Qantas inflight meals

There is free food on all Domestic and International Qantas and Qantaslink flights, even on the small Dash 8 planes with small outback hops.

Plastic knives & forks are used on all flights, except for international flights where a decent metal set is offered, even in economy.

Domestically there are four types of meals. Breakfast is served up to 8.30am (9.30am on longer flights). Lunch between 12.00noon and 1.30pm, and Dinner between 6.00pm and 8.30pm - which is amazingly late, consequently in the evening, it's best to eat at the airport unless your flight leaves after 6pm. At all other times a snack is offered.

On flights up to 2.5 hours, breakfast, lunch and dinner are served on half trays, lined with newly designed tray mats and cutlery. Snacks are served in a reusable cardboard box. Very small routes in the Dash 8s get a see-through plastic carton.

On flights longer than 2.5 hours, a full tray service is offered with hot meals. There are special meals on flights from & to Perth and the East Coast, with a choice of two types of hot food. In business on the cross-continental routes there is a three course meal at lunch and dinner times, and a full menu.

All International flights get a tray in economy, and normally a menu with the food options. In business there is a table cloth, and pretty brisk service, particularly on shorter night flight. In First, you can dine when you choose, although most people want to just after takeoff.

First Class: Qantas Longhaul inflight meals

Entree - Soup

This soup was absolutely fantastic, with lots of flavour: the crutons were done just right, and it was a great way to start first dining.

Sourdough bread is equally good: all that was missing was a proper soup spoon.

Entree - Rocket Salad

A real contrast this: the salad was pretty manky, with little to recommend it. Dressing was basalmic vinegar, and while I'm sure this looked like a great idea in the planning stage, it loses something in reality.

In effect, this is just a bowl of rocket leaves.

Main - Cheese Pasta

Wow, this is good. I mean, really very good indeed. Lovely and tender, with lots of flavour.

Dessert - Bread pudding

Really a bit of a disaster on the catering front this.

The bread pudding is done just as you would expect it to be done at a boarding school, with little thought or imagination.

The best bit about dessert is the pudding wine, which is delicious.

Light Breakfast - Fruit Salad

A lovely way to wake up after a long flight, the fruit is refreshing, the yogurt creamy, and with plenty of quantity.

Good to see that Qantas also make proper tea, in a proper tea pot.

Breakfast - Scrambled Egg

A croissant.

Definitely the way to end trip, this is just like a decent fryup in a cafe in Melbourne.

No grease, plenty of creamy texture in the eggs, and good crisp bacon. A sausage would have been good, but you can't have everything.

Business Class: Qantas Longhaul inflight meals

Most meals are designed by the Sydney restaurant Rockpool's chef Neil Perry.

On the 787 services direct from London to Perth, the business class meals are a bit special, and even the cutlery is engraved with the 787 direct flight logo.

The Trip Report: Qantas 787 London to Perth in Business Class 787 explains the meal service on the 787 flights in detail.

Qantas Inflight Meal Business Class 787

Cheddar quiche

Small, but perfectly formed, and a pleasant way to get something substancial at the start of the flight.

Qantas Inflight Meal Business Class 787

Fennel soup with lemon and dill

Lovely flavour.

Qantas Inflight Meal Business Class 787

Chicken and pickled zucchini salad

Nice and crunchy. Ice cold.

Qantas Inflight Meal Business Class 787

Pork cutlet with savoy cabbage, potatoes and beans

Heavy solid food, designed to send you to sleep.

Qantas Inflight Meal Business Class 787

Eaton Mess

One of the best Eaton Mess I've had on a plane.

Qantas Inflight Meal Business Class 787

Ice cream

Qantas Inflight Meal Business Class 787

Hot milt with mashmallows

Again, designed to send you to sleep.

Qantas Inflight Meal Business Class 787

Beef croquettes with mint yoghurt

Midflight snack.

Qantas Inflight Meal Business Class 787

Welsh rarebit

Midflight snack.

Qantas Inflight Meal Business Class 787

French toast with yoghurt

Qantas Inflight Meal Business Class 787

Qantas wakeup juice

Qantas Inflight Meal Business Class 787

Poached egg with quinoa and salmon and peas

Qantas Inflight Meal Business Class

Entree: Meze Plate

Qantas Inflight Meal Business Class

Chicken leeks and rice

Qantas Inflight Meal Business Class

Raspberry crumble

Qantas Inflight Meal Business Class

Midflight snack: meatballs

Qantas Inflight Meal Business Class

Midflight snack: toasted cheese sandwich

Rockpool flatbreak

Green leaf salad with rockpool vinaigrette.

Salmon Salad

Green leaf salad with rockpool vinaigrette.

Roast beef

Chocolate Cake

Chicken and rice

Pre lunch snack

Bread and salad

Meze plate

Cold turkey snack

Raspberry cheesecake

Wow this was good.

Steak in a bun

The 'second service' for the meal on a longer flight.

Scotch eggs

As international business class meals go, this was a bit of a disaster.

