British Airways Galleries First Lounge T3 London Heathrow Food and Nutrition Review (breakfast)

While British Airways has it’s own terminal at T5 Heathrow (see my review of British Airways First Lounge T5), it does also have some flights which leave from T3. T3 is used by a number of other Oneworld airlines and so makes sense for British Airways to have a presence in T3 as well as T5, with both a First and Business Lounge available. So what does British Airways Galleries First Lounge T3 London Heathrow look like in terms of food? With Heathrow being its main hub you would expect a flagship lounge, however for breakfast it was not really the case. What I found when I visited was a pretty stock standard (and predictable) buffet with no imagination or creativity as I would have hoped from a flagship first lounge. Most food was served on the buffet, with four additional dishes offered through a QR code including scrambled eggs on sourdough, scrambled eggs and kipper, toast or American pancakes. So let’s take a look at British Airways Galleries First Lounge T3 London Heathrow food so you can decide whether you want to visit here for breakfast or head to another Oneworld lounge: American Airlines First, Qantas London Lounge or Cathay Pacific First.

British Airways Galleries First Lounge T3 London Heathrow Food menu

There were signs next to each dish advertising the name of the dish – please see below article to see what each of these were. There was a small additional menu available through a QR code.

What’s Healthy?

• Of course I have to mention the fresh fruit – pretty self explanatory from a nutrition perspective. Fresh fruit is a great source of vitamins, antioxidants and other bioactives, and fibres, all of which are important when travelling. There was both a fresh fruit bowl and also chopped fresh fruit available – between both there was a decent variety of fruit.
  
• Both strawberry yogurt and Greek yogurt was available alongside the chopped fruit. Flavoured yogurt is usually quite sweet and it is hard to know in a lounge what the ingredients are. Try going for a plain or Greek yogurt to help avoid unwanted added sugars. Or if you find plain yogurts a little harsh on your palate then mix some flavoured yogurt with plain yogurt.

• The hot buffet had all the elements of a typical hot English breakfast. No surprises here since it is a British Airways lounge and at London Heathrow. The day I visited the scrambled eggs weren’t very nice – they did not have the texture of good scrambled eggs. They were not fluffy or folded like you would expect but sort of mushy and wet. The cooked tomatoes were also barely cooked, they were nearly raw.
  
• Many people assume a hot breakfast is unhealthy but there are some elements that are nutritious such as cooked tomatoes and mushrooms, beans (such as baked beans) and eggs. What usually makes a traditional English breakfast not so healthy is the ratio of all the elements on the plate i.e. not many vegetables and lots of sausages and bacon. So if you are in this lounge and you like a hot breakfast, try having tomatoes, mushrooms and basked beans covering half you plate, with a spoon of scrambled eggs making up another quarter. This means then choosing one of either bacon, sausages or hashbrowns.

• Great to see muesli on offer in the lounge as oats, nuts/seeds and dried fruits are a nutritious combination for breakfast. Weetabix and a bran based flake were also on offer which also have some nutritious elements. There is much debate around the levels of processing and breakfast cereals, so choosing high fibre options with minimal/no added sugar is usually best. This can be hard in a lounge when you can’t see the packaging. If you aren’t sure, try having smaller portions or mixing it with other cereals where you know are more nutritious. For example granola was also available and while I love granola it is hard to know which type it is when travelling, especially overseas. So I like to mix a small amount with muesli so I can get the great taste but reduce any unwanted added sugars.

Not so great. Caution.

• Yes this is the same photo again – I have not made a mistake but I didn’t feel I could go around rearranging the buffet just so I could take a photo having all the nutritious foods next to each other. So here it is again, highlighting that some foods are not as nutritious as others and so to be cautious before loading up your plate. Unfortunately the day I visited the bacon was tough, the sausages were sort of mushy inside (very hard to describe but a texture of sausages I hadn’t experienced before), and the hashbrowns were old and tough (even though they looked pretty good). As I just mentioned choose one of either hashbrowns, sausages or bacon as these foods are usually higher in calories/fat and salt and are not as nutrient dense as other foods.

• There were a range of pastries being kept warm on the buffet including croissants and scrolls. While pastries can be delicious be mindful that they are usually high in calories without packing much of a nutritional punch. So if you like pastries when travelling one thing to keep in your mind is to make sure you have a great pastry – not an average one. And many pastries in lounges are average. So always see before eating one is it great quality and if not, then leave it. Save it for another time when you will really enjoy it.

• Oh the typical ham and cheese scenario – I can’t escape it in the Qantas lounges and now I see it here in the British Airways First Lounge. While cheese is nutritious, a ham and cheese combination is not the greatest as ham is a processed meat, high in salt and usually has other preservatives too. It would have been good for the lounge to also have at least some sliced tomato to offer more choice in case people don’t want ham. English muffins are usually lower in calories but also fibre so not the greatest to have before flying.

• If you like cereal when travelling, try and go for a wholefoods based cereal as much as you can i.e. one where it hasn’t had much processing. A good example would be whole oats or a muesli with seeds/nuts or dried fruits. The fibres in oats and other plant based foods are important for gut health and are usually contained in their whole form. More processed cereals may not contain any/or as much of the original fibres (and may not have any added fibres either). Bran based flakes and wheat-based biscuits may be an exception with some varieties being a good source of fibre. Some cereals also have high levels of added sugars in them so try and choose an unsweetened flavour. Granola that is in clumps or clusters is usually stuck together with some form of sweetener or syrup so be mindful or these too.

Final words on British Airways Galleries First Lounge T3 London Heathrow

A solid breakfast offering at the British Airways Galleries First Lounge T3 London Heathrow with some nutritious foods. But a first class breakfast offering? I don’t think so. This buffet could be in a mid range hotel or a business class lounge any where in the world. While I know T3 is not their main terminal at Heathrow, I question why have a first class lounge in T3 if you are not going to make it stand out since Heathrow is your main hub. There are 2 other Oneworld First lounges in T3 (American Airlines First and Cathay Pacific First) and the Qantas London Lounge close to each other so if the British Airways Galleries First Lounge T3 food doesn’t take your fancy then you can visit one of the others (if you are eligible).

NOTE: All pictures of the British Airways Galleries First Lounge T3 London Heathrow are my own and I review the food from the foods available at the time I visited the lounge. There may be different options available at other times.