Visitors to the Qantas international first class class lounges at Sydney and Melbourne this month will find several new items on the menu which aren’t actually ‘new’ at all.
Indeed, they’ll present the traveller’s tastebuds with a blast from the past as Qantas marks 25 years of its dining collaboration with chef Neil Perry.
That relationship began when The Good Weekend magazine featured Perry, Tetsuya Wakuda and other renowned Aussie chefs sounding off on how airlines could improve their inflight meals.
Qantas tasked Perry to make good on his word, starting with a redesign of the airline’s Boeing 747 first class menu in 1997.
That one-off consulting role gradually expanded to see Perry become Qantas’ Creative Director for Food, Service and Beverage, overseeing premium menus in the air and at domestic and international lounges.
It’s a monumental task which sees Perry and his team develop more than 700 recipes per year, including those featured on inaugural and seasonal flights to the likes of Rome and Bengaluru.
To celebrate this quarter century milestone, the Red Roo and the hatted Rockpool chef dove into the recipe archives to bring back some of Perry’s most popular dishes.
Here are the special dishes added to the all-day dining menu of the Qantas First Lounges at Sydney and Melbourne across November.
Crab, pork and green mango salad
One of the longest running dishes in Perry’s repertoire, the crab and sweet pork salad has been a recurring fixture on Qantas inflight menus since the early 2000s.
He created this dish following a trip to Thailand in 1989 where he was inspired by the pairing of sweet and salty crab with rich sweet and spicy pork, complemented by a hot, sour and slightly sweet nam jim dressing.
And it’s not a large dish, so feel free to add one to your standing order
Duck ragú with pappardelle
This dish was part of the first Neil Perry-designed Qantas inflight menus from 1997 and was inspired by a trip to the north of Italy at the beginning of his career.
The ragú remains a long-standing classic dish that has been featured on Qantas menus all around the world, including several turns in the Qantas First Lounges winter menu.
Torta di Verona
Perry was first introduced to the tiramisu-like Torta di Verona at Sydney dining destination Taylor’s and it’s been a favourite ever since.
Dressed with blueberries and toasted almonds, it was among the featured desserts on the December 2019 launch menu of Qantas’ Singapore first class lounge.
Negroni Sbagliato
Coming all the way from the 2017 opening of the Qantas London Heathrow Lounge, this ‘mistaken’ Negroni of Campari and sweet vermouth is lightened with sparking Prosecco in place of gin, although it still retains a pronounced quinine edge that some will find overly bitter, while others will be ordering seconds (and thirds).
If you’re headed for one of the domestic or international Qantas Business Lounges, here are some of the dishes you can expect to see (availability will vary by lounge):
Roast pumpkin with red curry sauce, coconut and green chilli sambal (vegan): This curry is an homage to Perry’s trips to South East Asia, which have inspired many dishes featuring the aromatic fragrance and complexity of Thai ingredients. Dishes in this style are regularly featured across Qantas menus because of their satisfying and delicious flavours.
Fettucine with Ragu Bolognese: Inspired by Perry’s trips in Northern Italy, this dish is simplicity in its essence and first appeared on the Qantas International Business Class menu in the early 2000s.
Meatball sandwich on ciabatta with tomato ragout: From his visits to Chicago and New York during his early years with Qantas, Perry absolutely loved these simple street…