Qantas Business Class Food and Nutrition Review – Melbourne to Sydney (return), Australia (updated 2024)

Qantas business class food salad
Nutrition Rating: 4.5/10

Qantas Business Class Food and Nutrition Review – Melbourne to Sydney (return), Australia (updated 2024)

(Updated June 2024)

Melbourne – Sydney: a very popular route in the Qantas domestic network and a fairly short one too (approximately 1 hour flying time). So what is Qantas business class food like domestically? Does the food make it worth paying more to go business class (well I know it just isn’t about the food on the flight but for many people it is a big consideration).

So let’s take a look at Qantas Business Class food – Melbourne – Sydney flights, both at breakfast and the afternoon.

Main Meal Service – Melbourne-Syd (return) in afternoon (2023)

There were no refreshments offered prior to takeoff, not even water during 2023, however when flying in June 2024 I was offered a small bottle of water prior to takeoff. Once in the air the meal cart was wheeled down the aisle and the cabin crew offered each business class passenger a meal and a beverage. The drinks were offered the same time as the meal and not served prior to the meal. The flight is 1.5hrs (with time in the air of usually an hour) and so this may be a reflection of the short flying time.

There was a choice between two meals offered – a hot dish and a cold dish. The cabin crew member providing the meal service was telling passengers that the meals were part of a new and improved business class menu. The hot dish was pork fillet with apple and BBQ sauce served with mashed potatoes, and the cold dish was a Mexican Chicken Salad.

I chose the pork dish as I felt like a hot dish. The sauce was really tasty and the pork was fairly tender. The mashed potatoes were not very nice, sort of watery and with quite an off putting texture. There were only a few green vegetables (some peas and sugar snap peas) and they had a really off green colour from being cooked too long.

Qantas Business Class food
Pork fillet with Apple and BBQ sauce (2023)

On the return flight I chose the beef salad which was the cold meal option. The dish was not at all how I pictured a beef salad to be. It was more like a cold stirfry with the dish predominantly soba noodles and only two slices of cucumber and one piece of cooked Asian greens.

Qantas Business Class food
Beef salad (2023)
Nutrition comment

Both dishes came with minimal coloured vegetables which was disappointing. The pork fillet dish came with a small spoonful of peas (at most) – they were almost like a garnish. And the beef salad came with 2 slices of cucumber and 1 piece of an Asian green e.g. bok choy. You can see from the picture below that the beef salad was mainly soba noodles with a slice of roast beef on top. In my mind this dish was more like a cold stirfry than a salad. I think it was called a salad because it is served cold, and while there are many definitions and varieties of salads (and no hard and fast rule as to what one is), I wouldn’t consider this really a salad. Anyway moving on from the name of the meal, it is still an unbalanced meal from a nutrition perspective. In fact they are both unbalanced meals being so carbohydrate heavy.

Qantas business class domestic food
A closer look at the beef salad – under the roast beef slice was just soba noodles

Final thoughts Qantas Business Class Food – Melbourne to Sydney (2023)

I didn’t find the meals much different to what was previously being served post-covid. Since the cabin crew member was describing the meals as part of the newly launched business class menu I guess I was expecting something different. But if I hadn’t heard him say that I wouldn’t have thought anything different about these meals – they certainly did not stand out like they were part of a new menu.

So overall the meals were okay and inline with other meal offerings in the domestic market here in Australia. Nothing standout, but I am sure for some people they are adequate. From a nutrition perspective they aren’t very nutrient dense and so if you fly regularly make sure you are eating well during other times of they day.

Main meal: Melbourne – Sydney (breakfast) (2024)

The breakfast choices in business class on a 6.30am flight were scrambled eggs, a quiche or muesli. The scrambled eggs hot dish came with bacon, potatoes and spinach, and was served with a yogurt and bread.

Qantas Business Class Food and Nutrition Review - Melbourne to Sydney (return), Australia (updated 2024) - Qantas business class food
Qantas business class hot breakfast (2024)
Qantas Business Class Food and Nutrition Review - Melbourne to Sydney (return), Australia (updated 2024) - Qantas business class food
Yogurt served at breakfast with the hot dish

Flying Sydney to Melbourne on a 9am flight in June 2024 and the meal service which was offered was described as morning tea which surprised me – I would have thought 9am was still a breakfast meal. There was a choice of three meal options: a quiche, a ham and cheese croissant and a fruit salad. I was seated in the second row and was the 7th person served. By the time I was served (out of 12 people in business class) there was only 1 fruit salad option left which surprised me. The messaging from airline at the recent World Travel Catering and Onboard Services Expo in Hamburg suggested that passengers didn’t want healthy options on board and yet here was an example of where yes they do. I chose the quiche to provide people of an example of the hot meals on board. The quiche was served with tomatoes, an apple and cinnamon pastry and muesli bar. And I didn’t find it very nice. There was barely any egg filling, what filling there was contained a lot of cheese and was very stringy, and the quiche was mainly soggy pastry.

Qantas Business Class Food and Nutrition Review - Melbourne to Sydney (return), Australia (updated 2024) - Qantas business class food
Qantas Business Class Quiche (2024)
Nutrition comment

While it was great to have a cooked tomato included as a side to the quiche, the breakfast as a whole was too pastry heavy. Serving two pastries in the same meal was too heavy and too much. There really needed to be a side of fruit salad or something to lighten it up. The cooked tomatoes were delicious and an important nutritious contribution to the meal. While the quiche was vegetarian there weren’t many vegetables.

To complement your food experiences on Qantas domestic business class flights, check out my food and nutrition reviews of the Qantas Sydney Business Lounge and the Qantas Melbourne Business Lounge.

NOTE: All pictures of Qantas Business Class food domestic are my own and I review the food from the menu I was given (or the meal options described to me by the cabin crew) and the food I ordered on my flight. There may be different options available at other times.

Plane Food Reviews

Plane Food Rating:
4.5/10
Airline:
Qantas
Alliance:
Oneworld
Flight Number:
QF478, QF473, QF406, QF427
Domestic / international:
Domestic
When:
1 December 2022, 4 December 2022, 9 March 2024, 4 June 2024
Flight Duration:
1 hour 30 mins
Class:
Business
Type(s) of Food Served:
Main meal
Ordered On Board / Pre-Ordered:
On board
Food Allergy, Intolerance or Dietary Requirement Information:

No menu and meal packaging was not provided. Any dietary requirement questions were to be directed to the staff.

Meal and Menu information:

No menus provided on board.

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