Qatar Airways partners with Yannick Alléno
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Qatar Airways often appears to be on a mission to ensure that its product exceeds the competition in every respect. In the last year or so alone we’ve seen the deployment of ‘game changing’ Starlink wi-fi and the introduction of a caviar service in business class on selected flights from Doha.
(Rhys and I tried both of these on our recent trip to Doha, and both are outstanding.)
One thing that we both felt wasn’t totally world class on our trip was the restaurant in the First Class lounge in Doha.
Whilst better than anything you’re ever going to get from a European airline, it wasn’t pushing any boundaries.
The airline clearly thinks the same and has signed a partnership with French chef Yannick Alléno.
The Al Safwa First Class lounge in Doha will now become (I think) the first mainstream airport lounge in the world to be overseen by a chef with a three Michelin star restaurant. I’m excluding Alain Ducasse in Paris because you can’t enter that lounge with status or on short haul tickets.
An offshoot of Pavyllon will be opened in the lounge. There is a Pavyllon in the Four Seasons London Park Lane hotel and the original in Paris holds three stars. (Yannick has 17 Michelin stars in total across his restaurants.)
According to the airline, it will be:
“offering diners a seat at the counter facing an open kitchen – a signature of Alléno’s ‘gastronomic counter’ concept.”
For those who are flying Qatar Airways to/from Paris, you will also find dishes from Yannick appearing in the lounge at Paris CDG as well as on First and Business Class menus.
You can find out more on the Qatar Airways website here.
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As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!
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You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.
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