We arrived at the Kingsford Smith airport of Sydney from South America, losing a day thanks to the international date line. We looked for an quick but interesting meal in the busiest airport on the Oceania continent, finally choosing a warm Australian beef and tomato chutney pie in the Pie Face boutique (International T1 and Domestic T2) to eat with a refreshing Coopers Ale on tap at, appropriately, The Tap House (T2). The marriage of flavors was a low-cost pleasure.

Tap House offers a decent selection of Australian wines as well, while for a seafood meal we could have gone to Seafood Bar-Caviar House & Prunier at T1 where good wine is offered by the glass. But the pleasantest surprise was waiting in the wine section of the duty-free shop in the international terminal, T1.

Bottles organized by variety and price category showed evident attention to detail. Highly qualified personnel helped with purchases. The shop even regularly organizes wine tastings, occasionally led by a Master of Wine. On the day we visited, the best reds produced by Penfold were open for tasting. It was the first time in our lives we'd attended an airport wine tasting.

To conclude, we visited Danks Street Depot, opened in December, 2009. It is one of the answers to the strong demand for local products that airports all around the world are facing. The shop offered seasonal foods with an eye to artisanal, sustainable production. Zero-kilometer philosophy has even reached here. 

Lorenzo Ruggeri

May 2012