Qantas Business & First Lounges, Melbourne

During my recent trip to Sydney, I flew on Qantas for the first time in a few years.  I flew direct SFO-SYD on the way there because I was able to snag the coveted single seat on the direct flight, but on the return journey, I opted to connect through Melbourne because it meant I could try out the new Dreamliner, and fly at what seemed like better flight times.

My journey started in the Sydney domestic airport where I checked out the Qantas Business Lounge and Qantas Club (review coming soon), then grabbed some mediocre sushi from Wok On Air, and had INCREDIBLE onion rings at Bar Roma.  And I had a small meal on the flight from SYD to MEL.

I didn't expect to eat much in Melbourne, as I had more than a full meal already, and my next flight would have a meal as well, but then my seat mate on the SYD-MEL flight offered to let me into the First Class lounge as his guest.  So ... I obviously took him up on that, and also cruised through the Qantas Business lounge and the Plaza Premium lounge, just for research purposes.

Business Lounge

The business lounge was a fairly standard lounge, quite large, and not very crowded at all, at 10pm when I visited.  It was calm and quiet.

I did not spend much time checking out the seating nor amenities, but they seemed to have extensive types of seating, showers, etc.

I nibbled a few things from the buffet, just to try them, and I was actually fairly impressed.  If I had wanted a meal, I think I would have been satisfied.

Jars of goodies!

I entered the lounge to find ... jars of snacks!  Yes!  A different lineup than the First Class Lounge where they had spiced mixed nuts and AMAZING buttered popcorn, here we had rice crackers (simple, bland, meh), wasabi peas, and gummies.

I was happy to see the gummies, as I adore gummy candy, although the Plaza Premium Lounge gummy candy offering was a bit better with mixed gummies, rather than just one type.  

I liked the wasabi peas; sometimes I find the wasabi flavor too strong, or the peas too ... pea-like, but these were the kind I do like, and I'd happily munch on those alongside a drink if I was staying.

So, points for the snacks.

Self-Serve Soft Drinks, White Wine.

Drinks were self-serve, canned soft drinks, white wine, and beer, chilled glasses included.

Spirits, Red Wine.

The spirits and red wine were located adjacent to the fridge, a decent line up, with plenty of mixers too.

In another area was also a barista station, unstaffed when I was there likely due to the late hour.  I believe this is also where they would normally serve the "dish of the day", but that had ended earlier since it was so late.

All Day Dining Menu.

The food lineup was a buffet, with clear signage with the full menu, including all dish details, allergens, etc.

Market salads: tomato and cucumber, rocket salad / Cheddar cheese & accompaniments.

The majority of the menu is composed "Market Salads".  I didn't try either of these first two.

I did try some of the cheddar cheese, and, it really was great cheese.  Really sharp, flavorful cheddar.  I liked the assorted spreads with it as well.  Another cheese and accompaniments station was located on the other side of the lounge as well.

Market Salads: asian slaw, barley salad, potato salad.

"Potato salad with bacon, shallot, spinach, spring onion, watercress, walnut, Dijon mustard dressing."

From the market salad lineup, I tried the potato salad, hot on the heels of being disappointed by the potato salad in the Plaza Premium Lounge.

It wasn't really a classic potato salad though, it had a lot going on in terms of extra things (like, um, all the greenery!), it wasn't creamy, and, the promise of bacon didn't really come through.

If I wanted something else, I would have tried the Asian slaw, since I do love slaw, but I was stuffed, and grumpy that it said "crispy noodles" and I didn't see any.

Toasted Sandwiches: Ham/Salami, Roasted Vegetable.

Two types of pre-made sandwiches were available, listed as "Toasted Sandwiches" on the menu, which confused me, until I saw the panini press nearby.

Toasted to order, a smart design (fresh and crisp!) ... for those who realize it of course.

Gluten Free Station.

I was impressed that there was a separate gluten-free station as well, with bread, crackers, desserts, and its own dedicated panini press.

Vegetable Dal, Steamed Crice, Beef Pie.

The menu for this section said "Beef Pie with Puff Pastry", but, alas, the "beef pie" was really just the pie filling.  I love this sort of thing, but, puff pastry is essential.  I wondered if someone either forgot to add it, or if it was supposed to be on the side and they ran out?

That said, I still tried it, I'm honestly not sure why, and, well, I really liked it.  I was shocked at how flavorful it was.  Really good depth of flavor, nicely seasoned, thick, rich, gravy.  Really kinda delicious, and I was stuffed, it certainly wasn't hunger influencing me here.  Some of the beef was great too, really tender.  I was loving this dish actually, until I got a mouth full of fat.  A big piece of beef that was just fat.  Ooph.  Still, shockingly good for a buffet dish.

There was also a soup of the day on the side.

"Selection of Cakes."

