on B737-800:

Nice newish plane and halfway acceptable priority boarding queue in Brissy. Aircraft not full to the brim which is rare on the Tasman so everything went quite smoothly at first. Dinner choice was one of the old menus from September 2018 (really, Qantas ) and champers offered prior to takeoff was the Duval.



I did what I always try and do if the soup sounds acceptable, I ordered the big bowl of soup followed by one of the mains. I was quite full from the lounge still so I selected what I otherwise try to avoid, the sandwich. From experience, they are usually tiny and never filling enough but I couldn't have been more wrong in this case. But first the soup:



The salad accompanying it was microscopic as ever so often, less than 10 leaves in total so not worth doing at all imho. The soup however was excellent- I love how Qantas not only pours a simple soup but the condiments (in this case shredded chicken and spring onions) clearly come from separate containers and get only added on top of the soup by cabin crew prior to serving.

The main then REALLY surprised me:



This was technically not just a sandwich but a Chicken Burger, on proper brioche bun and served with more salad than in the salad leaf bowl and a very nice tasty (albeit slightly cheeky) Aioli. Mjam, mjam, mjam! Very misleading in the menu though as it's called "Sandwich", exactly the same as all those tiny little toasties which Qantas often offers in J. This one was way better and much more filling too. Actually- as I had prepared myself for one of the tiny ones, I was too filled for an entire cheese platter so I just went with the ice cream. As much as I loath the Maggie Beer brand for trying to pretend to be all hand made and stuff while coming from a conveyor belt like any other industrial product, this particular flavor was actually surprisingly nice and I tend to not even like figs usually:



Right after this was served, we unfortunately hit some rather strong turbulence which is not usually the case on this route so all service was suspended for around 45 minutes or so. I still managed to squeeze in two shots of Glenlivet just before landing so I was all happy by the end. Great attentive crew as well so a nice flight overall.

 

[Pleb Status]

As much as I loath the Maggie Beer brand for trying to pretend to be all hand made and stuff while coming from a conveyor belt like any other industrial product, this particular flavor was actually surprisingly nice and I tend to not even like figs usually

Exactly the same ice cream provided by SQ in Y on my PER-SIN flight two weeks ago....

SQ Y = QF J?

 

[Berlin]

Exactly the same ice cream provided by SQ in Y on my PER-SIN flight two weeks ago....

SQ Y = QF J?

That is sad really, isn't it!

 

[TomCC]

BNE-PER evening flight (dinner on the A330). By far the best Dom J meals I've had on QF in a while...

View attachment 157975

Seared Ocean Trout:

View attachment 157980

View attachment 157979
Red Braised Chicken:

View attachment 157978
Meringue:

View attachment 157977
Affogato Ice Cream:

View attachment 157976

Exact same menu and same choices as I did on a recent PER-SIN flight. Would be more than happy with that in a city restaurant, that trout entree was terrific. Usually pass on dessert when flying but the first two courses put me in a good mood to try and I was not disappointed at all. Great flight.

 

[amaroo]

AKL-BNE

A330 and the March 19 menu. The roast chook was pretty good.