Recently I flew in MH J class for the first time and wasn't impressed (usually QR for long haul). The crew was mostly professional but still not as good as most of those on QR, with one or two of the cabin crew hardly smiling at all throughout the flight. They were helpful but not very attentive, with the leftover plastic bag (for the blanket / seat pad) left on the console beside my seat for most of the flight without being collected. I was also lucky to get their relatively new ex-SAS A350 plane (with direct aisle access for every seat) for my MH165 flight but the screen / controller were broken (on 2 different seats).
Back to topic, I find the menu quite underwhelming for a long haul flight of over 7 hours which departed at 8am from DOH to KUL. There was only instant coffee and there was no 'signature drink' for the airline when I asked the cabin crew (in contrast, on QR they have their refreshing lemon mint juice or Singapore Sling on SQ). The drinks menu on Y class on QR is more extensive than what's being offered here. Of course, I also miss the 'dine on demand' which was available on QR but not here, with the breakfast served around 1 hour after take off when I already had my breakfast in the lounge before boarding.
When it comes to presentation and quality of food, I think there's still a lot of room for improvement particularly in terms of presentation because the food wasn't that premium compared to their competitors (MH is trying to compete with QR, JL, CX, SQ for premium sector as evident on their post-flight survey). The plastic-wrapped focaccia (one of the options for bakery) looked like the same that's being served on QR's Y class from what I could remember so I didn't take that. I think the crew could at least remove the plastic cover for the yogurt with granola when it's being served - having a dented plastic cover with sticker label on it doesn't seem so premium.
For comparison, this is how the exact same food (yoghurt with granola, fruit platter, croissant) was served on a tray with covid measures in effect on QR, which means the same could be replicated on MH with their tray service. QR has now resumed their normal meal service by course.
Also, the nasi lemak portion was relatively small and presentation wasn't that good either. It would be better with a bit more green (e.g. banana leaf) such as the example on SQ below which looks more appetising:
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Overall I think MH J is poor value especially when it's priced similar to (or sometimes more expensive than) QR and SQ for some popular routes. While it's good to see they are now investing in new planes and seats, I think it needs a lot more investment in soft product, crew training and aircraft maintenance to remain competitive especially now that the post-pandemic travel boom is waning and fares are expected to fall.