Qantas Sydney & Melbourne first class lounge menu, Summer 2016-17
By David Flynn, December 13 2016
Starting your next international flight from the Qantas First Lounge at Sydney or Melbourne? Then you'll want to sample the highlights of the seasonal summer menu, which will be available on an all-day dining basis through to the end of February 2017.
Here's a rundown of the new dishes, and at the end of this article you'll find a link to download the all-day menu for your own pre-flight perusal.
Corn, kale and zucchini salad with parmesan and pine nuts
A light and vegetarian-friendly summer salad of kale, corn and zucchini, dressed with plenty of fresh summer herbs, lemon, parmesan and pine nuts.
Chicken with cucumber, chilli, bean sprouts and 'strange flavour' dressing
A popular dish from Neil Perry's Spice Temple restaurants, this salad combines gently-poached chicken with a cooling cabbage and cucumber salad to counter the hot, numbing 'strange flavour' dressing of back vinegar and sesame.
Steamed snapper with rice noodles, galangal and coriander broth
Gently steamed snapper served in a chicken broth base with oak lettuce, rice noodles, herbs and spices, with flavoursome Thai nam prik chilli sauce served on the side so you can really spice this dish up.
Grilled pork loin with fennel, capers, oregano and polenta
A thinly-sliced pork loin is quickly grilled until tender and juicy, then brushed with an oregano salmoriglio (a mixture of pounded herbs, salt and olive oil) and served with soft polenta and topped with fennel, parsley, currants and capers.
Caramelised lamb shoulder with chickpeas, parsley salad and garlic yoghurt
Pretty much every lamb dish we've ever had at the Qantas First Lounge knocks it out of the park. This one sees an Australian lamb shoulder braised with thyme, cumin and tomato for three hours until tender, then grilled and served with tamarind spiced chickpeas, a salad of parsley, red onion tomato and mint. Choose a red from the wine list (we recommend the Peter Lehman Stonewell Shiraz 2012), or ask what red's been decanted... if you're lucky, it'll be the superb Rockford Basket Press Shiraz. Red more: Behind the wine list at the Qantas First Lounge Sticky beef with roasted cherry tomatoes, horseradish, chives and chips Beef chuck is slowly cooked in a stock flavoured with carrots, shallots, garlic, soy and ginger; then seared and glazed in its cooking liquid and served with slow-roasted cherry tomatoes, fresh horseradish, chives and chips. Pineapple and mango salad with coconut sago and chamomile sorbet You did leave room for dessert, didn't you? This one combines two classic flavours of an Aussie summer – pineapple and mango – dressed with lime and coconut. Summer pudding slice with fresh berries and sour cream sorbet A little more robust in this berry dessert, with gently-stewed blackberries and raspberries sandwiched between sponge cake layers, then chilled and served with a sour cream sorbet. Pavlova Is any visit to the Qantas First Lounge complete without the famous 'deconstructed pav in a glass'? Summer's twist sees the pav matched to fresh cherries and raspberries, yoghurt gelato, passionfruit meringues and mascarpone. Finally, Chivas Regal Ultis makes a debut in the Qantas First lounge, with the luxury whisky – blended from five Speyside single malts – served on its own, in a cocktail of your choice or as the star ingredient in a bespoke cocktail named Fine St Blend incorporating Chivas Ultis, averna, frangelico, freshly-squeezed lemon juice, egg white and a dash of sugar syrup. Click here to download the Qantas First Lounge Summer 2016-2017 Menu [175Kb PDF] David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
11 Oct 2014
Total posts 492
Good article David .. but the download link is not working.
24 Apr 2012
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Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
29 Nov 2013
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24 Oct 2010
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It's a pretty good one... and seriously, KimShep, if you try the lamb or stickey beef you really want to see if they've decanted the basket-press shiraz. Or just have the basket-press with anything. It's divine!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
25 Sep 2013
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24 Oct 2010
Total posts 2343
No, if we had it we'd have included it for download, but there's typically minimal change on the breakfast menu.
QFF Platinum
27 Jun 2016
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Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
14 Dec 2016
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Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
23 Nov 2016
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Any help gratefully appreciated.
23 May 2012
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American Airlines - AAdvantage
31 Dec 2016
Total posts 4
Do they serve the pavlova for breakfast?
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
17 May 2015
Total posts 72
The menu looks great on paper and I was really looking forward to trying it which I did last week in the Sydney lounge before a flight to Manila. Unfortunately it was a big disappointment.
The food was bland and boring - and that's coming from someone who is quite satisfied with basic and simple food and doesn't need an over the top gastronomic experience to be impressed.
I ordered the fish noodle soup which had no flavour. My partner ordered the lamb which was not only over cooked, but was also bland and swimming in onion. It was below average. The so called heirloom tomatoes tasted no different to the tomatoes you can buy at Woolworths. The mango and pineapple dessert was shocking - again the mango was bland and tasted like an average quality mango you buy from Woolworths for $1.50. While the chamomile ice cream was delicious, the pineapple was brown and looked like it had been prepared the day before.
As for the service? It is consistently poor. There are some very pleasant staff but they lack attentiveness, and the staff to passenger ratio isn't befitting of a first class experience. It's difficult even to get a glass of water without asking for it (assuming you can grab the attention of a staff member). The following day we ate at a cheap restaurant in a Manila shopping centre food court. The service and food offered was lightyears ahead of what Qantas is offering. Our water glasses weren't left empty for more than 30 seconds. Our glasses were filled more times in 5 minutes than the entire time in the Qantas lounge (we were in the dinning area for about one hour).
After we finished dinning in the Qantas lounge we sat down one end of the lounge for about 45 minutes in which time we didn't see a single staff member nor were we offered a drink of any description. I got up to get water at the self-serve station and all they had was sparkling water.
Don't get me wrong, access to lounges is a huge privilege and it is a benefit I appreciate and often enjoy. And I love Qantas and have had many fantastic experiences. However the Qantas First lounges are guilty of one of the worst sins of the travel industry - over promising and under delivering. The hype and media schmoozing with regards to this summer menu (versus the disappointing reality of the actual experience) is a good example. If a cheap $10 a head restaurant can offer better service (and better food) than a first class lounge, then serious questions should be asked.
I'd give the experience 2.5/10 and even when adjusting for my high expectations I wouldn't rate it above 5/10.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
18 Feb 2017
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Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
31 Jan 2016
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