No flavour, no content. No nothing. Avoid.

Entree - Chicken Salad

Green leaf salad with herb vinaigrette. Hot roll, butter.

A tasty starter, the chicken is lovely and tender, drizzled with a light soy sauce.

Good hot soft roll too.

Dinner - beef in Hoisin sauce

Green leaf salad with herb vinaigrette

A nice bit of beef - although the portions here are a little tiny.

Oddly, the rice here is the best bit. Very hard to do on a plane, this was done just right with a lovely frangrant flavour, and even better, didn't stick together.

Dinner - Mascarpone rice

Baileys & desert wine.

Rice for dessert? Really? Yes, really... this was a surprisingly touch, with a creamy texture.

The pineapple on top could have been better, and the almonds were notable for their scacity.

Breakfast - Full cooked English

Crossant with beerenberg orange marmalade. Coffee & organge juice.

I do like a full hot English breakfast on a plane, however this was done just on the too healthy side. True, there was nothing really wrong with it, but it was all too small and spartan, with only a tiny portion of mushrooms.

Lovely crossant, although the purser did hand it to me with a big thumb print in the middle of the crossant.

Premium Economy: Qantas Longhaul inflight meals

You can pre-order Premium Economy meals online, up to 24 hours before the flight.

There are menus, which are handed out before takeoff.

Remember that for breakfast, every item is optional, therefore if you want fruit AND a hot roll, you have to ask for both.

Chicken with rice

Green leaf salad with rockpool vinaigrette. Cheese and biscuits. Vanilla custard and caramel pudding.

Premium Economy Breakfast

Rubarb and pecan muffin.

Qantas International economy food

On the 787 services direct from London to Perth, there are still only 2 main meals, but they are spaced 14 hours apart.

The Trip Report: Qantas 787 Perth to London in economy explains the meal service on the 787 flights in detail.

Qantas Inflight Meal Economy

Cold beef salad

Mango and passion fruit panna cotta, and a small hard bread

Qantas Inflight Meal Economy

Cheese ravioli with leek

Qantas Inflight Meal Economy

Breakfast: sausage bacon and omelette

Qantas Inflight Meal Economy

Steak with potatoes and carrots

Qantas Inflight Meal Economy

Galzone

Qantas Inflight Meal Economy

Hot Breakfast

Beef wellington

Tasty cheese. Biscuits. Cold roll.

Mango icecream

Mid flight snack.

Udon Noodles

Soy dressing.

Chicken noodles

Muffin breakfast

Just a muffin for breakfast, after a long haul flight.

Sausage roll

Chicken and rice

Cheesecake. Bread roll.

Breakfast flan

Beef on noodles

Chocolate moose.

Really rather goood.

Cheese Pasta

Totally revolting. Avoid.

Hot breakfast

Yoghurt.

After a long overnight flight, this is it. Just one small hot flan.

Chicken with Olives & Toffu

Hawaiian salad with melon, lettuce, cucumber, orange and an olive. A cold roll. A packet of butter. Mini Toblerone. Pear half in Custard.

What a totally revolting dinner. Full marks to Qantas for getting creative. Minus ten times that for the implementation. This was totally revolting. The chicken just doesn't mix with the Tofu - and in any case, who thought of adding Olives to the mix. It just doesn't add anything at all. Nothing. It is all just a waste of space.

The best bit is the salad, which was light and easy to eat, although again here, there was a strange mix, with oranges and olives. As for the pear half, well the least said about that the better. Avoid.

Breakfast tray

Orange juice. Coffee.

Spot the cutbacks at Qantas. I mean, this is really small, and after a long eight hour flight, you would hope that Qantas would serve something larger. Nope - this is all you get.

Mind you, you can't fault the quality: decent Danish.

Lunch - Lamb with Mash

A salad bowl with three lumps of mozzarella, three baby tomatoes, four olives, all on a bed of lettuce. A thin strip tube of herb salad dressing. Two biscuits with one sliver of cheddar and one sliver of an unknown type of soft cheese. One roll (hot), and one packet of butter.

A great start to the long flight from LHR, this lunch tastes as good as it looks. I really go for the creamy mash, while the vegetables were done AlDente - just on the crunchy side.

The best bit is the salad, which has a fantastic mozzarella, which wouldn't be out of place in business, and the herb dressing has a really good flavour, along with being very refreshing. Even the cheese biscuits were great.

Dinner - Tomato Penne

Penne pasta with a tomato sauce and four olives plus one sprig of eggplant.

A salad bowl with two slices of cucumber, an iceberg lettuce leaf, and three red peppers. Vinaigrette dressing. Bread and butter pudding, One roll (hot), and one packet of butter.

A terrible end to a long flight, this has no flavour and is baked into just one solid mat. Worse, the salad is dreadfully bland (although it does come with the unique Ozzy split up the middle dressing pack) and the bread and butter pudding would embarrass a school dinner lady.

Not recommended, but the other option (fish) looked even worse.

