Airport Shopping Mall. Brunch in the SilverKris Club
Australia Travelog #46
SYD Airport - Sun, 31 Dec 2023, 1pm
We arrived at Sydney Airport just fine this morning. Days before starting the trip we rebooked our return from a noon flight to 2pm, which gave us an extra 2 hours. (Yes, United Airlines runs two flights a day each way between SF and Sydney!) Strictly speaking we didn't need those extra 2 hours, but it sure has made today more relaxing. We were unrushed packing our bags this morning, unrushed driving back to Sydney, unrushed returning the car, and unrushed navigating through the airport- which is nice, because SYD airport is basically a huge high-end shopping mall with all the gates hidden at the far ends. We had to basically walk through 5 stores and a mile of corridors to get to our gate.
Except we didn't go directly to our gate. We went to... the flyer lounge above it. It's one of the benefits of my Million Mile status with United Airlines that I get to use the lounge when flying internationally. The other benefit is getting to select United's Economy Plus seats when flying. They provide a few extra inches of leg room. (Man, ten years later Million Mile is still paying dividends!)
Now, there isn't a United lounge here at SYD, but there are two partner lounges I could use, Singapore Airlines and Thai. I asked the gate agent at check-in which she thinks is nicer.
The agent paused as she made a pained look. "I don't know," she said. "Maybe try asking at each one to take a look inside before you commit."
Oookay.... Well, that sounded like too much work, so I picked Singapore based on its sterling reputation for premium class service.
So. Much. Wine.
I'm not sure that the service here today is what I'd call sterling, though at this point I've had so many glasses of complimentary wine I'm getting a bit fuzzy on what that would mean anyway. 🤣
The wine's pretty good. And there are several choices. I started off with a glass of prosecco. It seemed like a good brunch-y wine to sip while I decided what I wanted to eat for brunch around 10:30 when we arrived. It turned out to go really well with the steamed dumplings. I had a few dumplings... and a few more glasses of wine. 😋
Then I noticed there was sausage. I'm not a huge fan of breakfast sausage, especially when there are fresh dumplings- a common enough Asian breakfast/brunch thing. But the tag said these were lamb dumplings. Hmm, I haven't had lamb sausage before, I thought. I tried one. And I knew I'd have to drink a different wine with it. I mean, prosecco... with red meat?! Uncultured. 🤣 So I poured half glasses of both an Australian Merlot and Shiraz.
It turned out the lamb sausage was amazing. I went back for a few more pieces of it. I also went back for another glass or two of the Shiraz, the better of the two red wines I tried.
Later they replaced the brunch spread with a lunch spread. I got a little more food there. I don't even remember what it was now. I've had too many glasses of wine! And now it's time to head to our gate.
Pre-gaming the flight... the only way to fly!
SYD Airport - Sun, 31 Dec 2023, 1pm
We arrived at Sydney Airport just fine this morning. Days before starting the trip we rebooked our return from a noon flight to 2pm, which gave us an extra 2 hours. (Yes, United Airlines runs two flights a day each way between SF and Sydney!) Strictly speaking we didn't need those extra 2 hours, but it sure has made today more relaxing. We were unrushed packing our bags this morning, unrushed driving back to Sydney, unrushed returning the car, and unrushed navigating through the airport- which is nice, because SYD airport is basically a huge high-end shopping mall with all the gates hidden at the far ends. We had to basically walk through 5 stores and a mile of corridors to get to our gate.
Except we didn't go directly to our gate. We went to... the flyer lounge above it. It's one of the benefits of my Million Mile status with United Airlines that I get to use the lounge when flying internationally. The other benefit is getting to select United's Economy Plus seats when flying. They provide a few extra inches of leg room. (Man, ten years later Million Mile is still paying dividends!)
Now, there isn't a United lounge here at SYD, but there are two partner lounges I could use, Singapore Airlines and Thai. I asked the gate agent at check-in which she thinks is nicer.
The agent paused as she made a pained look. "I don't know," she said. "Maybe try asking at each one to take a look inside before you commit."
Oookay.... Well, that sounded like too much work, so I picked Singapore based on its sterling reputation for premium class service.
So. Much. Wine.
I'm not sure that the service here today is what I'd call sterling, though at this point I've had so many glasses of complimentary wine I'm getting a bit fuzzy on what that would mean anyway. 🤣
The wine's pretty good. And there are several choices. I started off with a glass of prosecco. It seemed like a good brunch-y wine to sip while I decided what I wanted to eat for brunch around 10:30 when we arrived. It turned out to go really well with the steamed dumplings. I had a few dumplings... and a few more glasses of wine. 😋
Then I noticed there was sausage. I'm not a huge fan of breakfast sausage, especially when there are fresh dumplings- a common enough Asian breakfast/brunch thing. But the tag said these were lamb dumplings. Hmm, I haven't had lamb sausage before, I thought. I tried one. And I knew I'd have to drink a different wine with it. I mean, prosecco... with red meat?! Uncultured. 🤣 So I poured half glasses of both an Australian Merlot and Shiraz.
It turned out the lamb sausage was amazing. I went back for a few more pieces of it. I also went back for another glass or two of the Shiraz, the better of the two red wines I tried.
Later they replaced the brunch spread with a lunch spread. I got a little more food there. I don't even remember what it was now. I've had too many glasses of wine! And now it's time to head to our gate.
Pre-gaming the flight... the only way to fly!