I had a plated dessert over in the First Class Lounge restaurant.  I nibbled on desserts in other venues.  I still planned to get dessert on my flight.  Yet ... I tried a piece of the dessert from here too.

I skipped the chocolate tart, because I was avoiding caffeine, but, it did look decent, a thick, rich ganache.

So I went for ... the raspberry frangipane cake.  Yeah, I know, not even something I normally like.  But it was actually quite decent, really moist cake, flavorful fruit, and tasty frangipane filling.

The First Class Lounge brownies though were the highlight of the dessert line up ...

First Lounge

I was not flying First class.  I don't have status to have lounge access.  I did not expect to get into the Qantas First Class lounge, and thus, did not do any research on it at all.  But I know how amazing the Sydney First Class lounge is, and the Los Angeles one, although not nearly as remarkable, is still quite good, so when my seat mate on my SYD-MEL flight offered to bring me in as his guest ... I certainly did not say no!

The First class lounge in Melbourne is certainly much smaller than in Sydney or Los Angeles, but has all the same features, including complimentary spa treatments, nice showers, business meeting rooms, and full service dining.  It was not crowded, the furniture modern and classy, and really, a tranquil environment. The whole feel of the place was peaceful.

Since I wasn't planing this visit,  I had already munched on food in the Qantas Club and Qantas Domestic Business lounges in Sydney, devoured onion rings at Bar Roma (incredible onion rings, zomg), gotten takeout sushi from Wok on Air (meh!), and eaten part of my meal on the Sydney to Melbourne flight, so, I wasn't not needing a full meal at this point.  Of course though, I got a small dish, cocktail, wine, dessert, and ... a massage.  

I was thrilled that they had massage appointments available perfectly timed with my flight, right before I needed to go board.  I did a back massage, and, even though only 20 minutes, it was a full massage, really well done, and I didn't leave too oily.

I had a lovely time in the lounge, so, thank you seatmate!

Dining Room

Dining Room.

The dining room is a full service sit down restaurant, like the other First Class Qantas lounges I've been in (Sydney, Los Angeles), with small tables and a bar.

Tables are elegantly set, the views are decent of the runway, and it is a pretty tranquil space.

All Day Dining Menu: Spring 2018.

"In the Melbourne First Lounge we develop seasonal menus and work with great producers that understand the Qantas and Rockpool philosophies. Schulz Butchers in the Barossa Valley, South Australia have been producing small goods using traditional methods since 1939. A staple on our menu since the beginning, Schulz smokehouse bacon is undoubtedly one of the best in the country. Naturally cured and smoked, it has rustic red gum, juniper berry and bay leaf flavours."

The all day dining food menu is broken into 5 distinct, but unlabelled categories (seemingly, starters, sandwiches, mains, sides, desserts).

• Seasonal soup
• Zucchini and squash salad with soft poached egg, kale, white beans and lemon
• Roasted and pickled spring carrots with radish, watercress and horseradish
• Five spice duck with snake beans, daikon, black vinegar and chives
• Salt and pepper squid with green chilli dipping sauce and aioli

• Gua bao with slow roast pork belly, chilli paste and pickles
• Club sandwich with chicken, slow roasted tomato, bacon and aioli
• Grass fed beef cheeseburger

• Spice roasted butternut pumpkin with broccolini, curry leaves and coconut
• Udon noodle soup with roast pork, soft cooked egg, sesame and garlic
• Cone Bay barramundi with fennel purée, crisp polenta, green olive and toasted almond salsa
• Stir fried cumin lamb with smashed cucumber and jasmine rice
• Beef brisket with smoky bonito butter, roast onion and chips

• Bowl of chips
• Mixed leaves with Neil’s vinaigrette
• Wild rocket and parmesan salad
• Steamed seasonal greens with Colonna lemon oil

• Seasonal fruit plate
• Chocolate croissant slice with salted pretzel praline and banana ice cream
• Rice pudding with coconut sorbet, pineapple and pomelo salad
• Signature pavlova
• Ice cream selection:
• Chocolate
• French vanilla
• Raspberry 
• Lemon curd
• Honey and walnut
• Salted butter caramel

Many of these are signature dishes carried at all Qantas First Class lounges (e.g. the salt and pepper squid, the burger, most of the sides, the pavlova), and I've had them in either Sydney or Los Angeles before.  The rest are are seasonal offerings, which Qantas switches out every quarter.  This was the Spring lineup.

Pre-flight Mini Meal.

Since I wasn't actually hungry, but wanted to try things, I narrowed in on just one small savory dish, one dessert, and a cocktail (and later, a glass of wine).

Wattleseed Whiskey Sour.

"Wattleseed whiskey, citrus, bitters."

I started with a cocktail from the featured menu.  It took a while to arrive, after my savory food.

It looked pretty, nicely garnished.  But I didn't like it.  It was really sweet.  I didn't taste whiskey, I didn't taste bitters.

