I was very much looking forward to trying the Qantas London Lounge food during the afternoon having only visited for breakfast previously. With 3 other Oneworld lounges in T3 terminal in Heathrow (British Airways, Cathay Pacific and American Airlines), Oneworld frequent flyers are spoilt for choice. Let’s take a look at the Qantas London Lounge food and next time you are flying out of T3 London Heathrow you can decide whether the menu and food experience is right for you.
Qantas London Lounge All Day Dining Menus
When I first entered the lounge in the mid-afternoon the A La Carte dining room was not open so I headed upstairs to the buffet area. The dining area opened at 4.30pm and menu items from the ‘From the Kitchen’ section were available.
What’s Nutritious in the Qantas London Lounge?
I tried the sweet potato, quinoa, kale, chickpea and chicken salad and it was the perfect salad to have just before 24 hours of travelling to the other side of the world. It was a well balanced dish nutritionally and very importantly it tasted great. The dressing was complementary, not overwhelming but I didn’t taste much of a tahini flavour.
The platter of vegetable crudites with a hummus dip was a welcome site, especially during the afternoon at a time when my body clock wasn’t ready for a large meal. This was perfect to snack on especially with hummus as the dip. Hummus is a nutritious dip being made from chickpeas and tahini. Along with the vegetable crudites there were a number of salads and a cooked vegetable dish available (grilled broccolini) – wonderful to see. The chunky salad did have a lot of onion though which might not be great for people before they fly (especially if they are prone to bloating). The edamame and green bean salad was a nutritious combination.
It was great to see this pasta salad had whole olives and large wedges of tomato. This helps to provide more nutrition than many type of pasta dishes in lounges which usually have sparse amounts of very small chopped olives/vegetables. This dish is also more nutritious than the basial pesto cream dish on the hot buffet which is just pasta and pesto.
Not so great. Caution.
The famous Qantas first class salt n pepper squid was on the A la carte menu and so I had to order it to check it out as I know so many people love this dish. The squid pieces were fairly small but the batter was crispy and fairly light (not greasy and soggy as I have experienced in other lounges). Staff were also roaming the upstairs buffet area offerings bowls of fries with little pots of tomato sauce (ketchup) to passengers. I tried a couple of fries and I have to say they were pretty good fries! These types of fried foods can be high in calories and fat which are not necessarily great to have before a sedentary long-haul flight. If you enjoy having them while in the lounge then try choosing only one deep-fried dish rather than numerous, or only having a small taste from the dishes.
There was Normandy pork casserole and basil pesto cream pasta on the hot buffet. If you enjoy these dishes then add vegetables to the dish (either the broccolini or salads or both!).
Be mindful of always choosing breads/scones made with refined flours. The foccacia was sundried tomato and olive flavoured however looking at bread these ingredients looked a little light on. There were small bread rolls that looked to be wholegrain/whole wheat based which is great.
Final word Qantas London Lounge Food
The Qantas London Lounge food was a decent offering, but I must admit when only the buffet was available I was underwhelmed by the offerings. It felt like a sub-standard business class lounge (kind of felt like I was in a domestic lounge in Australia), not a lounge on one of their flagship routes. The A la carte menu did lift the lounge food experience but by not having it open all the time I feel as a Oneworld Emerald frequent flyer I would probably choose other lounges over this one if the A la Cart dining room was not open. It was so great to see the Qantas London Lounge serving some fabulous salad dishes – it is always so nice to see the brightly coloured vegetables and salads in Qantas lounges – sometimes I do visit Qantas lounges just for a delicious and nutritious salad! So overall the lounge food experience was ok and with some tweaks (or a food glowup) it could really shine!
NOTE: All pictures of the Qantas Lounge London food in T3 at 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.
Interested in the Qantas London Lounge food at breakfast time – see review of the morning menu.
