Back to where I once lived! I used to live in Canberra many years ago and was a frequent visitor to the Qantas Club Canberra both before it was refurbished and then after when Canberra airport was expanded and the Qantas Lounge precinct was refreshed. It felt nice to be back. And I was very curious to see what the foods were like, considering my memories were of a more generous lounge experience. With a general decline in food offerings across the board with Qantas, let’s see what the busy Qantas Club in Australia’s capital city has to offer. First thing that stood out was the references to different cuisines – a Spanish hot dish, Italian salad and a Polish salad. Is this common for this lounge I wonder – are different cuisine based dishes a feature, just like the Melbourne lounge has the Spice bar, and Perth has the Pizza buffet? I will need to visit again to find out.
What’s Healthy?
- There were three different salads available when I visited – all looking fairly fresh. I liked how the Fusili salad wasn’t just made up of pasta. There was a fair ratio of baby spinach leaves delivering a good punch of folate and antioxidants to the salad. This can be a rare find in a lounge, even a Qantas lounge, as many times a pasta salad is served it is mainly pasta without many vegetables.
- The market salad was also undressed with a variety of dressing available on the side. A really great move as some people like to have salad without dressing, while others prefer some flavour. I am a fan of being able to personalise a salad to your own liking – makes it more likely you will eat it and enjoy it. I did find the presentation of the market salad a little odd though – the salad didn’t seemed to be tossed well.
- Would it be a Qantas Club without the toasted sandwich being a staple of their food offerings? Absolutely not, so in true Qantas Club form they had the standard sandwich fillings of ham, cheese and tomato available. It was nice to see the sandwich fillings spruced up a bit with grated carrot, onion, rocket. It was disappointing though there was another variety of processed meat available (chicken or turkey?) alongside the ham. If more meat is to be offered then please can it be fresh.
- Flavourings for soups and salad are great, especially the pumpkin seeds. Pumpkin seeds, or pepitas, are a source of iron and magnesium (and a range of other fabulous nutrients) – a sprinkle of these on your soup will help add a little burst of nutrients!
- Now not all the snacks on the bar sit in the ‘What’s Healthy’ category – but I couldn’t really push the other jars aside just for the perfect picture. The mixed nuts (middle jar) are a really nutritious snack – they provide not only a range of vitamins and minerals, but are also a source of fibre and protein. Fibre and protein help keep us feeling full and so are a good snack for the lounge if you don’t want a meal (you might be flying home to have dinner with the family) but need a small snack to tide you over. A handful of nuts is around a serve size. Try not to have the rice crackers (on the left) or the crisps on the right too often – they are not as nutrient dense as nuts.
- Four types of fruit – hooray! Usually there is a choice of apple or apples. Nice to see a range of fruits, not only incase people don’t like a certain type of fruit but also some people may have food intolerance to certain types of fruit, especially apples. Hope the variety continues.
Not so Great. Caution.
- The hot dish just doesn’t look appetizing does it? It remind me of the hot dishes served in the Qantas Business Lounge in Sydney. This was described on the menu as a Spanish chicken, chorizo and cannellini bean stew – but I have to say I would not have known just by looking at it. Even with the sign it was difficult to tell. The chicken had a mince like texture and there weren’t many beans or pieces of chorizo. There were potatoes served alongside it (patatas bravas) which looked a little sad.
- A lot of refined carbohydrates, with much nutrient benefit on offer here which is not great when flying. If you choose to eat these make sure you add a source of protein and fibre to them.
- Not much to say about the slice and sweet snacks except be mindful they may contain high levels of sugar and fats. Slices and lollies like these can also be easy to eat more than one slice so if you do enjoy a sweet slice with a cup of tea or coffee, watch portion sizes and limit to one.
Final word about the Qantas Club Canberra
Nothing amazing unfortunately in the Qantas Club Canberra – pretty standard fair like in other Qantas Clubs. I had thought perhaps it might have been a step up since it was located in Canberra and there is a lot of government work flying in and out. One difference I did note was the type of hot meal – it looked like the type off hot meal served in the Qantas Business Lounge in Sydney, not Qantas Club hot food. The Qantas Club hot food I have experienced in Sydney and Melbourne are more like hot finger style foods (e.g. spring rolls) or a pasta bake or hot potatoes etc. It was great to see a range of salads though and hopefully the overall food quality will improve now there is said to be more emphasis on customer experience moving forward under the new CEO.
If you are flying to or from Canberra on Qantas you might be interested in my review of the Qantas business class flight Canberra to Melbourne.
NOTE: All pictures of Qantas Club Canberra are my own and I review the food from the menu I was given and the food I ordered on my flight. There may be different options available at other times.
