Qantas Business Class meals & menus

[clifford]

Can I just say, as a general comment, I don't fly business class for the meals. I sometimes don't bother with the meal service at all depending on how I feel and what's on offer. However, I sometimes do look forward to a glass or two of decent alcohol to help me sleep. If there's a nice meal and I'm in the mood for it, it's a bonus.

I expect to have decent food in the lounge beforehand, although that's not always a given.

 

[JIMMYTHEJET]

Can I just say, as a general comment, I don't fly business class for the meals. I sometimes don't bother with the meal service at all depending on how I feel and what's on offer. However, I sometimes do look forward to a glass or two of decent alcohol to help me sleep. If there's a nice meal and I'm in the mood for it, it's a bonus.

I expect to have decent food in the lounge beforehand, although that's not always a given.

Meals a bonus
We pay business for comfort

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Guess on short flights these days, no more PDD (pre departure drinks)...
On my 2 latest QFd flights, in J, none were offered.
Time savings, and probably cutting cost/cost cutting, if they dont have to load extra.
===
As to Cliffords comments, I always do accept the meals, every flight, as it would be wasteful if they have to toss it, as 12 meals are put on board, and unless you are asked, pre dep, or you tell crew you dont plan to eat, they have to warm it up, ...
I used to hear the clinks of staff having meals on the flight in the galley, but havent of late.

 

[downgraded]

I used to hear the clinks of staff having meals on the flight in the galley, but havent of late.

Probably from the days when they over catered to ensure you had the choice you paid for as a pax. Staff had the left overs at the end. You'd always see trays of left overs being carried to the back of the plane after the meal service completed.

 

[RickyT84]

Just got off QF128 from HKG to SYD this morning and thought I should share some photos.

Menu is the same as the one posted by vhojm so I would not repost it again. Only photo I will add is the breakfast menu.



For dinner I went with the dumplings and pork belly. Both were tasty (and yes the pork was quite fatty so it could be a hit or miss).





Had the lemon panna cotta for dessert and it was refreshing.



As for breakfast I went with the cold pressed juice, fruit salad with yogurt plus the waffles. All of them hit the spot quite nicely.



Service was good with the crew being quite flexible in terms of breakfast. I was served my breakfast items about 1 hour before landing as the crew did not want to wake me up too early so I can sleep more.

 

[mad_atta]

Got off QF8 DFW-SYD in J on the A380 this morning. Why oh why would QF decide that a flight with a 17h25 block time, departing at the very civilised dinner hour of 8.30pm and graced with only two meal services, should be a supper flight rather than a full dinner flight?

When combined with QF's already-stingy portions and underwhelming business class catering, it really was a meagre amount of food for a very long flight in a premium class on a full-service carrier.

Here's the menu:


After a tiny tray of nuts to go with the drinks service, here's my meagre dinner (excluding dessert):


I went with the halibut, which was pretty good. And I actually don't mind the much-derided salad. But it's certainly no substitute for a proper appetiser.

Also, you'll notice my bread plate is empty - because they completely forgot to offer me any. Attracting an FA's attention to rectify that (given that if ever there was a meal which needed fortifying with some extra carbs, this was it) required close to 10 minutes of sustained effort. When I finally did flag someone down, she said "of course I can get you more bread". When I said it wasn't MORE bread but just any bread at all, she just said "OK" and went off to get some. (The reason my bread was overlooked in the first place was because the FA serving spent so much time fawning over the off-duty Qantas employee seated across the aisle - I swear she got literally 10x the attention of anyone else in the cabin.)

At least it was no problem to get both cheese plate and dessert. And I did enjoy the toasted chicken sandwich midflight when I woke up peckish with 5h to go.

Wines were, honestly, disappointing. Since when does QF stoop to stocking Cape Mentelle's el-cheapo 'Marmaduke' sub-brand (available for A$16.99) as their sole chardonnay offering on a long-haul business class flight? The only other white was a fairly pleasant South Australian grüner veltliner (fairly sure it was this one). Inevitably, one of the reds was Forest Hill shiraz, and the other escapes me.

While I'm whingeing about Qantas's approach to wine, it also really irks me how difficult it often is to learn what's actually on board. If QF doesn't print a wine list like airlines with a more structured approach, then at least have some other way for me to know what I'm choosing between. On this flight I had a peep at the trolley in the galley after take-off on my way back from the lav and was promptly accosted by a staff member in a not-entirely friendly way to ask what I was doing - yet if I'd asked them for that info, they wouldn't have had a clue.