Dinner - Tomato Penne2

Penne pasta with a tomato sauce and six half olives plus one basil leaf.

A salad bowl with noodles and one half lettuce. A nondescript jelly ball desert. One roll (hot), and one packet of butter.

Totally woeful, it seems that the Asian kitchens just can't make a decent pasta. This version at least had loose soft pasta, but the tomato sauce with it was so spicy it took my breath away. I just couldn't eat this, and went onto the salad, for an even worse experience. I mean, noodles and salad?

Meanwhile the desert was like something I've never tasted before, and would never want to again. An airline culinary disaster. Avoid.

Hot Breakfast (on flights above 12 hours)

Two sausages, one sliver of bacon, a quadrant of potato omelette, six mushrooms and one tomato.

A fruit salad with two slices each of three different types of melon plus two grapes, one roll (hot), and one packet of butter, plus a small tub of strawberry jam. A sultana muffin, and a tub of orange juice.

The timing on this breakfast is a bit odd, as its served two hours before landing at Singapore from LHR, so it feels like a late evening meal, but even so this is one of the best cooked breakfast I've had on a flight in a long time, and puts BA's efforts to shame. Cooked just right, the only disappointment is the small sliver of bacon. The fruit salad is good, however its a shame that there weren't more rolls on offer.

However I do not understand the obsession with serving muffins on overnight flights to Asia. BA and SIA along with Qantas all do it, and noone ever seems to want them. On my flight everyone looked bemused and left them untouched on the tray!

Hot Breakfast (on flights above 12 hours from Asia)

One sausage, a herb flan, three weirdly shaped mushrooms, one tomato.

A fruit salad with twelve slices of different types of melon. A fruit yoghurt, a sultana muffin, and a tub of orange juice.

Pretty good sausage, even if the herb flan is a bit unusual. However in context it worked. The mushrooms were a delight, and looked like an unusual delicacy. The melon salad is good, however there were no rolls on offer at all.

Yet again the obsession with serving muffins on overnight flights appears. Totally bemusing.

Hot Breakfast (on flights less than 12 hours)

Scrambled egg, a mushroom filled crepe, and a baked tomato.

A fruit salad with one slices each of three different types of melon plus two grapes, one roll (hot), and one packet of butter. An emu bottom anzac biscuit, a tub of orange juice, and a cup of coffee.

Pretty foul, with a mush of mushrooms in the crepe, which tastes just a bit too weird, and the tomato has been baked within an inch of its death.

Nice melon bowl though, even though this doesn't really match the description of a fruit salad. The biscuit is a bit weird, I can't seems to find any reason for it going with breakfast!

IceCream (on flights above 12 hours)

A plain vanilla choc ice.

Only served on the flights flying against the direction of the sun, this goes well with the films, and normally comes round an hour after the main food service.

Snack on Q (on flights above 12 hours from Oz)

A drawstring bag containing one apple, Luken & May passionfruit biscuit, one Toblerone bar, one tube of mentos mint sweets, and a bottle of Summit water.

Only served on very long flights, this comes round after six hours to ward off the boredom. Pretty good, although the Toblerone has a Chinese label, with a Thai sticker over it, and it tastes nothing like the Swiss original!

I kept the apple, and it stayed fresh for 3 weeks... making me wonder just how much preservative is in it.

Snack on Q (on flights above 12 hours to Oz)

A drawstring bag containing a Greenwich flapjack, a pack of Polo mints, an Italian mini voglie, Spanish stuzzico cruchy cheese biscuits, and a bottle of Cumbrian spring water.

The UK version, served 6 hours out of LHR. It's a real trip around Europe, with bits coming from everywhere. The Flapjack is great, and the cheese biscuits fantastic. Goodness knows what the voglie is though.

THe bottle of water is also tiny, but thankfully there's a watercooler on Qantas 747s to get refills.

Qantas Domestic Business Class Food - Perth Specials

Travelling across the continent on a five hour flight, it feels like a long haul.

Business Class meals are really rather good.

Ham salad starter

Tomato soup starter

Pasta and chicken

Meatballs

Apple pie with custard

Hot Waffles with cream

Cheese Plate

Cheese Plate

Breakfast - Poached Eggs and Bacon

Poached eggs with bacon, and slow roasted roma tomato. Fruit Compote.

Two slices of toast, butter, and strawberry jam.

This is dreadful, a truely bad breakfast, and considering this is at the start of a five hour journey across the continent, its amazing that Qantas can consider serving this up as their business class offering.

The bacon is dried to a crust, while the poached eggs were poached, killed, and dried several days before hand. There is no flavour, and no content.

Even the toast is bad, damp and soggy due to the condensation. At least there is some flavour in the fruit salad, which is basically peaches with one slice of grapefruit.

Breakfast - Bacon tart

Bacon, tomato, and onion tart, with pork sausage, sauteed field mushrooms and relish. Fruit Compote.

Two slices of toast, butter, and strawberry jam.