After a few sips, I gave up, I really wasn't in the mood for a tropical cocktail, and ordered wine.

Brokenwood Shiraz 2017 McLaren Vale SA.

The wine was better, but still not remarkable.  Very light. A fine, drinkable red wine, but not complex in any way.

Gua bao with slow roast pork belly, chili paste and pickles.

For my savory selection, I opted for just a small plate, the bao.  I had almost gone to a bao place in Sydney and regretted not making it there, and I love pork belly, spice, and pickles, so, this sounded great.  And, like just the right size, since it was a single bao.

The couple next to me also loved the bao, ordering seconds and thirds of them.  My second choice was the salt and pepper calamari, the signature dish, but since I've had that many times before, I was trying to be unique.

The bao arrived very quickly, just a few minutes after I ordered.  It was not what I expected, at all.

First, the bun. This was not a bao bun.  It was a soft, strangely pale, dinner roll, warm and a bit gummy/soggy.  Uh, what?  I disliked the bun.

Bao: Inside

.

Inside was also not as I expected.  I thought I'd have a lovely piece of juicy pork belly, fatty, crispy skin.  Instead, it was basically just slow cooked pork.  Some bits too chewy to really get through.  I did not like the pork at all.

The chile paste was on both sides of the bun, slightly spicy, but also rather sweet.  I wanted something creamy as well.

And finally, the pickles.  Only two small batons of cucumber.  They were really good, but, only two.  

The bao was rounded out by red onion, thinly sliced, but tons of it, just raw, harsh. It overwhelmed.

I did not like this bao.  Not only what it not the chinese style bun I was expecting, and didn't have tasty juicy pork belly I hoped for, the flavors were just all overwhelmed by the onion.

I almost ordered the calamari to have something else savory, but, really, I wasn't hungry at that point, and I didn't see the point, even if it was good.

Rice pudding with coconut sorbet, pineapple and pomelo salad.

So I moved on to dessert.  I was tempted by pavlova actually, because I know they do it quite well in the lounge, but, I couldn't look past the rice pudding.  I love puddings, even though I wasn't interested in coconut sorbet (eh, sorbet, why sorbet when you can ice cream or gelato?) nor the fruit "salad", since I don't particularly care for pineapple nor pomelo.  I hoped those would just be little garnishes on a big bowl of creamy, sweet, delicious rice pudding.

What I got ... was a bowl with some rice pudding, a scoop of sorbet, and a ton of pineapple.  Not quite what I anticipated.  It was ... ok.

The rice pudding itself was lackluster, rather tart.  It had a little bit of some thin sweet sauce, perhaps a caramel, on top, but otherwise, it just wasn't great.  It was topped with lots of large toasted coconut shavings, which gave a texture I did not care for, very dry.  So, the rice pudding ... eh.  Fine, but not particularly good.

The fruit "salad" was thinly sliced pineapple, *TONS* of it, and exactly two little bites of pomelo.  The pomelo was refreshing and flavorful, but looked rather awful, mangled, and, why so little of it?  The pineapple on the other hand was not very ripe, not juicy, and there was way, way, way too much of it.  There did seem to be a light botanical syrup of sorts on top that I liked.

And then, the sorbet.  A throwaway item for me normally, but, I liked it!  The coconut flavor was intense, it was creamy and rich and certainly more like gelato than sorbet, and it had nice texture with bits of coconut.

I really enjoyed the coconut sorbet as it softened and melted, particularly with a little pomelo, and a sip of red wine.  And I tried to like the rice pudding, letting sorbet melt into it to sweeten it and make it more rich, but, it just was mediocre rice pudding.

Snack Station

The self-serve food area is quite minimal, as the made to order dining is the flagship experience.  That said ... this was my favorite food in the lounge.

Spiced Nuts, Buttered Popcorn, Quiche.

One jar held spiced nuts.  They were ... fine.  Mixed nuts, not particularly interesting, and I wasn't really into the spicing.

The other though had popcorn, excellent popcorn.  I could easily have devoured that entire jar.  And I have high popcorn standards!  It was fresh, and it was oh-so-buttery.  Really, really good popcorn.

Brownies, Tea Cakes, Olives, Dried Fruit, Quiche, Tea Sandwiches.

The rest of the self serve area had a couple mini sandwiches, a quiche, two desserts, dried fruit, and olives.

The desserts were either brownies or a little tea cake.  I took both, to have on my flight later (I know, against the rules ...).

The little tea cake was a pleasant surprise.  It was moist, and the glazed raspberries on top were fruity and flavorful.  Really not a bad little tea cake.

The brownie was even better.  Rich, fudgy, chocoaltely, and studded with walnuts.  I really liked it ... alongside my coffee, for pre-breakfast.  #promove.

I think the brownie may have been the highlight of everything I had in a Qantas lounge on this trip, with the buttered popcorn a close second.