All in all a fairly underwhelming flight from an OK-ish crew that didn't really seem to be on top of things. I seem to see a pattern emerging, that service on my QF biz flights on the A380 always seems less good and more chaotic than on the smaller widebodies - or is it just me?

Edited to add:
I *did* like that they came around with a tray of sleepytime tea or hot chocolate for those still awake a few hours into the flight - that was a nice touch I've not seen before.

 

[vhojm]

Got off QF8 DFW-SYD in J on the A380 this morning. Why oh why would QF decide that a flight with a 17h25 block time, departing at the very civilised dinner hour of 8.30pm and graced with only two meal services, should be a supper flight rather than a full dinner flight?

When combined with QF's already-stingy portions and underwhelming business class catering, it really was a meagre amount of food for a very long flight in a premium class on a full-service carrier.

Here's the menu:
View attachment 488979

After a tiny tray of nuts to go with the drinks service, here's my meagre dinner (excluding dessert):
View attachment 488980

I went with the halibut, which was pretty good. And I actually don't mind the much-derided salad. But it's certainly no substitute for a proper appetiser.

Also, you'll notice my bread plate is empty - because they completely forgot to offer me any. Attracting an FA's attention to rectify that (given that if ever there was a meal which needed fortifying with some extra carbs, this was it) required close to 10 minutes of sustained effort. When I finally did flag someone down, she said "of course I can get you more bread". When I said it wasn't MORE bread but just any bread at all, she just said "OK" and went off to get some. (The reason my bread was overlooked in the first place was because the FA serving spent so much time fawning over the off-duty Qantas employee seated across the aisle - I swear she got literally 10x the attention of anyone else in the cabin.)

At least it was no problem to get both cheese plate and dessert. And I did enjoy the toasted chicken sandwich midflight when I woke up peckish with 5h to go.

Wines were, honestly, disappointing. Since when does QF stoop to stocking Cape Mentelle's el-cheapo 'Marmaduke' sub-brand (available for A$16.99) as their sole chardonnay offering on a long-haul business class flight? The only other white was a fairly pleasant South Australian grüner veltliner (fairly sure it was this one). Inevitably, one of the reds was Forest Hill shiraz, and the other escapes me.

While I'm whingeing about Qantas's approach wine, it also really irks me how difficult it often is to learn what's actually on board. If QF doesn't print a wine list like airlines with a more structured approach, then at least have some other way for me to know what I'm choosing between. On this flight I had a peep on the trolley in the galley after take-off on my way back from the lav and was promptly accosted by a staff member in a not-entirely friendly way to ask what I was doing - yet if I'd asked them for that info, they wouldn't have had a clue.

All in all a fairly underwhelming flight from an OK-ish crew that really didn't seem to be on top of things. I seem to see a pattern emerging, that service on my QF biz flights on the A380 always seems less good and more chaotic - or is it just me?

Edited to add:
I *did* like that they came around with a tray of sleepytime tea or hot chocolate for those still awake a few hours into the flight - that was a nice touch I've not seen before.

And for context, on an 8.5 hour Hong Kong to Australia night flight, you get a full three course meal.

 

[vhojm]

All flights taken on 5/1/26.

QF876 MEL-OOL VH-VXE 07:35am boarding delayed half an hour due to late inbound.

Crew led by Nathan were very cheerful and happy. Plane has the new configuration for economy plus which seemed to have caused many people to be moved around before boarding including two people both with boarding passes for 11D lol.

Food options were leek fritters or fried eggs with beef sausage and halloumi fritters. Went with the eggs which were adequate but not great.



QF593 OOL-SYD VH-VYA 10:25am boarding delayed half an hour due to late inbound again.

Crew at the door did not seem very happy, not a welcome back to any P1s or WPs. Funnily enough she got much happier once the peasants in business had boarded and interacted with everyone else and became lovely during service.

Scrambled eggs or omelette with beef sausages or a vegan omelette. For second breakfast I had the scrambled eggs. Mum had the omelette. She said the sausages were good.

Portuguese tart was the winner.