This is much better, with a lovely tart, juicey and lovely to bite into. The sausage goes well with the tart, although its a bit small. However around the combination are some manky mushrooms. For a business class offering, Qantas could try better.

The toast is bad, damp and soggy due to condensation in its foil packet. All that Qantas offers with it is strawberry jam. Nice fruit salad.

Breakfast - Cheese tart

A cheese tart.

This is a lovely tart, with flavour that makes your tounge tingle, and is offered on landing on the breakfast cross-continental run.

Alas thats all that Qantas offer, although there is a cup of coffee with it.

Breakfast - Berry energiser

Berry Energiser.

On the breakfast cross-continental run, the journey starts with a berry energiser.

Goodness knows what berrys are in there, but its very good.

Qantas Domestic Business Class Food

Toasted Sandwich

A toasted sandwich, with bacon and chicken.

Wow, meals in Business Class are going down hill - this is all you get, a rather poor sandwich.

Chicken and potatoes

Desert Muffin

Lunch - Salmon steaks

Two salmon steaks on a bed of green beans with four miniature tomatoes, sprinkled with nutmeg. A small tub of pepper sauce dressing.

A salad bowl with rocket and two olives. A small tub of vinigrette dressing. Round packet with half salt, half pepper. One hot roll, a tub of butter, and a small chocolate.

This is a lovely lunch, full of flavour, with the salmon warmed up just right. The nutmeg is good enough on its own so theres no need to use the tub of dressing.

The salad was bit of a disappointment, and seemed to have been put together by someone with half the ingredients missing. And only a chocolate for desert. Still all in all really good.

Lunch - Beef Noodles

Three slices of beef (cold) on a plate of noodles and vegitables. A small tub of Birch and Waites vinigrette dressing.

A thin stip of cheddar, a packet of Arnotts biscuits. Three dried apricots. A roll and a tub of butter.

Considering the flight is less than an hour long, this is ok, but it really doesn't do any great shakes for business class - hot food would have been nicer at lunchtime. Tasty beef though.

Good cheese, poor biscuits, and the assumption is the apricots were there as the sweet course.

Lunch - Processed meat

A plate with a selection of processed meat, including salami & Prosciutto (Parma) ham. Diced olives. Halved artichoke.

Packet of breadsticks. A hot slice of sour dough, and a tub of butter. A fair cake.

This looks disgusting, and indeed it is. Unless you are into your cheap processed meats, there is little here of interest, or indeed taste. If there had been something - anything - to add this to or add it with, it would have been good, but as it is it's a waste of space.

Bizzare fairy cake too.

Lunch - Chicken Salad

A bowl with rocket lettuce, covered with four slices of chicken (cold), three dried tomatoes, and one stuffed pepper with cream cheese.

A hot slice of sour dough, and a tub of butter. A fair cake.

This salad was very dry. Salad vinigrette dressing would have been good - alas, this seems to be another cutback not provided by Qantas anymore. Add that to the cold chicken and it was all a bit depressingly cheap.

The weird bit is the faircake. Now, I know that cupcakes are very much in vouge, but why? The cheesecakes were so much nicer.

Lunch - Ham Salad

A bowl with iceberg lettuce, covered with four slices of Palama ham, three dried tomatos, and one stuffed pepper with cream cheese.

A small tub of Birch and Waites vinigrette dressing. A hot roll, and a tub of butter. A mini cheesecake.

This looks tiny, and yet I was surprised that it filled more than a hole - the cream cheese is very filling. The ham is quite remarkably good.

Nice, if very tiny, cheesecake too.

Lunch - Chicken & Rice

A tub with chicken in gravy, rice, and cabbage.

A bowl with one egg and one sliver of salmon, over iceberg lettuce. A small tub of Birch and Waites vinigrette dressing. A hot roll, and a tub of butter.

For a trans-continental flight, this works a treat. Ok, it is chicken, but Qantas have tried to spice it up with a bit with good gravy, although the addition of cabbage is bizzare. I blame it on cost-cutting.

The salad is a welcome starter, although again the iceberg rather than rocket, shows signs of recent cost-cutting.

Lunch - Beef & Mash

A plate of beef stew in thick gravy, with mashed potatoes, and brocolli.

A salad bowl with rocket, two mini tomato halves, and a slice of cucumber. A small tub of Neil Perry Balsami vinigrette dressing. A tub of Ballantyne butter.

A five hour flight on a 737 is by it's very nature going to have a smaller dinner than it's 747 alternative. However this does the job, with decent beef, but a rather bland mash. Nice to get the brocolli.

The salad again remains a bit of a disappointment, however these aircraft are pretty crampt, so it is inevitable that the service suffers.

Afternoon snack - Meat pie

One meat pie (beef, hot) a helping of heated peppers and a mini tomato.

A hot roll, with Ballantyne butter. A bowl of fruit, containing two slices of watermellon, two orange slices and a grape. For a two hour flight in the early afternoon, this is a decent feed. The meat pie is very tasty with lots of content - admittedly some in the business cabin looked a bit bemused when offered a meat pie, but mushy peas weren't involved.

