My first time in London Heathrow T2 found me not only exploring the Star Alliance lounges but also the pay-for-entry lounges. So dusting off my trusty priority pass saw me exploring the Plaza Premium Lounge London Heathrow T2 food on the way to my gate. So was it better than the airline lounges in this end of T2? Lets take a look.
What’s nutritious?
The first to catch my attention on the buffet was the salad bar – cucumber, mixed leaves, corn, tomatoes, olives, jalepenos, carrots and broccoli. It was good to see this variety of vegetables available – not everyone likes the same foods and so having more salad vegetables like this on the buffet should be able to make a nice salad for many people.
Fantastic to see chickpeas in the cous cous. Without the chickpeas there weren’t many chopped vegetables through the cous cous for flavour (and nutrition) so the chickpeas were very welcome. They add a small amount of plant protein to the dish as well as fibre (and flavour!).
Pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds such a fantastic addition to the buffet. These seeds are little nutrient power houses and provide passengers an opportunity to boost the protein, fibre, and vitamins and minerals of their meals (not to mention fabulous flavour and crunch!) These are great to sprinkle on a salad or mix through pasta etc. There was also a container of dried mixed fruit and one of flaked almonds available too.
The lentils with spinach dish was a good to see. Lentils are a source of fibre, helping to support gut health while travelling. Spinach is a dark green nutrient powerhouse packed with carotenoids, vitamin C, vitamin K, folate and more.
Fresh fruit was available in fruit baskets and when I visited there were oranges and apples. I love having pieces of whole fruit available in airport lounges. Refreshing and nutritious to eat – they provide a great snack.
Patatas bravas with paprika and parsley was available on the hot buffet. It was a dish with sliced potatoes but I didn’t really see much paprika or parsley, or sauce (but maybe I missed that on the buffet). It just seemed to be a dish of sliced roasted potatoes (I thought patatas bravas were supposed to have the potatoes cut more into cubes but I could be wrong). There was a dish of beef mince served next to the patatas bravas – perhaps that was supposed to be the sauce?
Pea, mint and courgette soup was available with dinner rolls, however I didn’t get a picture of the soup.
Not so great. Caution.
The aubergine arrabbiata pasta dish was pretty tasteless unfortunately. There were some aubergine cubes scattered throughout the dish however it was fairly easy to get a spoonful of pasta without any auvergine (eggplant) in it. More aubergine would have been good to have been included considering aubergine was listed in the dish name. Aubergine (eggplant) with the lovely deep purple skin is a good source of anthocyanins (responsible for the purple colour) which have been suggested to play a role in good health. Having eggplant in the dish helps o give it a nutritious boost.
Dishes of Chicken with grain mustard and Beef mince were available with steamed white rice available to accompany these. The beef mince was not spicy (i.e. no heat to it) and was mainly sauce unfortunately (not much mince or anything to it). The chicken dish had chunks of a white root vegetables (possibly parsnip – I know I know I don’t know why I couldn’t tell which vegetable it was, but in this dish I just couldn’t). Anyway it was good to have a vegetable included along with the chicken, however it was still a very saucy dish.
With the beef mince and the chicken dish having quite a lot of sauce in them (compared to meat/vegetables) be careful you don’t end up eating mostly rice and sauce. This is a missed opportunity for getting good nutrition in before a flight. If you like these dishes then ensure you visit the salad bar too for a side plate of salad.
Chocolate cake and chocolate sauce (Nutella I think – I didn’t get a chance to taste it) – as delicious as that is this is just a reminder to be mindful of portion sizes when eating sweet foods from the buffet. It can be easy to load up the plate and remember chances are you will be served some sort of dessert in a few hours on the plane as well (if you are on a full service carrier).
The bar was handing out bags of crisps to some people when they ordered a drink. I couldn’t tell if it was a promotional offer and so the crisps were only being handed out with certain types of drinks, but the few people in front of me got handed a bag and I didn’t so perhaps I ordered the wrong drink (It was ok I didn’t want them anyway but I was interested that they didn’t seem to be available to everyone).
Final word on Plaza Premium Lounge London Heathrow T2 food
The Plaza Premium Lounge London Heathrow T2 food didn’t really surprise me. I found it to be a fairly average Plaza Premium lounge – nothing spectacular but nothing offensive either. It was very busy when I visited and so the buffet was buzzing. The foods were ok but nothing too imaginative. While there were some nutritious foods available (which of course was good to see) I was just a little uninspired. I am getting a little tired of seeing tomato based penne pasta in lounges to be honest and so to see this dish again in this lounge just made me sigh a little. However, if you don’t have access the an airline lounge then this lounge does provide a nice simple experience before boarding.
For more food and nutrition reviews of lounges in London Heathrow T2 see United Airlines review and Air Canada review.
NOTE: All pictures of the Plaza Premium Lounge London Heathrow T2 food are my own and I review a lounge from the foods and menu I see during my visit. There may be different options available at other times.