QF469 SYD-MEL VH-VZI 16:50pm departure, guess what, boarding delayed by 45 minutes due to late inbound and a 200kg person that needed three staff to get him onto the plane. We then had some plastic fly into one of the engines as they were starting up so they had switch the engine off, get the plastic and restart that engine using the other engine. We then flew around many storms and it ended up being a very long flight home.

Food options a spinach and cauliflower filo or the antipasto board. The filo was delicious but I suspect that was in part due to immense hunger after spending an hour and a half on the phone with Qantas and being angry with them for messing up three bookings lol.

 

[ToshiMio]

Got off QF8 DFW-SYD in J on the A380 this morning. Why oh why would QF decide that a flight with a 17h25 block time, departing at the very civilised dinner hour of 8.30pm and graced with only two meal services, should be a supper flight rather than a full dinner flight?

When combined with QF's already-stingy portions and underwhelming business class catering, it really was a meagre amount of food for a very long flight in a premium class on a full-service carrier.

Here's the menu:
View attachment 488979

After a tiny tray of nuts to go with the drinks service, here's my meagre dinner (excluding dessert):
View attachment 488980

I went with the halibut, which was pretty good. And I actually don't mind the much-derided salad. But it's certainly no substitute for a proper appetiser.

Also, you'll notice my bread plate is empty - because they completely forgot to offer me any. Attracting an FA's attention to rectify that (given that if ever there was a meal which needed fortifying with some extra carbs, this was it) required close to 10 minutes of sustained effort. When I finally did flag someone down, she said "of course I can get you more bread". When I said it wasn't MORE bread but just any bread at all, she just said "OK" and went off to get some. (The reason my bread was overlooked in the first place was because the FA serving spent so much time fawning over the off-duty Qantas employee seated across the aisle - I swear she got literally 10x the attention of anyone else in the cabin.)

At least it was no problem to get both cheese plate and dessert. And I did enjoy the toasted chicken sandwich midflight when I woke up peckish with 5h to go.

Wines were, honestly, disappointing. Since when does QF stoop to stocking Cape Mentelle's el-cheapo 'Marmaduke' sub-brand (available for A$16.99) as their sole chardonnay offering on a long-haul business class flight? The only other white was a fairly pleasant South Australian grüner veltliner (fairly sure it was this one). Inevitably, one of the reds was Forest Hill shiraz, and the other escapes me.

While I'm whingeing about Qantas's approach to wine, it also really irks me how difficult it often is to learn what's actually on board. If QF doesn't print a wine list like airlines with a more structured approach, then at least have some other way for me to know what I'm choosing between. On this flight I had a peep at the trolley in the galley after take-off on my way back from the lav and was promptly accosted by a staff member in a not-entirely friendly way to ask what I was doing - yet if I'd asked them for that info, they wouldn't have had a clue.

All in all a fairly underwhelming flight from an OK-ish crew that didn't really seem to be on top of things. I seem to see a pattern emerging, that service on my QF biz flights on the A380 always seems less good and more chaotic than on the smaller widebodies - or is it just me?

Edited to add:
I *did* like that they came around with a tray of sleepytime tea or hot chocolate for those still awake a few hours into the flight - that was a nice touch I've not seen before.

Agree, the lack of a starter option on DFW-SYD is beyond irritating, yet they offer one on the overnight NRT-MEL. The inconsistency is annoying and their menus are becoming so tiresome.

 

[Flyfrequently]

And for context, on an 8.5 hour Hong Kong to Australia night flight, you get a full three course meal.

Not my understanding from QF30 in July @vhojm unless nuts classified as Entree!

Glad we ate in the QF and CX Pier lounges before boarding.
Though must say, the pork belly was delicious

 

[vhojm]

Not my understanding from QF30 in July @vhojm unless nuts classified as Entree!
View attachment 489064
Glad we ate in the QF and CX Pier lounges before boarding.
Though must say, the pork belly was delicious
View attachment 489065

Nah, see my post for QF30 on December 25th and the same menu for QF128 from November.. Definitely three courses.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Nah, see my post for QF30 on December 25th and the same menu for QF128 from November.. Definitely three courses.

IIRC there was a change to HKG services? Outbound went from meal + light meal to meal + meal. And similar enhancement for the inbounds?

