Spending time in an airport lounge for five hours because you booked the wrong flight could be considered a nightmare. I mean, just what do you do to pass the time? Luckily I landed in the BA lounge and decided that tasting trendy treats would help move things along.
The British Airways Galleries first class lounge at London Heathrow currently does table service. You scan the QR code on your table and servers bring your food and drinks to you.
British Airways First Class Lounge Terrace
I’m not usually much of a fan of sitting on the indoor terrace. It’s a bit noisier than the lounge due to the ambient airport sound around you, but on this occasion it was where I could easily find a seat.
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- The terrace space. It is what it is!
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- A table, complete with QR code.
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- High tables by the windows.
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- This is just inside the door from the terrace.
When it comes to device charging, I didn’t look hard, but also didn’t obviously see any place to do it. Those anticipating a lot of work should stay inside the main lounge.
The First Class Lounge Menu
As I mentioned before, scanning the QR code with your phone camera brings up the lounge menu. This is separated into sections for ease of use and is quite effective.
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- “Your Menu”
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- My Menu
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- The Menu?
Once you place an order, the staff come by pretty quickly, especially with the drinks. This makes sense since people are there before catching a flight.
Tasting Trendy Treats
In my five hours in the lounge, I coincidentally made five different orders. Luckily the food portions are not excessive which means constant grazing was perfectly easy.
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- My first order
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- Blackcurrant and Elderberry Super DC Immune Support drink. Pretty nice!
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- A hot dog and the Champagne. The hot dog was passable.
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- The second order
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- A “cream tea” – comprising of a scone, jam and cream, and a cocktail called The Barton. I wondered if there was any alcohol in it at all.
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- Order number three!
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- Smoked Haddock and Mozzarella fishcake.
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- Number four!
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- Traditional sandwiches with Tyrrell’s crisps.
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- Lucky last – the fifth and final order.
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- The Lawford, an alcohol free cocktail, which was fine and a sparkling water.
Bland with a capital B. Not one of the offerings was anything to write home about. The hot dog was taste free, the scone really thick and heavy and the fish cake was very middle of the road – though the salad was fine. Even the cocktails tasted like water. Really disappointing all round.
Overall Thoughts
First class? Definitely not. The highlights were the finger sandwiches, the crisps and the Super DC drink. The rest was really underwhelming. I do like to have some taste when I eat and not much was on offer here.
Quite frankly, the food in Club Europe business class on the flights I took was far better than what the lounge was offering. At least British Airways catering excels in the air, because on the ground, it certainly does not.
What do you think of the British Airways first class lounge food? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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In the First Class lounge today. The Buffet is back. Breakfast was underwhlming and nothing was hot. For lunch, only meat on offer is sticky chicken wings. There is a slew of prepared salads featuring pulses, beans, rice etc. I tried them – not to my taste. Only the sandwiches were excellent. I agree with your assessment on food, but the atmosphere here is better than Waggawama!
Yes, I went through yesterday afternoon and the buffet is there. It was all sandwiches and cake for afternoon tea, along with some hot options. There was still the table service menu and I had a nice Vietnamese vegetable curry and rice, but the menu was far smaller than before. Oh well, it was good while it lasted – and it is nicer in there than Wagamama! Haha!!
A hot dog with champagne. Here in the States we might refer to you as “white trash”. But I know better than that so…great! (I myself have been known to fill a big thermos with ice and wine so I can NOT judge)
Hahahahaha! Love it!! Someone else said to me “Hot dog with a knife and fork? Snob!!” – and I had to break it to them that I ate the hot dog with my hands like a normal person 🙂
Before COVID we had their fine dining and it wasn’t very good at all. I think they should just use one of the restaurants in the terminal like wagamamas. Think the street food is a good idea alongside decent food, as long as it tastes good, but seems they cannot get it right in the lounges. We’re heading to the Concorde lounge on the 27th December.
Hopefully the Concorde Room food will be a step up from what I had. Nothing wrong with it, it just wasn’t the best, that was all. I’ll be interested to see if it changes in the future, but perhaps that’s too much of an ask. Enjoy your trip!!