Destination dining
Top-flight chefs and cult favourites are transforming Sydney Airport’s International T1 food precinct, writes Alex Greig. Here are our top picks.
Home style Mike McEnearney’s Kitchen by Mike focuses on seasonal, ethically sourced produce and home-style cooking in an airy, 90-seat dining room. Breakfast is mostly à la carte (try the poached eggs with homemade baked beans), while lunch and dinner are typical canteen-style Kitchen by Mike – your choice of fresh, colourful salads and wood-roasted meats. Oscar quality The Bistro by Wolfgang Puck spans two levels and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. The chef – whose résumé includes 21 years of catering the official Oscars afterparty, the Governors Ball – chose Sydney as the first Australian outpost for The Bistro, a more casual dining experience with a focus on hearty comfort food. Think steak frites, Wagyu beef burgers and fluffy, cinnamonspiced buttermilk pancakes. Bun fight Benny Burger is a world first created by Shannon Bennett, better known for his threehatted Melbourne restaurant Vue de Monde than for flipping burgers. The fine-dining mentality has surely infused the menu; options include a prawn burger with black brioche bun. However, even the most traditional burger connoisseur must admit defeat in the face of The Chang (a dig at American chef David Chang, who criticised Australian burgers in 2015): a Blackmore Wagyu beef patty complete with pickled beetroot and a freerange fried egg. Caffeine fix Campos Coffee is a Sydney institution – baristas at its Newtown flagship café pride themselves on calmly creating up to 200 perfectly extracted coffees within a single hour. Each cup is made with precision and ably complemented by a selection of pastries from Rosetta Stone Artisan Bakery. Fresh and healthy Boost& is an evolution of Boost Juice, the ubiquitous juice and smoothie bar. The “&” signifies the presence of healthy food and cold-pressed juices on tap.