It’s Business Time

QANTAS Sydney Business Domestic Lounge

QANTAS Business Lounges (Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra & Melbourne)

An evening stuck at the airport because QANTAS has delayed, delayed and now cancelled my flight home probably isn’t the best (or least biased) time to write this review. Regardless, I’ll cast my mind back to the 22nd of September – a happier time, a punctual time - when there was nothing but joy at the airport. Well, maybe not joy, but it was definitely a little happier.

Island Dinning Bar

QANTAS Domestic Business Lounge in Sydney is an oasis in the middle of a very hostile desert. Not that I get to fly Business Class, that’s never going to happen, I just fly enough that they take pity on me and let me into the lounge. The Sydney Business Lounge is nice enough, but it lacks the intimacy of the Melbourne lounge.

What I hadn’t noticed until recently is that they have a dining service section, referred to by QANTAS as a “signature island dining bar”. At the ‘island dining’ bar you can enjoy a single dish each day. The dish, which “brings restaurant style cusines to your Lounge experience” is designed by Neil Perry, and comes with matching wine. You sit at the island and a waiter comes over and asks if you’d like the plate of the day, and then you wait for it to arrive. Just like in the movies.

Caramelised onion, preserved vegetable & jamon tart

The “Plate of the Day” on this occasion was a Caramelised onion, preserved vegetable & jamon tart. I was expecting like a large deep-dish kind of tart, so I was a little surprised when the puff-pastry based tart was brought out. Apart from being terribly difficult to cut with the supplied plastic knife, the tart was quite good. It was a refreshing change to the standard buffet affair, and it added a bit of sophistication to the lounge experience. I’ll definitely be trying the Plate of the Day again.

Domestic Business LoungeFinal Call:
Great to see innovation in the lounge food space. Not worth the soul destroying amount of time you need to spend at the airport though.

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