Prospero

I’ve re-launched this thread as a place for us to share some details about the in-flight food and beverages served in BA First. Hopefully as the posts populate over time, it will give us an idea of what food we can expect to receive on our upcoming flights. This supercedes the previous Long haul in-flight catering | First thread

As this will build into a popular resource, it would be a great help to others if you can remove any photos from the posts you quote.

jjLDNY

LHR > JFK 179 on Dec 31st





As with previous reviews, the cold wellington is odd in that whilst the meat is tender, it's still cold beef which will always be a little tough. It wasn't bad but I wouldn't order this again.


I hadn't tried the short-rib before though was pleasantly surprised. Tender, fell off the bone and the bourguignon sauce was excellent and went well with the sides. The vegetables that come with it however are a little uninspiring.


The Winter Berry Bread and Butter pudding was enjoyable. Not a showstopper but a safe dessert.


I was reluctant to order The Katsu burger as it's obviously pretty heavy. Tasted fine, but Id' have preferred something lighter though between this and the quiche I figured I'd give it a chance. Will skip next time.

Overall it was an expected mediocre meal service, though nothing too negative to say about any of the dishes. Service exceptional as always, however they ran out of LPGS after 2.5hrs of an 8hr flight(!!!!), saving 2 bottles for the return - which also isn't going to go very far.

I think the biggest area they need to look at right now are the starters and light-meal. I've never been excited for any of the starters outside of the salmon avo caviar that was a rarity to see, and the light-meals are always high carb sandwich type dishes. Oh, and don't run out of LPGS so quickly! I'd have had a few glasses in the lounge if I'd have known.

ryanbriar

Same thing happened to me on 189 with the LPGS— only had two bottles loaded and needed to save some for the return. I’m not sure if only two bottles were allocated for the outbound because we departed 3 / 8 or if they’re taking cues from AA with respect to beverage catering.

I’d agree that while the katsu burger was tasty, a lighter hot option would be nice.

speedbird001

BA has vastly improved their F meal service. I wish they would include more and better snacks on long haul flights.

Grande Annee

Only 2 bottles of LPGS loaded per sector is very poor

Anyone know how many are supposed to be loaded per return flight?

ryanbriar

Agree. On par with how AA caters their flights. Perhaps they’re rationing to keep the Chelsea lounge stocked

I may ask in a couple of weeks on my next flight. It is 14F so ideally they load more than a handful of bottles.

mclachlan4321

I got hold of the menus for my forthcoming flight from You First on 281 & 282.

BarelyBAGold

I think for the Light Bites between meals to comprise only popcorn, crisps or Lindt truffles is rather over egging the 'Light Bites' descriptor. I mentioned this to the CC on my recent F flight back from Kuwait and they certainly saw where I was coming from. I think light bites should include perhaps a sandwich, quiche etc.

ttama

I'm not normally a First passenger but have been following this thread due to an upcoming F flight. So I'm not as sophisticated as many of you on this thread.

What strikes me is that the meat mains seem to be pretty much "chicken or beef" (other than at christmas time), and pretty plain food at that. And the meat starters tend to be beef too. Maybe I've missed something, but is there a lack of imagination here? Do they ever serve meat that isn't chicken or beef in First Class? I'm sure it's all very nice, but it seems like they're playing safe - or are they playing to an appreciative audience? Is it because first class passengers tend to travel a lot and are so sick of eating restaurant food that they're really happy with comfort food on a flight?

This is just a comment/question, not a criticism. As an extreme allergy sufferer I will need to order the meat-based dishes as they tend to have fewer fruit/vegetable ingredients so are therefore more likely to be safe for me. I can certainly safely eat the meat dishes on this menu, and being safe is my greatest concern. I'm just curious to understand why the food is so unadventurous.

jjLDNY

You are right, it is typically chicken, beef and a fish so yes it is 'safe', though given you're talking specifically on meat are you suggesting you'd like to see lamb and pork appear more often (or something more exotic?!) Lamb does sometimes make an appearance, though I can't remember when I last saw pork? Whilst I'd love to see more variety and these 2 proteins appear more often I think if you were to run a survey chicken and beef would likely be the top 2 by quite a margin so I 'get it'. They are most definitely comfort foods, the chicken often comes as a curry, and the beef dish typically comes with the traditional 'trimmings' whereas the seafood item is sometimes a little more adventurous.

What should they do? I think they just have more variety, perhaps a rotating 5th main which is a little more exotic. This I think is an achievable middleground.

Oh, but most of all fix the light meal and the 'snacks'. The 'snacks' are criminal and inferior to what is available after a walk back into the club kitchen.

JAXBA

In the past there've been other additional meats such as venison, rabbit, or duck, but it does seem that BA is currently playing it safe and minimal; with budget, portions, and imagination...

andymcdonnell

Just got the menu for my JNB at end of Jan. A bit disappointed to be honest

corporate-wage-slave

LHR - USA First Menu - January 2023
Same as the First menu above for South Africa with the following changes

Light bites - just the popcorn, crisps and chocolate. Instead of breakfast there is the Light Meal
===
Light meal served before landing:

Warm bakery selection served with butter and olive oil

STARTERS
Chicken Caesar salad

Quinoa and goat's cheese salad
lemon labneh

Seasonal mixed leaf salad
served with our house dressing

MAIN COURSE

Chicken katsu burger
Asian slaw, katsu sauce

Wild mushroom and kale quiche
mushroom and Parmesan velouté, goat's cheese crumble

DESSERT
Lemon and raspberry meringue

mikeyfly

I had the halibut last week and it was superb

mikeyfly

My F flight 282 on Monday LAX-LHR


















After such a great outbound experience, the return was pretty poor. Issues with cleanliness around seat (inc previous guest’s worn socks sat beside the arm console, barely hidden!)

Main took 2.5 hrs from departure after menus weren’t handed out for 40 minutes - when crew came to take orders they realised. Then the ovens were playing up and when the mains arrived they were cold. Sent back uneaten.

Crew were fairly chaotic, they’d flown out on a eight seat F and seemed overwhelmed with the full 14 seats