• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Eats By The Window Seat

Inflight Dining Rants & Ramblings

  • Home
  • Mealtimes
    • Breakfast
    • Lunch
    • Dinner
  • Enjoyment Level
    • Dismal
    • Average
    • Outstanding
  • About
  • Show Search
Hide Search

Qatar Airways & The Pandemic-Era Feast

Andy · July 9, 2020 · 1 Comment

Qatar Airways - Sunrise coming up on this most unusual journey!

Taking a flight in the midst of The Great Global Lockdown of 2020 was hardly very much in fashion, and so with only one global airline still mostly flying, my expectations going into this flight – without, honestly, a hint of sarcasm – was simply to be transported in relative comfort and to survive without catching CovId-19. What I got instead was probably one of the most lavish spreads of the year, even if it was all served by someone dressed in a hazmat suit who looked more suited to trying to catch E.T. than to serving business class airline meals.

Airline: Qatar Airways QR853
Route:
Kuala Lumpur – Doha (Approx. 7 hours)
Class: Business

Despite a late departure time that saw us up in the air perusing menus well after 2 in the morning, our crew – in spite of the pandemic-era hazmat suit garb – continued with a long-held favourite tradition of mine, the regular pouring of alcohol.

Along with that came the offers of an evening meal; and even though my main evening meal of choice was a liquid dinner comprising more champagne, the haute professional in me knew that I’d have to get something, so that I could write this very blog at a later stage (I also worried the wine supply might slow down if I was not seen to be consuming some food), and so I ended up with a roast beef sandwich of some sort.

Qatar Airways' respectable roast beef sandwich

Whilst I fully appreciate it looks questionable at best – and yes, it was not exactly the work of the artisan – it was a surprisingly strong start for a time of flying when I was reading most airlines were either ‘offering’ nothing at all, or some disgusting cold box (and possibly, no alcohol – can you imagine?). Topped up with a few additional glasses of wine, it went down a treat and saw me retreat to my slumber without further delay.

The next morning – if we can call 4 hours later, ‘the morning’ – I awoke with vague recollection of the journey so far. For breakfast, I decided that nursing a coffee might be for the best, and requested that and a glass of orange juice.

The crew complied, but not until they upheld their standard from the previous night of trying to insist I sample some additional dishes, or try a multi-course meal. You would honestly have never known there was a global airline industry-threatening pandemic from the over-the-top generosity and attentiveness of the crew throughout the flight.

Needless to say, they simply couldn’t bring themselves to bring only a coffee and orange juice and instead, out came an assortment of items ranging from muesli, fresh fruits to a selection of baked goods. To be honest, it was an important lesson for me – for the best airline breakfast, ask for coffee, juice and whatever fresh fruits everyone else is getting on the side.

Qatar's impressive breakfast offering!

It was home and away the best airline breakfast I’ve ever had; not a piece of questionable breakfast meat or a stodgy bread roll to be had.

Final thoughts? This was a winner – if this was some kind of reduced service due to covid-19, they should keep it like that. The crew were personable, in flying form (ha!) and the food, while I didn’t work my way through very much of it, was really very good by any standard – and the wine flowed down to my glass from the galley as rapidly as Niagara Falls. Considering the time, and that other airlines were serving stodgy cold sandwiches, I couldn’t but praise this culinary effort!

Filed Under: Breakfast, Featured, Inflight, Meals, Outstanding Tagged With: doha, kuala lumpur, malaysia, qatar, qatar airways, qr853, qsuites

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Who Complains So Much?

Andy

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

Search All Meals

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…
.
AF1017 / Dublin - Paris ✈ / Economy 💺
.
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.
.
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.
.
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.
.
Ah, it’s good to be back…
.
#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...
.
QR17 / KL - Dublin ✈️ / Business ✨
.
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.
.
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.
.
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. 
.
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.
.
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. 
.
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...
.
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.
.
#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 🦠)...
.
QR853 / KL - Doha ✈️ / Business ✨
.
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. 
.
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. 
.
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 😆
.
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. 
.
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!
.
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.
.
.
.
#eatsbythewindowseat #windowseatpreferred #inflightmeal #meal #breakfast #qr853 #businessclass #qsuites #qatarbusiness #airplanefood #airplanemeal #flight #inflight
Oh dear, another breakfast... . BA33 / London - KL Oh dear, another breakfast...
.
BA33 / London - KL ✈️ / Business ✨
.
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.
.
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.
.
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.
.
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. .
.
.
#eatsbythewindowseat #windowseatpreferred #inflightfood #inflightmeal #airplanefood #airplanemeal #britishairways #ba33 #clubworld #breakfast #speedbird #flying #flight

Recent Inflight Rants

Qatar's Booze-Fuelled Brunch

Qatar Airways & The Booze-Fuelled Brunch

November 12, 2020

Qatar's impressive breakfast offering!

Qatar Airways & The Pandemic-Era Feast

July 9, 2020

British Airways & The Breakfast of Horrors

British Airways & The Breakfast of Horrors

February 4, 2020

BA33 Club World Starter

British Airways’ Club World & The Smashing Time

January 23, 2020

British Airways & The Unforgettable Breakfast

January 18, 2020

Footer

Recent Culinary Experiences

  • Qatar Airways & The Booze-Fuelled Brunch
  • Qatar Airways & The Pandemic-Era Feast
  • British Airways & The Breakfast of Horrors

Why Inflight Dining?

Nothing in the history of commercial aviation beyond aircraft themselves seems to stir so much feeling, emotion and interest as one of the most basic questions of life; 'what's the food like?'. And you know what, it's usually pretty regrettable.

Find a memorable meal

Copyright © 2022 · Window Seat Preferred (Travel Blog) · Log in