Nice bowl of a fruit too, and the rolls was lovely, hot and soft. All in all, nothing to complain about.

Dinner - Beef Stew

A plate of beef stew in thick gravy, with orange potatoes, and green beans.

A salad bowl with rocket and two olives. A small tub of Birch and Waites vinigrette dressing. Round packet with half salt, half pepper. A tub of butter, and a small chocolate.

A pretty good dinner. All the grissle had been removed from the beef so it went down a treat. Lovely soft potatoes.

The salad again remains a bit of a disappointment. There is of course the usual chocolate for desert, however following quick behind it is the icecream.

Dinner - Cheese Plate (747 Perth flights)

A plate with a lump of cheddar and a slice of Brie. Four cheese crackers. A dried prune, and a dried apricot.

A slice of Quince paste.

On domestic flights using the 747 with international crew you can also request a cheese plate. This comes on a trolley with dessert wine and Port.

This makes the trans-continent flights a decent treat. This is why you pay four times the price of economy - for a decent lump of cheese and small glass of very, very sweet wine. I love the quince paste too: it's very rare to get it on a plane.

Dinner - Dessert (on flights above 3 hours)

A tub of Connoisseur Strawberry Stravagansa icecream.

A glass of desert wine.

On flights longer than 3 hours, where a full film is shown, there is also an offering of icecream after the main course.

Two flavours are on offer - its also possible to get vanilla.

Qantas Domestic Economy food

Qantas Inflight Meal Economy Sydney - Melbourne

Breakfast Flan

Qantas Inflight Meal Economy Melbourne - Perth

Chicken rice and leek

Late afternoon snack

A packet of dip, crackers, and celery.

Really not a lot, for a late evening flight. Good flavour though.

Breakfast - Continental

A pot of Birch and Waites Toasted Breakfast Muesli. A 125ml box of Devondale milk.

A Muffin, one packet of butter, an orange, and a tub of Berri's Orange juice.

A pretty decent breakfast, with lovely flavour in the muesli. It's nice to get a piece of fresh fruit too, which is great for curing hangovers.

I'm totally bemused by the muffin though. I mean, why serve up a muffin - with butter? Very odd.

Breakfast - Continental

A pot of Dick Smiths 'Bush' Breakfast Tucker. A 125ml box of Devondale milk.

A Muffin, one packet of butter, an apple, and a tub of Berri's Orange juice.

A good breakfast, although for a 4 hour flight I would have liked something a bit larger. Good fruit too, although restrictions in the Northern Territory mean you can't bring it off the plane.

There is still that totally bemusing muffin.

MidMorning Snack - Chicken Tandoori roll

A square roll, with two slivers of chicken that have been dunked in Tandoori mix. One iceberg leaf. Two tomatos.

Getting this at 10 in the morning is seriously weird. I mean, who can really cope with a decent Tandoori at this time in the morning, let alone a bad one. And this one is seriously bad. So bad, it's really not worthwhile getting this off the trolley.

MidMorning Snack - Carrotcake

A large slice of Carrot Cake, with a walnut in the middle, and apple, and a tub of water.

Considering most passengers eat before they get on the plane, it isn't too much of a problem handing out such a small amount of food. But a little bit more to eat would be nice.

MidMorning Snack - Cinnamon cake

A large slice of Cinnamon Cake. A packet of fruit and nut. A tub of orange juice.

Very good cake, this is a really good treat at this time in the morning. It was a bit early in the morning to hand out nuts however.

Lunch - ham pasta salad

Pasta on a bed of salad with lettuce and tomato, and a side helping of ham and cheese.

Roasted garlic vinaigrette.

This is OK, and actually a bit better than you might expect from a Qantas domestic flight.

Nice side serving of a mysterious gunk that turned out to be ham and cheese.

Lunch - Chicken Curry

Chicken Curry with Coconut Rice. A single sprig of broccoli with two peppers and a carrot sliver.

A cold seeded roll with a pat of butter. A bottle of water.

This is bland and miserable. It has obviously been allowed to heat up and cool down again. It's just not even worthwhile getting it off the tray. The main point of serving this seems to be to heat up the pat of buttter to the stage where you can use it on the equally hard roll.

Lunch - Chicken Curry

Chicken Curry with Pikaf Rice. Green leaf salad with two peppers and red wine vinaignette.

A cold roll with a tub of butter. A tub of water. A single Tim-Tam. A packet of peanuts.

This is a very good accompanyment to the daytime flight from west to east coasts. The curry isn't too spicey, and has good chicken. Nice rice, with peas and prawns in it.

Even the salad is ok, although it would be nice if the roll was hot.

Nice to get the Tim-Tam too - it's very Australian.

Lunch - Spag Bol

Spagetti Bollogneise with beef mince and cheese.

A cold roll with a tub of butter. A bottle of water. A Hazel Nut chocolate bar.

