Review: Qantas economy class fare indiscernible but fancy nonetheless

I don't know about you, but one of my longhaul flight distractions is to not look at the flimsy menu handed to me before taking off and instead choose a meal based on the staff's cursory "chicken or beef" description. Then, using my very own senses, I attempt to detect what the meal, perched on my perilously angled tray table, aims to be.

Given the olfactory assault and forensic evidence presentation, it's a lot harder than it sounds. It also explains - because why else do they bother with the added waste and cost, really? - the reason for the menus.

Qantas' new economy class meals, launched on Wednesday and served to the media in a neat, simulated flight setting, albeit on proper tables, are no different.

I'd have had a hard time distinguishing that the thick, salty sauce and fish was sustainable barramundi with yellow curry; I'd have taken a risk over the gelatinous beef with too much of a sauce that sent my brain straight into 1990s McRib territory, or "smoky barbecue beef".

And I'd certainly have failed dismally in guessing that the chunks of braised beef - like the inside of a really good pie - hailed from the internationally-acclaimed Blackmore wagyu beef farm.

Because, while the meals aren't all fabulous, this being plane food with its minefield of limitations, there are some well thought-out surprises in the new fare.

The new meals roll out from November 25 on the Sydney - Dubai - London route and spread from there, taking over international airspace with three meal options, a 50 per cent larger main course and far less waste. Qantas aims to serve all of its main meals within half an hour of take-off, promising speedy service for all, even those down in row 82. The new menus feature recognisably Australian foods including Blackmore wagyu and barramundi, Ruby and Roy's chocolate mousse and Weis icrecream bars.

Gone are trays and their fiddly components, unpeelable foil lids and Lilliputian proportions. Instead, a main meal, bigger than before and on a simple rectangular plastic plate, is placed before me, next to my South Australian Chardonnay (I can't help wondering when complementary onboard alcohol will go the way of smoking) and my welcome Bickfords cordial.

Next comes the bread roll. They're a funny breed, those orbs of solid, chilled bread, sometimes wrapped in a protective atmosphere, often nuclear-resistant and always sad. Well, Alan Joyce and his team have two words for your bread roll: butter infused.

Qantas' is better than most flying rolls I've tried. It's injected with garlic butter and so has to be heated, guaranteeing, at the very least, a warm roll and no messing with a buttery foil wrapper.

The former business and Premium Economy class-only option of Select Q-Eat is being extended to economy so that the passengers can log on and choose an "online exclusive" meal, in this case, Blackmore wagyu beef with polenta and green beans up to 12 hours before take-off. It's a good dish on the ground and, I'd wager, even better at altitude and with travellers' fatigue. It's the best of the day's choices by far. To have a meal where the provinance of the meat is not only top class but internationally acclaimed is a coup for the airline, though doesn't do much for its sizeable carbon footprint.

I didn't sample a vegetarian option, but menus have a new healthy option beside the usual "beef or fish" offerings. Honey roasted chicken and farro salad has its heart in the right place - with seasonal vegetables and topped with pumpkin seeds, it looks the part, bright and fresh and with moist chicken, but it can't shake the straight-out-of-a-bottle flavour of manufactured salad dressing.

Chocolate mousse is delivered a few bites into the meal. Water and wine are served in very unfancy plastic cups and cheese and crackers are handed out after the main meal. Then come bowls of Lindor chocolates, apples, Maltesers and Carman's granola bites, which are all available throughout the flight. Pulled beef sliders on brioche, for later in the journey, are presented well and tap into Australia's love of foodie fashions.

It's a clever set-up, no doubt financially so, but also efficient, less wasteful and a showcase of our tastes. For my money, there's not enough fresh fruit and vegetables or low-sugar options, but, serving five million jetlagged economy class customers hot meals at 30,000 feet is, after all, never going to be as easy as throwing a steak on the barbie.

Flying for foodies

Each year, Qantas international flights departing from Australia are loaded with:

• 300,000 pieces beef cheeks
• 300,000 fillets barramunci
• 10,000 kilos beef ragu
• 10,000 kilos mashed potato
• 30,000 kilos roasted sweet potato
• 2 million Weis bars
• 500,000 apples
• 650,000 packets Maltesers

PROS

• Four meal choices
• Online option to upgrade to Blackmore wagyu beef with polenta
• Less packaging waste
• Fewer fiddly containers
• Larger main meal, more generous than business class serves on some carriers

CONS

• No fresh vegetables as part of standard meal
• Too many sugary snacks