What is the food like in the Plaza Premium airport lounge in Heathrow Terminal 5?

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

Back in March I ran a full review of the new Plaza Premium lounge in Heathrow Terminal 5 – click here.

I like it. It is small BUT it is very exclusive. This is because you cannot get access with a Priority Pass or Lounge Club membership card.

The only realistic ways to get in – unless you have certain obscure Asian credit cards – are:

By showing an American Express Platinum charge card (Plaza Premium has a global deal with Amex, a guest is allowed for UK issued cards, foreign Platinum cards may vary)

By showing a DragonPass lounge club card, but these are rarely seen in the UK – Barclays is the main issuer

By paying cash (on the Plaza Premium website here)

In March I was there during breakfast. On Wednesday I popped in at 5pm – using my Amex Platinum card – to check out the evening food selection. It was pretty decent. Importantly there were fewer than 20 people in the lounge.

There were BBQ chicken wings and potatoes:

There was tortellini in mushroom sauce:

In the other pans:

….. were chicken tikka masala, beef stroganoff and steamed rice. There was also a large selection of wraps and a salad bar.

If you wanted dessert, there were special cupcakes to celebrate Plaza Premium’s recent Skytrax awards. Photo above. If you want to see photos of the lounge itself, read my March review.

Getting airport lounge access for free from a credit card

How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, here are the three options to get FREE airport lounge access via a credit or charge card:

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with two free Priority Pass cards, one for you and one for a supplementary cardholder. Each card admits two so a family of four gets in free. You get access to all 1,300 lounges in the Priority Pass network – search it here.

You also get access to Plaza Premium, Delta and Eurostar lounges. Our American Express Platinum review is here. You can apply here.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for the first year. It comes with a Priority Pass card loaded with two free visits to any Priority Pass lounge – see the list here.

Additional lounge visits are charged at £20. You get two more free visits for every year you keep the card.

There is no annual fee for Amex Gold in Year 1 and you get a 20,000 points sign-up bonus. Full details are in our American Express Preferred Rewards Gold review here.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard

A huge bonus, but only available to HSBC Premier clients Read our full review

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free LoungeKey card, allowing you access to the LoungeKey network. Guests are charged at £20 although it may be cheaper to pay £60 for a supplementary credit card for your partner.

The card has a fee of £195 and there are strict financial requirements to become a HSBC Premier customer. Full details are in my HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard review.

PS. You can find all of HfP’s UK airport lounge reviews – and we’ve been to most of them – indexed here.