I spent about two hours at the Pier First Class Lounge this afternoon. I didn't use the showers or the day rooms, but I ate at the restaurant and sat in the main lounge.
The food at the restaurant was very good indeed. I ordered the Conpoy Soup (with prawn toasts), Roasted Pork Cheek with Egg Fried Rice and Mango Rice Pudding. They were of restaurant quality and, for those who have been, on par with the offerings at the Qantas First Class Lounges in Sydney and Melbourne. It was all a la carte and no buffet option was available. It took me about 40 minutes to finish the meal.
The service was much better than the Wing First Class Lounge. A waiter handed me the menu as soon as I sat down and asked what I would like to drink. When I was ready, he took my order for the appetiser and main course. The drink arrived after about two minutes and the soup arrived after about 8 minutes. As soon as I had finished the soup, the empty bowl got taken away. The main course arrived soon afterwards and, again, as soon as I had finished it, the empty plate got taken away. I was then presented with the menu again to choose the dessert.
The restaurant could probably sit around 100 but there were only about 12 to 15 people there. I suspect it will be a challenge to maintain this level of quality of food and service when news starts to spread and it gets busy.
The main lounge was very quiet and relaxing and most people had an entire "section" (a coffee table surrounded by four or five sofas and comfy chairs) to themselves. The food and drink at the pantry (beer, soft drinks, juices, bread, salads, fruit tarts, a tray of green apples, cheese, various cold meat, fruit salads and desserts in little jars) were not as impressive as those at the restaurant but still of better quality than those at the Wing First Class Lounge.
If only they would stop making those almost non-stop flight delay / boarding announcements in three languages!
Last edited by TheDell; Jun 20, 2015 at 11:57 pm