The new winter menu is no exception, with selections like the five spice duck with black vinegar eggplant, red braised lamb shoulder, and Kinkawooka mussels with orzo.
But no matter how much Qantas executive chef Neil Perry and his Rockpool team come up with impressive new food ideas, there are two fairly ordinary dishes you will always see on every menu, because they’re the passengers’ absolute favourites.
And one of them is the humble club sandwich.
Yep, that humble sanga of chicken, bacon, tomato and aioli is so fiercely loved by Qantas passengers, the airline wouldn’t dare axing it from the menu.
It’s also the personal favourite of Mr Perry himself.
“Updating our menus with the seasons means we are cooking with fresh, quality produce and offering our customers something different each time they travel,” he told news.com.au.
“Our customers are also creatures of comfort in the First Lounge, with many ordering the same dish and even sitting in the same seat, myself included. As much as I love to try the new dishes, I can’t go past the club sandwich. To me, it’s the perfect snack any time of day.
“Listening to customer feedback is one of the vital ingredients for our successful menus, so we will continue to serve the dishes our customers love.”
The other humble favourite that will never be culled from the first-class lounge menu is the good old pavlova.
With every menu Qantas updates its signature pavlova with fruits of the season — on the current winter menu, those are passionfruit and raspberry.
Qantas said the salt and pepper squid rounded out the three most-ordered dishes in the first-class lounge. The dish was so in demand in Australia the airline had to add to its menu in Los Angeles.
In case you’re wondering, champagne is the most popular drink request in the first class lounge, with the airline going through about 200,000 bottles of the stuff between its Sydney and Melbourne first class lounges.
Lattes are the most popular hot drink in Melbourne, while in Sydney it’s a flat white.
And one of the most popular dishes on the in-flight first class menu is the good old steak sandwich.
The humble sanga is so popular, when Qantas threatened to axe it from the menu in 2009, passengers got so upset the airline was forced to keep it — and it’s remained a constant on the menu ever since.
