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Qatar Airways & The Booze-Fuelled Brunch

Andy · November 12, 2020 · Leave a Comment

QR17's tragically empty cabin...

Having promised myself to give alcohol a skip – following on from my comparatively mild earlier journey – until at last several hours into the flight, it was with great disappointment that I broke my own promise within a minute of being seated; reasoning that it was a very acceptable drinking time – at least on some far-away continent. And thus, began what will likely be my final flight of 2020, much to my livers presumed great delight.

Airline: Qatar Airways QR17
Route: Doha – Dublin (Approx. 7 hours)
Class: Business

With such an early morning departure and an entirely empty cabin (there were about 7 passengers in business), it was my sense of duty that saw me tucking into the first offered glass of champagne – which presented itself much to my surprise if I’m honest, considering the time and the empty cabin – that came my way. The crew, similarly, felt an apparent sense of obligation to keep this lone ranger topped up throughout the thankfully accelerated boarding (otherwise I might have lacked the ability to stand immediately after take-off), before we got on our way.

QR Pre-departure beverages
One for the road. Or in this particular case, several.

For reasons that entirely escape me, but which I presume had something to do with my attempt to maintain a degree of sobriety between multiple glasses of champagne, and as I waved goodbye to my home of 7 years in Malaysia and hurtled towards a new life in Ireland; I apparently saw fit to command a chocolate waffle.

I’m not sure how one would craft a fresh waffle using only an aircraft oven, and while it was a little tough and somewhat chewy, again, it was a surprisingly strong effort with what I would have imagined would be a troublesome order to prepare meaningfully given our environment.

After that I was ready for an immediate power-nap/morning coma of approx. 2 hours, before waking up in time to receive an iced coffee. I’ve never come across an ice coffee being served on a plane, but it tasted as good as if I’d made it myself (I know that doesn’t re-assure anyone of its quality, but it was good, promise) and had I not earlier insisted on an immediate resumption of my dining feast upon completion of this beverage, I might have had another.

Qatar Airways ice coffee
Qatar’s very respectable iced coffee.

But time is money – or miles, in this case – and a glass of wine was brought forth without a moments delay, followed shortly by the next course. Once again, I went for something reasonably light, opting to skip the ceremony and pomp of the full multi-course extravaganza.

Much like earlier, it was a steak sandwich of sorts and despite its rubbery, somewhat false appearance, it tasted almost outstanding when compared to a multitude of other airline business class culinary efforts. At the same time, the wine continued to be topped up at all times and with very intense dedication (again, bearing in mind we were in the midst of the pandemic and global lockdowns in mid-June), such that walking confidently off the plane rapidly became more of a challenge than a given.

Qatar's Booze-Fuelled Brunch
My steak sandwich and appropriate beverage – and as always, water so as to give the outward appearance of sophistication.

Overall, another solid and memorable (surprisingly) effort from Qatar Airways. Once again, the crew were personable, chatty and incredibly dedicated to providing outstanding food, service and all the drink one could tolerate (even for someone with an aardvark-like ability to aspirate beverages like myself). This journey served its purpose, in what was a very unusual journey for me returning home permanently to Ireland, almost in surreal fashion; topping off one of the most luxurious, enjoyable flights I’ve ever had to Ireland – all in the midst of the pandemic.

Filed Under: Breakfast, Featured, Inflight, Lunch, Meals, Outstanding Tagged With: doha, ireland, qatar, qr17

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Who Complains So Much?

Andy

Hi, I'm Andy - Irish world traveller, with a penchant for dissecting and complaining about global inflight cuisine.