It's a very standard meal of little note or merit. The spag bol does the job, and is presumably very cheap to cook and serve.

The rolls are icey cold, and rock hard. They do however do an acceptable job of wedging the seat infront of you so it doesn't recline over your knees.

Lunch - Chicken Ceasar sandwich

One Turkish roll sliced in two, buttered, with diced chicken, coleslaw and a lettuce leaf.

A bottle of water, and a small bar of Twix.

Its good to get a proper tray at lunch and dinner times on pure Qantas flights, and a large bottle of water.

The sandwich is very good, with the same content as in Qantas' Ceasar salad served at dinner time, and quantity is fine for a 50 minute flight.

Nice Twix - although I'd have prefered something more substancial.

Lunch - Ham Salad Roll

One half of a turkish roll sliced in two, buttered, with two slices of ham, a tomato, and a lettice leaf.

One packet of two Arnotts cheese biscuits, a packet of Bega Strong and Bitey cheddar cheese, a bar of two chunks of Cadbury's Hazelnut Chocolate, and a bottle of water.

Firstly, getting a bottle of water inplace of the usual tub is a major revelation - well done Qantas.

As for the sandwich, its great, really tasty, although there isn't much there - on the two hour flight to the nearest Australian city, it would be good to have something a little larger. Still, the cheese and biscuits are also good, so I'm not going to complain.

Lunch - Palma Ham sandwich

One half of a Turkish roll sliced in two, buttered, with two slices of ham, a tomato, and a lettuce leaf.

A bottle of water, and a small bar of nougat.

Nice to get a proper tray, and a large bottle of water.

The sandwich is very tasty. Its good to get real ham with a strong biting flavour. Alas, there just isn't enough.

The nougat bar is a terrible. Its obviously designed to give the tray a bit of class by providing something a bit different. Alas its so hard you'll break your teeth - and lacks any flavour.

Lunch - Ham Foccacia

One half of a foccacia wholegrain bap sliced in two, buttered, with two slices of ham, two slices of tomato, and a lettuce leaf.

A tub of water, and a twix, and two packets of peanuts.

Good flavour in the foccacia - it sets the lunch off nicely, and there's quite a lot of quantity here. Its almost a decent feed.

Fresh salad in the sandwich which adds to the flavour - but the real good thing is the bread.

Nice to have a twix. The Peanuts are Qantas standard issue and come with every drink.

Lunch - Ham in Turkish Bread

One half of a roud Turkish Bread roll sliced in two, buttered, with two slices of ham, and a lettuce leaf.

A tub of water, and a Crunchie bar, a slice of 'Tasty' processed cheese, and two Arnott's cheese biscuits.

Great flavour in the bread - and pretty good ham too.

The Crunchie is a good variant.

Because this flight is over 2 hours, I got cheese and biscuits as well - note that you don't get anything for free on Qantas, unless the timing and the lenght of flight dictate it.

Lunch - Cheese Foccacia

One half of a foccacia wholegrain bap sliced in two, buttered, with two slices of cheese, ten half slices of tomato, and a lettuce leaf.

A tub of water, a miniature nougat bar, and two packets of peanuts.

Good flavour in the bun again. It works well with the cheese, and there's a lot of quantity here.

Lots of tomatoes in the salad which adds to the flavour - but the real good thing is the bread.

The nougat bar is horrible. I threw mine away.

Lunch - Plain Ham Foccacia

One half of a plain foccacia bap sliced in two, buttered, with two slices of ham, one slice of tomato, and two lettuce leaves.

A tub of water, a Twix, and a packet of peanuts.

A very dull and watery foccacia, which had gone soggy.

Fresh salad in the sandwich though which is very good.

Nice to have that twix. The Peanuts are Qantas standard issue.

Lunch - Fish Paste sandwich

A white roll with fish paste, buttered, with two slices of tomato, and two lettuce leaves.

A tub of water, a Mars bar, and two packets of peanuts.

A totally uninspired sandwhich, with no flavour and totally manky salad.

A decent Mars Bar. The Peanuts are Qantas standard issue.

Lunch - Beef Salad sandwich

A white roll with two slices of beef, buttered, with diced carrots and two lettuce leaves.

A tub of water, a Cherry Ripe, and two packets of peanuts.

A totally uninspired sandwich, with no flavour and totally manky salad.

Good to have the Cherry Ripe, which is an Oz specialty. The Peanuts are Qantas standard issue.

Lunch - Ham & Brie sandwich

Two sandwiches, with ham, brie, mustard and lettuce.

Apple. Orange Juice.

Now, a totally inspired sandwhich, with lots of flavour.

I guess this shows that Qantas can do, if they try.

Lunch - Cheese and ham sandwiches

A packet of cheese and ham sandwiches with caramelised onion, on multigrain bread.

A packet of Santos soy rice crackers.

Qantas do things differently on the Canberra flights. Food is better, despite it only being a 35 minute flight.

Decent sandwiches with lots of filling; just right.