 

[Daver6]

Got off QF8 DFW-SYD in J on the A380 this morning. Why oh why would QF decide that a flight with a 17h25 block time, departing at the very civilised dinner hour of 8.30pm and graced with only two meal services, should be a supper flight rather than a full dinner flight?

When combined with QF's already-stingy portions and underwhelming business class catering, it really was a meagre amount of food for a very long flight in a premium class on a full-service carrier.

Here's the menu:
View attachment 488979

After a tiny tray of nuts to go with the drinks service, here's my meagre dinner (excluding dessert):
View attachment 488980

I went with the halibut, which was pretty good. And I actually don't mind the much-derided salad. But it's certainly no substitute for a proper appetiser.

Also, you'll notice my bread plate is empty - because they completely forgot to offer me any. Attracting an FA's attention to rectify that (given that if ever there was a meal which needed fortifying with some extra carbs, this was it) required close to 10 minutes of sustained effort. When I finally did flag someone down, she said "of course I can get you more bread". When I said it wasn't MORE bread but just any bread at all, she just said "OK" and went off to get some. (The reason my bread was overlooked in the first place was because the FA serving spent so much time fawning over the off-duty Qantas employee seated across the aisle - I swear she got literally 10x the attention of anyone else in the cabin.)

At least it was no problem to get both cheese plate and dessert. And I did enjoy the toasted chicken sandwich midflight when I woke up peckish with 5h to go.

Wines were, honestly, disappointing. Since when does QF stoop to stocking Cape Mentelle's el-cheapo 'Marmaduke' sub-brand (available for A$16.99) as their sole chardonnay offering on a long-haul business class flight? The only other white was a fairly pleasant South Australian grüner veltliner (fairly sure it was this one). Inevitably, one of the reds was Forest Hill shiraz, and the other escapes me.

While I'm whingeing about Qantas's approach to wine, it also really irks me how difficult it often is to learn what's actually on board. If QF doesn't print a wine list like airlines with a more structured approach, then at least have some other way for me to know what I'm choosing between. On this flight I had a peep at the trolley in the galley after take-off on my way back from the lav and was promptly accosted by a staff member in a not-entirely friendly way to ask what I was doing - yet if I'd asked them for that info, they wouldn't have had a clue.

All in all a fairly underwhelming flight from an OK-ish crew that didn't really seem to be on top of things. I seem to see a pattern emerging, that service on my QF biz flights on the A380 always seems less good and more chaotic than on the smaller widebodies - or is it just me?

Edited to add:
I *did* like that they came around with a tray of sleepytime tea or hot chocolate for those still awake a few hours into the flight - that was a nice touch I've not seen before.

Totally agree with you on the meals. Business class is about paying for choice, especially on a 17+ hour sector. Let me decide if I want a three course meal or a quick supper before going to sleep.

Also, the mid-flight snacks are really poor. Not even a hot option!

 

[Flyfrequently]

IIRC there was a change to HKG services? Outbound went from meal + light meal to meal + meal. And similar enhancement for the inbounds?

Well, I'll be @MEL_Traveller and @vhojm!!
My Customer feedback with photos comparing my 2.5 hour CX flight with 3 courses to that subsequent QF 30 an 8+ hour flight clearly was taken on board

 

[Wing Nut]

Here's a little menu time capsule for you: QF103 June 2023 J Class menu from SYD to HNL

Not that long ago when Qantas actually offered a decent J Class menu.

 

[Wing Nut]

...and QF 7, October 2023. No menu, just pics.
The Aperitivo that's not even an entre: Arancini ball and a beer Had the champers and nuts on arrival.

A real entre: chicken satay and a cauliflower stir fry thingy. From memory was tasty and a good portion.

Looks like things are going screaminly downhill.

 

[milehighclub]

8pm is the cut off where Dinner flights become Supper flights. When the Northern Summer schedule starts, flights like QF30 become supper again.

 

[SYD]

QF69 MEL-DEL A332 clocking in just under 13hrs.


Dumplings as good as usual. Had them up and back to HKG pre Xmas.


Chook was a decent portion and reasonably tasty.


Cheese to follow (no pic).

Crew were great. Proactively offering snacks and refills on a long “day flight”.

Two courses prior to arrival. The lamb was a decent size and quite tender.

Think I finished with just the fruit plate.

Pleased it wasn’t a “breakfast” flight out of MEL having eaten at the F lounge!