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Gramtastic Memories

Friends, it’s been a while - and sadly Air Franc Friends, it’s been a while - and sadly Air France’s dismal short-haul economy offering doesn’t offer us much to discuss…
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AF1017 / Dublin - Paris ✈ / Economy 💺
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On this early morning voyage to Paris, we are offered - and when I say offered, I actually mean thrown - an extremely dry, packaged croissant, which comes complete with zero jams, marmalades or even butter. This, for me at least, really helped ensure that the full dryness of the croissant and the likelihood of it having been stored on the plane overnight in Dublin, was able to more quickly and thoroughly reveal itself.
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Beverage service was offered at the same time and came served in cardboard drinkware. As can be seen, I opted for a water and a - thankfully, strong - cup of coffee. Let’s be honest, there’s very little one can say about either beverage other than that they quenched the extreme thirst I now experienced from devouring the croissant.
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Overall, sad to say, a typical European shorrt-haul affair in which the complimentary snack and drink serves more to break up the flight clearly into two halves than to provide appropriate nourishment; and ensure that you can never read more than 4 pages of a book at a time without being interrupted for the service, and then again to collect the trash. Having said that, I am somewhat impressed that Air France has even continued with a complimentary offering at all given the frugality with which all other European national carriers approach their intra-Europe offerings.
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Ah, it’s good to be back…
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#eatsbythewindowseat #windowseatpreferred #airfrance #shorthaul #inflightmeal #breakfast #meal #af1017 #economyclass #airplanefood #economyfood #inflight #flight
The second of my two flights home to Dublin - very The second of my two flights home to Dublin - very much a case of having some food to go with my drink...
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QR17 / KL - Dublin ✈️ / Business ✨
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Starting us off this morning - because as all the best daytime drinkers say; 'it's 5pm somewhere' - even though it was 7am, a lovely big glass of champagne; water as a side extra, so as to appear somewhat civilised. I'm not sure why, but the crew were incredibly dedicated on this flight in furnishing everyone with copious amounts of alcohol, whether requested or not. So to be totally truthful, the 'one' pre-departure glass, was actually more like 3.
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Somewhere along the way, although unfortunately why I did this slips my memory, I apparently decided to command a chocolate waffle. Solid effort, but tough to really do a waffle that doesn't end up chewy and the sauce a little stewed.
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There was just time for two hours power-nap, before my pre-ordered ice coffee showed up (it can't all be just drinking 😆). I've never experienced an ice coffee on a plane before, but I'd have probably had a second if the crew didn't bring me out a glass of wine the moment I was done with it. 
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That brings us onto our next course, a light snack - again, served with enough alcohol to successfully euthanise a small horse. And of course, a glass of water for the outward appearance of sophistication.
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Once again, similar to my last post, it was a steak sandwich of sorts and despite looking pretty rubbery and fabricated, it tasted almost outstanding by in-flight culinary standards. I really couldn't complain. 
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All washed down with a nice glass of wine - one for the road, before the pandemic puts a total stop to my flying. And then another for the road. And then one more...
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Conclusion; Once again, another solid culinary performance from Qatar - crews that would nearly strong-arm you into more food, and on a mission to ensure alcohol levels kept continuously topped up; what more could you really ask for? All that in mid-June in the heart of the biggest pandemic most of us will never know.
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#eatsbythewindowseat #windowseatpreferred #inflightmeal #meal #lunch #qr17 #businessclass #qsuites #qatarairways #airplanefood #airplanemeal #flight
Probably one of my only #flights left of 2020, eve Probably one of my only #flights left of 2020, even though sadly it was mid-June (damn you covid-19, if you read Instagram 🦠)...
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QR853 / KL - Doha ✈️ / Business ✨
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Actually, these pictures are in reverse order to be honest, but so as not to appear any less professional than this account already is, let's start with the first picture. I asked for a cup of coffee and orange juice, but to give credit to our @qatarairways crew on this evening's flight, they just couldn't believe that someone wouldn't at least want some fruits, yoghurt and breads. 
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This as a result was probably one of the best breakfasts I ever had on a flight - no stewed breakfast meat, stodgy bread rolls; just fresh juice, coffee and enough fruits to tie me over to Doha. 
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Speaking of the crew, both flight crews had the same issue where they appeared unable to imagine that you wouldn't want more food than you asked for. I ended up actually rolling off the plane in Dublin like a barrel, much less a healthy passenger 😆
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The dinner service saw me opt for a snack of a roast beef sandwich of some sort (the flight left well after 2am and the only thing needed at that stage was copious glasses of 🥂), but of course the professional in me insisted I get something to eat just to review for my loyal fans. 
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Admittedly the sandwich looks pretty nasty, and for sure it was hardly artisan bakery quality but after more glasses of champagne than I'll admit to and at about 3.30am, it went down a treat!
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Conclusion; Qatar got this one right, leaving it up to passengers to decide when and what to have - with the only exception being that crews couldn't believe you wouldn't want more! Based on this flight, I'd have pretty much nothing but praise for their culinary efforts, especially considering in June 2020 other competitors were and are serving cold snack boxes of old sandwiches on longhaul business.
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#eatsbythewindowseat #windowseatpreferred #inflightmeal #meal #breakfast #qr853 #businessclass #qsuites #qatarbusiness #airplanefood #airplanemeal #flight #inflight
Oh dear, another breakfast... . BA33 / London - KL Oh dear, another breakfast...
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BA33 / London - KL ✈️ / Business ✨
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As I have said so very frequently, breakfast - in any cabin class - is always the worst meal of any flight. Soggy, stewed, mulshy; there's nothing about a breakfast I ever look forward to.
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In that regard, this one didn't disappoint either. Kicking things off with a bowl of granola and yoghurt, and some fruit slices that looked like they'd been thrown onto the plate with reckless abandon, was the starter that to be honest was without doubt the best thing about this meal - other than the crew, who replenished drinks and knew better than to ask why I returned the main course nearly entirely uneaten.
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Which brings us onto the next picture of the said culinary catastrophe; allegedly a 'full English' comprised of turkey bacon, chicken sausage that looked like it had been cooked into the middle of next week, a soggy grilled tomato - all resting of course, as every bad airline breakfast should be, on a bed of spongy, dry scrambled egg. I did however muster the courage to take on the hash brown.
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Conclusion; Breakfast 'meals' should be outlawed on planes. No airline, no cabin makes any difference; waking people up to serve this spongy, dry, mystery meat-based tray of horrors should just be made illegal. So this is nothing particularly on British Airways, but please, please, airlines of the world, make these atrocities stop. .
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#eatsbythewindowseat #windowseatpreferred #inflightfood #inflightmeal #airplanefood #airplanemeal #britishairways #ba33 #clubworld #breakfast #speedbird #flying #flight

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