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If you’re wondering what a typical British Airways First Class menu has on it ….

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I am in Canada all week, helping my Mum realise an ambition to see Niagara Falls and chaperoning her to a family wedding next weekend.

We flew out to Toronto yesterday afternoon in British Airways First Class.  One thing about weddings is that you tend to know the date well in advance, so I had no trouble using a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 voucher to get the seats as soon as they opened up 11 months ago.

British Airways First Class seat

I’m not going to write about the flight or The Concorde Room because I did a BA First Class review late last year and I don’t like repeating myself so quickly.  However, if you were wondering what the food is like in British Airways First Class, here is the menu we had:

Starters

Sesame seared tuna with a citrus salad and black olive tapenade (had this, it was OK but nothing more)

Wild mushroom and truffle mousse and cauliflower puree with a shimeji mushroom salad

A light cream soup of sweetcorn, red pepper and chives

Fresh seasonal salad with your choice of blue cheese dressing or classic vinaigrette

Main Courses

Seared filled of Aberdeen Angus beef with summer vegetables, fondant potatoes with horseradish and chive sauce

Sustainably sourced North Atlantic baked cod with orange and tarragon butter sauce and chervil creamed potatoes (had this, liked it, found the portion size small)

Spicy Szechuan-style chicken with fried beans and steamed rice

Warm seared tiger prawns on a sesame and fresh shredded vegetable salad with basil and ginger dressing

Bistro Selection

Penne pasta with red pepper, wild mushroom, fine beans and a creamy pesto sauce

British beef burger with Monterey Jack cheese, gherkin, tomato and chunky chips

A selection of biscuits

A selection of cheese and fruit

Desserts

Raspberry delice and cannelloni with kumquat

Warm blueberry and nectarine crumble (had this, liked it, even the custard was decent!)

Madagascan vanilla ice cream

There is a cheese plate and fresh fruit option

There was also an amuse bouche at the start which was not explained to me!  I have absolutely no idea what it was, but it was very small ….

Toronto is not an A380 route so we did not get the option of the tasting menu which I experienced on my Los Angeles flight last year.

Overall, the food was acceptable but not great – especially in terms of portion size.  I rate the business class food I had on Qatar Airways and Etihad over the last year ahead of it, although BA does have a better drink selection.  For balance, I should say that Mum found it excellent.

Where it really went wrong was the ‘second meal’ snack.  These are the sandwiches you get – note that you get ALL of them:

Smoked salmon with horseradish and rocket

Ham with Pommery mustard

Hummus with piquillo pepper

Pickled cucumber with cream cheese

This is, I think, possibly the most random selection of sandwiches ever offered.  If Pret A Manger put that lot on the shelves they would be bust within a month.  I turned the sandwich selection down and went for the cake selection:

Chocolate and walnut brownie

Raspberry and orange Battenberg

Key lime cake

…. which was fine, except that each portion was the size of a 10p coin.  Is this a bizarre cost saving scheme or does BA really believe that micro portions are the way forward for First Class food?

No photos, before anyone asks.

Anyway, it is 2.55am in the UK and I am off to bed.  I will try to drop in some hotel reviews during the week as well as some coverage of Air Canada’s business class product which I will be flying twice.

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Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (42)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • John G says:
    10 Aug10 August 08:09

    I never understand why BA has a good vegetarian selection in all classes, except in First.

  • CV3V says:
    10 Aug10 August 08:25

    I am not BA’s biggest fan but they to get bashed from all directions, especially in comparison to the middle east carriers, . On recent F class flight I found the food to of a good standard and just the right amount, especially if combined with having had a meal in Concorde lounge or other F class lounge. Also the blueberry pancakes for breakfast are great. I also flew F with Cathay Pacific this year, and after having a breakfast in the lounge trying to eat the huge amount of food on the flight just wasn’t possible! Also although CX food looks good on the menu, something seems to go awry by the time it makes it to the table (usually with the main courses), I had one dish which wasn’t cooked all the way through (raw Chinese meatballs in First!), and another dish which was so tough it was almost impossible to eat. For both flights I have lots of photos if needed!

    With Emirates although the food is very good (even in economy) what you order is not necessary what they will serve you once they get all the orders in and then mix them up a bit. There is also the tale of the VS crew on a flight to Nigeria who forgot to take the cling film of the upper class meals before putting them in the oven to heat them up 

    • Nick says:
      10 Aug10 August 10:33

      I actually agree. BA First is, I think, a very comfortable way to fly. Business on and of the ME carriers is fantastic, and BA First is almost as good as that. Obviously the ME carriers have another gear to move to and BA do not, but on an absolute basis flying BA First is pretty damn fun.

      • Polly says:
        10 Aug10 August 11:36

        We really enjoy BA F plus lounges when we use our annual 241…. But when you can get an ex EU on QR J from CPH to HKT sub 1k, it was worth cancelling it and use it next year to KUL before it expires. To travel around Malaysia. This might be our future plan, to do an QR. ex EU J every second year to Asia, but will see how this one goes, to HKT. it’s our first time using ex EU, but we think the QR J product is on par, if not better than BA F. It’s certainly more spacious. And of course, it’s not direct. Also means maintaining our sliver.