Newstyle Arvo Snack

Two Luken & May cookies, one of which is a choc brownie, and the other is a date, walnut and ginger.

A cup of tea.

This is the new style afternoon snack which was introduced a few years ago.

Qantas do seem to be getting it right with this one. At this time of the day, this is all most people want, and at least this does seem to offer some quality - although whether it justifies the extra price of the ticket over a low cost carrier remains to be seen.

Arvo Snack

A large chocolate chip biscuit. A packet of dried apricots.

A tub of water.

A lovely biscuit. Err, but thats it. For an afternoon snack, this is very small.

At least the packet of dried apricots kept me going for, oh, minutes.

Arvo Snack: Pretzels

A packet of Santos BBQ Peas and Pretzels. A packet of Santos Almonds and Cashews.

The least said about this type of birdseed the better.

Arvo Snack: Carman's crisps

A packet of Carman's Stone Ground corn ships. A tub of corn relish with pepper.

Just when you though the snacks on Qantas couldn't get any smaller... they do!

Still, at least there is some sort of attempt at variety.

Arvo Snack: Cheese and Sticks

A packet of Corn Sticks and Onion Lavosh.

Beerenber Caramelised onion. Black Jack aged cheddar. Packet of mints, and a dark chocolate.

Qantas do things differently on the Canberra flights. Food is better, despite it only being a 35 minute flight.

Decent cheese, dips, and a chocolate. Not bad!

Dinnner - Cottage Pie

Cottage pie with 'mixed meat', one slice of carrot.

Hot roll. Crisplet chocolate.

This is about as basic as a 'hot meal' can get on Qantas, but at least there is one.

Dinner - Chicken and rice

Chicken and rice with mixed veggies.

Crisplet chocolate. Pot of water.

Missing roll on this tray - tut.

Dinner - Soy chicken

Soy braised chicken with jasmine rice and mini corn.

One roll (cold), one packet of butter, a tub of water and a small dairy milk.

There were two variants of this on the plane, and it was quite obvious which ones were scraping the barrel of the old pot, and which ones were from a new pot: thankfully this was one of the new ones.

Pretty good, with lovely tender mini corn, alas a bit too much rice and not enouogh of the chicken, but all in all not a bad dinner for a short flight.

Dinner - Salami Pasta

Pasta with Salami in tomato sauce, with courgettes.

One roll (hot), one packet of butter, a tub of water and a small dairy milk.

Qantas sometimes subscribe to the 'looks odd, tastes good' philosophy. And so it goes in this case: you may not think that salami goes well with pasta, but it does, it really does.

Good to get a good hot meal on a short Qantas flight: it brings back some of the joy of avaiation

Dinner - Ham Salad

Two slices of ham on a bed of coleslaw with carrots and lettuce.

One roll (hot), one packet of butter, a tub of water and a large Kitkat.

This is a lovely dinner, and a rare treat when you can get it. Lots of flavour in the ham, and a very good Coleslaw base.

Plenty of rolls were available. It's good to get a real full sized Kitkat as well.

Dinner - Chicken Caesar Salad

Four slivers of Chicken, two strips of bacon, and 8 very thin slices of cheese over a base of lettuce and one half egg.

One pot of Caesar dressing, one roll (hot), one packet of butter, a tub of water and a bar of two chunks of Cadbury's Fruit and Nut.

This is a pretty good dinner, and much better than most airlines serve for a short one hour flight.

The chicken is tender, there's flavour in the dressing, and the salad is refreshing. All in all very good.

Dinner - Chicken Noodles

Three slices of Chicken, on a bed of noodles with green beans and carrots. A tub of Birch and Waites Soy Chilli dressing.

One roll (cold), one packet of butter, and a tub of water. A miniature bar of Cadbury's Top Deck.

Not great, this dinner is really brought down by the chicken which is very stringy with loads of fat. The noodles were half cold, but at least the Birch and Waites chilli dressing livened things up.

The roll was cold as well, but at least the chocolate was half decent.

Dinner - Beef Salad

Two slices of beef on a bed of coleslaw and potato salad.

One roll (hot), one packet of butter, a tub of water and a large Kitkat. Two packets of peanuts.

It seems odd getting beef with this when ham to my mind would work better, but its still a lovely dinner. Lots of flavour and a very good potato salad.

Plenty of rolls were handed out in the flight. It's good to get a real full sized Kitkat as well.

Evening Snack - Bruschetta Dip

A packet of Luken and May Bruschetta with Tzatziki dip.

A bag of Patons Macadamia dry roasted nuts. Two packets of peanuts. A tub of water.

This is the late evening snack, and I can understand why Qantas are offering this. Most people on the plane had already put away far too many VBs, and had no intention of eating anything that would soak up the effect of the beer.

Actually its not too bad, and a pretty unique offering on a plane, with a lovely creamy dip. The nuts go well with the wine too.

Evening Snack - Nut escapes

A packet of Flavour escape nuts.

Bag contains two types - Canadian maple and French vanila.

