May be it's just me, but I was in the GF on Friday for the first time since January, and to my mind both the food and beverage offerings are considerably worse than previously. Indeed the worst I have ever seen since T5opened.
The hot buffet was frankly an unappetising mess. Sausage and mash with gravy was the nearest thing to edible. I use that term loosely as the sausages were burnt on one side and uncooked on the other. The mash was smooth and creamy in a tasteless packet mix way. The "gravy" was so thin it was more like stock, or actually watered-down stock-cube. I also tried a spicy beef rib. Again, poorly cooked with an aggressive over-spiced sauce that lacked any subtlety. Hardly F quality food, more motorway services.
Moving to the menu items. I ordered a cheese platter. What turned up was a large white canteen-stlye plate with four pieces of cheese thrown on, a large (and I mean half a jar large) mass of mass-produced chutney/jam/marmalade/gloop. I am still not sure what it was - it didn't taste of much but sugar. There was also a square of something, a fig cut in half and three packets of McVittie's Digestives for Cheese (hardly the artisanal biscuits offered previously). This is absolutely no comparison to the cheese served in either the GF or CCR before, either in terms of quality or presentation. This was a truly appalling offering.
Turning to the beverage side of things. Vintage Taittinger was fortunately still on offer as was some non-descript minor house Champagne. I sincerely hope that that is not supposed to be the new F lounge offering. What happened to English sparkling wine as an alternative?
The white wine selection was poor. Over emphasis on New World and only one French wine - a young Bordeaux that could easily be picked up at a convenience store for under a fiver. If that were not bad enough, the red wine selection was truly atrocious- the only "choice" was between five different young New World merlots. Whilst I have nothing against New World wines or merlot as a grape (indeed this was almost like a wine taster's dream if you have wanted to see how merlot-based wines vary between Chile, New Zealand and Australia), I really do not see this as a satisfactory offering for an F lounge. When I think of all the classic wines that have graced the F lounge, I could almost cry. When previously you were drinking wines that you won't get any change out of £60 if you bought a bottle from a wine merchant, you could purchase every bottle of red on offer this Friday from a street corner office licence and get plenty of change out of £50.
To accompany the cheese "plate", I thought I would have a port. That was still there (at least for now). Shame that the glassware was reduced to solely hi-balls and tumblers. Gone are the liqueur glasses, brandy glasses and port glasses. I poured myself a tumbler and walked back to the wine bar to get a white wine glass - still far from ideal, but at least it has got a stem.
Come on BA, is this massive drop in quality really what we should be expecting from the F lounge? Whilst it may not have rivalled the Savoy Grill, Sid's Grill and Cafe could now knock its socks off.