        • Nick says:
          10 Aug10 August 13:32

          I’m bored of Avios now – the lack of availability, the CW product and the taxes make it a bit of a mug’s game for too many routes. Great for short-haul economy, and OK if you can get F with a 241, but I spend a lot longer playing with the ITA Matrix than I do the Avios availability map nowadays. The QR flights are, in every respect, better than anything BA could do. Cheaper, more fun, more comfortable, better lounges, better cabins, better IFE, better food, better everything. These discount QR routes are also a far, far better advert for their airline than Avios redemptions in CW are for BA. I do spend a long time looking for great cash business class fares with QR, but I know that unless it was seriously cheap, I would never pay cash for CW, and cash for F is just a silly idea. I would never have contemplated paying to fly in business until I tried QR. So I totally agree with you.

          What I was trying to get across though is just that if you take a look at a BA F cabin and ignore the price, competition etc it is undeniably a fantastic way to travel. There are better products out there at a fraction of the cost, but to pretend that it’s not pretty good fun to have a big comfy seat, a champagne menu and some decent food is pushing it too far really. That’s all.

          • DAZ says:
            10 Aug10 August 15:53

            Qatar Airways are brilliant, the lounge in Doha is out of this world with Krug on tap and fillet steak to order. The only problem is: I hate going through the the airport as the immigration/airport staff have about as much humour or normal human traits as the ebola virus. I will not spend money or stay over again in Doha for that reason.

          • Polly says:
            11 Aug11 August 07:20

            Nick, I agree completely with you. We love BA F and it is of course a luxurious way to travel. But actually collecting the avios, if you are not a frequently paid for by someone else biz traveller!, then it’s becoming much more hassle to get those avios for free. It can be quite exhausting, if it wasn’t for card bonus etc we just would not be able to do this hobby. It has become a great habit, hobby, whatever, but, and it’s a BIG but, being able to go ex EU on QR J, takes the absolute need for avios collection away now. Which is what we are slowly gearing towards. BUT only if we are heading Asia direction. If we need the east etc we still need BA flexibility, but availability is slim, which is frustrating. Avios use on Y within the EU is still fab, ESP for me hopping back and forth to Dublin, invaluable. Last minute flights or decisions cost a small fortune to Dublin, so we will continue to collect them when we can.
            Anyone notice huge BA ads in papers last week encouraging people to spend their avios. BA must be worrying about those millions of avios out there waiting to be spent after the Aer Lingus merger. Now, that they don’t want! Newly taken over planes flooded with avios pax!

    • Lady London says:
      10 Aug10 August 15:49

      VS stewardesses are all blonde, aren’t they?

      🙂

  • Daftboy says:
    10 Aug10 August 10:52

    It’s interesting to see the frequent complaints (here, and on FT) about portion size. I have not left a longhaul BA flight hungry in recent memory, whether in CW or F; if anything I usually feel quite full after eating on board.

    I will tend to eat something in the lounge pre-flight (usually some soup and a sandwich, or a salad), so I am not ravenous by the time I board, and I generally find the portions to be right, particularly in F where the food is often a bit richer so you generally need less of it. If it’s an overnight I don’t take the breakfast, other than the smoothie in the small glass.

    But of course we are all different!

  • Keiths says:
    10 Aug10 August 13:10

    Recently on a BA First back from DXB I asked for one of the 4 selections, only to be told that only 4 of each are loaded and that means my choice was no longer available.

    I did enquire if I inadvertently was on a Code Share with Ryanair.

    • CV3V says:
      10 Aug10 August 13:18

      I read a trip report of someone in BA F who asked for the blueberry pancakes for breakfast only to be told that they only loaded one portion and that a Gold member (who knew the score) had pre-ordered it the evening before!

    • Steve says:
      11 Aug11 August 09:39

      I Recently was given 4500 avios on board for not getting first choice of main.

      • Kelly says:
        13 Aug13 August 20:18

        Say what!! I was given 5,000 avios as a way of an apology from BA from two meals which were uneatable in First Class and I had to fight to get the 5,000 points. I ended up eating jelly beans and popcorn as the gluten free meal was so appalling!

  • Ricky says:
    10 Aug10 August 14:53

    Welcome to Canada.

  • YL says:
    10 Aug10 August 16:06

    I am not BA’s biggest fan. However, recently I had nice flight in F on A380 from LHR-HKG.

    The food for dinner was actually quite good. I chose the normal menu instead of the Tasting menu, the portion was reasonable good, and food was nicely cooked and seasoned.
    My brother had the Tasting menu, and he said it was also good.

    The 1st class cabin was full, but the service was nice and friendly. The Inflight service manager was very friendly, so I guess she has set an example to the rest of the team.
    Maybe I have lower my expectation so much, I was actually quite surprised by the overall experience.

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