Hmmm - in the evening this is all Qantas will offer. It really isn't very much.

Still, I've yet to find a packet of these in the shops, so it does blot up the wine nicely.

Qantas economy flights to & from Perth

On long haul domestic services to & from Perth and the East Coast, you'll get a much better service in economy, particularly on the 787 or A330 services. There are four trolleys that start in opposite corners of the cabin, and work inwards: for this reason you should not sit in the middle, and the back rows are actually the best. These hand out the hot meals on a tray (on all flights) and drinks (free alcohol after midday). The coffee & tea service makes an appearance (from the front of each cabin) and then the trolleys return with another drinks service (again from the front of each cabin). Half way through the flight, icecreams are handed out. Throughout the flight you can ask for top up drinks, and there is actually a small hatch to the left of the rearmost galley on the A330 where a small self service bar is set up for economy.

Qantas Inflight Meal Economy Sydney - Perth

Cold ham and cheese pasta salad

Perth special - Beef Stew

A hot tub of beef stew with mushrooms. Beans and carrots. Jasmine rice.

A hot roll. Butter. A small SBC chocolate brownie in a box. A tub of water.

This was brilliant: lots of flavour, with a goulash type of sauce on it. Really nothing to fault here - this is the type of airline food airlines should hand out in domestic.

Decent roll too, which wasn't too stiff or hard.

Perth special - Chicken with rice

A hot tub of chicken in some kind of sauce. Carrots. Steamed rice with peas.

A hot roll. Butter. A small SBC chocolate brownie in a box. A tub of water.

Not the best, if only because the rice was all stuck together, however the chicken was great.

The SBC chocolate brownie in a box. I like the way Qantas does this, and hands out one type of desert on the tray, and then comes back with icecreams later.

Perth special - Chicken & Mash

Chicken and mushrooms in tomato sauce. Mash potato. String beans.

A hot roll. Butter. A Bega tasty cheese and two Arnotts crackers. A tub of water. A Toblerone.

Stone cold by the time it got to me, and with mash that could resemble superglue. I really don't recommend this option.

However it's good to get the cheese, and even a toblerone on the tray - I'm surprised Qantas hasn't axed these.

Perth special - Lamb Curry

Lamb curry with steamed rice & peas, with added carrots.

A hot roll. Butter. A Bega tasty cheese and two Arnotts crackers. A tub of water. A Toblerone.

Wow, this was hot. Actually, because I made the mistake of sitting in the middle of the A330, by the time it got to me it was cold in temperature, but hot in spices.

But this was not too bad at all, although you could hear the gasps as everyone who took it realised how hot it was.

Qantaslink flights

Qantaslink flights are operated by various airlines using the Qantas name, such as Sunstate and Impulse, around smaller parts of the outback and reef. The logo looks the same, but be warned that they don't offer as much choice as Qantas, and portions are smaller.

Breakfast

A bar of carrot cake. A tub of orange juice.

A terrible disappointment. One bite, and it had gone. Oh dear.

Still I guess on the Dash 8s there really isn't enough space to store a proper breakfast, and only one member of the cabin crew serving, so all was not lost.

Lunch - Chicken Sandwich

Two sandwhiches, on bread with nuts, buttered, with a filling of chicken and lettuice.

A bar of Cadbury's fruit and nut. A tub of Berri apple juice. Coffee with UHT milk.

Ooo ah, ummm. Well, as the flight I was on was only 35 minutes long, I guess theres no real reason to serve any food, and in a Dash 8 there isn't much space, so this was an welcome and unexpected treat. Pretty tasty, its served with a typical Australian "There ya go mate".

Dinner - cheese biscuits

A miniture packet of Cracker Barn "Sharp" vintage cheddar cheese. Four Water Wheel cheese biscuits.

A tub of Birch and Waites Fruit Nut and Chocolate mix. A Tub of water.

This is supposed to be dinner - not an after dinner snack. If you eek out the cheese you can make it last at least 10 minutes.

Nice fruit and nut mix though.

Canberra Snackbox

Sandwich Classic/Sub A$5.00/6.00 Quiche (hot)/PotNoodle A$5.00/4.00 Cheese & Crackers A$2.50 Pringles/Cookie A$3.00/3.00 Muffin/Skittles A$3.00/3.00

Jetstar food pricelist.

JetStar Domestic

Jetstar tries very hard to pretend it's not Qantas. In effect it is, and the food comes from exactly the same Gategourmet kitchens. However you get Ryanair service. The trolleys come from either end of the plane, so you are stuck in the middle over the wing, you know you'll end up with the dregs. Jetstar charges for food in Australian dollars.

Chicken Sandwich

A packet with two Delialfresco Chicken and Mayo sandwiches.

Yuck. The chicken is finely diced (so presumably it's been steamed off the carcas, although to be fair to Gategourmet there is no firm indication of this) and with the finest smear of mayo. And Australian Mayo at that, not a decent European one.

It comes on white bread with the nutritional value of a knat.
A$5.00

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