Did another trans-Tasman return in the last week - SYD-WLG on the evening flight in J, WLG-AKL-SYD in afternoon/evening in Y. Service on SYD-WLG was very friendly and attentive but not very polished - I didn't get the impression our FA had really served in business class before, but she was very eager to please and super friendly so no real complaint there. The AKL-SYD crew was extremely professional - I noticed they handed out the spare J class newspapers to gold status Y pax, which I haven't seen for a long time, and addressed us by name which I thought was impressive. It was especially appreciated because, although I haven't been *G for a couple of months now, for some reason I am still showing up as such in NZ's system (despite only having FF number added into booking that day) so managed to blag my way into lounges based on my boarding pass status
SYD-WLG menu on NZ744
Starter
Seared rare tuna loin on cauliflower puree and fennel salad
Main course
Grilled New Zealand beef fillet on roasted pumpkin, golden kumara and carrot with spicy paprika butter
Kawakawa roasted salmon with lemon rice, broccolini and hollandaise sauce
Char sui shaved pork with udon noodles, oriental slaw, ponzu sauce and chilli
Dessert
Gourmet ice cream dessert of black currant and blackberry, and lemon meringue ice cream
The seared tuna loin was *extremely* rare and very fishy tasting... and this is coming from someone who loves sashimi. I found it OK but it would not have been to many people's tastes. For a main I had the salmon, which had the hollandaise sauce in a little tub on the side so you could pour over however much you wanted - it basically needed all of it to stop the rice being dry, but once that was administered it was actually very good with nice, subtle flavours. The ice cream was delicious as usual, cheeses underwhelming as usual (the FA was astounded that I asked for some more of the olive bread to have with the cheeses instead of those mean little crackers - surely that's not such an unusual request?).
Wines that I sampled (all from Marlborough, coincidentally enough) were Lawsons Dry Hills sav blanc, Highfield Estate pinot noir, Forrest Estate botrytised riesling and (I think) No. 1 estate cuvee bubbly. All were delicious, though the bubbly is a bit strongly flavoured to drink much of. There was one more red (a merlot that I wasn't familiar with - I think it was called Tin Shed) and a couple more whites that I can't remember. Full marks for quite an extensive wine list for 8 J class seats - I get the impression that the Tasman flights get quite a random assortments of leftovers from the long haul flights, which makes for some interest and variety.
The Y class flight back from AKL did seem to have a slightly better standard of catering than I've seen for a while, then again I haven't been on a dinnertime Y class flight in ages so I'm scarred by those awful Tasman Express breakfasts. Choice was the lamb and rosemary pie (which is always good but for once I didn't choose) and roast chicken with potato salad (which was very good and slightly more substantial than I remember the meals being). Dessert was delicious cookies and cream Kapiti ice cream. Wine in my case was the usual Montana sav blanc - very potable, and the FA cheerfully gave 2 bottles each to me and the Gold Elite in my row (since the GE cunningly suggested it, to "save them time in having to come back to serve us again so soon" - what a great seatmate
). All in all an impressive flight from a very competent crew.