I've spent a fair amount of time in the Sydney International Airport, given my frequent visits to Sydney for work. You can see reviews of other airport dining, and all my top recommendations of Sydney, on my master post.
Anyway, it was here at the airport that I discovered Mach 2. I've visited many times, both coming and going from the airport.
Setting
Mach 2 is located in the Sydney International terminal, right next to Air New Zealand's check-in, air side.
 |
| Breakfast Menu. |
It is a full service restaurant, with actually fantastic reviews for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. As in, actual fantastic reviews. Please love to sit down and have a real breakfast in particular, after they drop their bags.
 |
| Quick Options: Sandwiches, pastries, muffins, etc. |
They also operate a small fast service cafe with baked goods, sandwiches, and coffee, which is the section I visited.
Mach 2 introduced me to a new item(!) Sfogliatelle? I've never had this before. But it looked like an amazing flaky pastry, and the cashier told me it was stuffed with ricotta. I dug into it almost immediately, as I got it when arriving one morning, after a disappointing onboard breakfast.
When I later looked it up, I found out this is a traditional Italian pastry, and the name means "small, thin leaf/layer", as it is a layered item. Fillings range from ricotta as I had, or almond paste, or citrus.
While it looked excellent, it wasn't. Maybe I just don't like this item in general?
The pastry was layered, but it was really chewy, not crispy and buttery as I expected. It seemed really dense, really heavy, and almost under-baked. I had it literally 10 minutes after getting it, so this wasn't a freshness issue.
I did not care for the pastry itself.
The price was an amusing $5.90, particularly given that the muffins are all $6. These look more labor intensive, by $0.10 less?
Inside the sfogliatelle was better than the pastry, ricotta with orange zest, slightly sweetened.
The muffin lineup is just labelled "assorted", and all look to be the same base, but with different fillings, or, what I hoped were fillings, not just the visible topping.
I expected chocolate elsewhere in the muffing, but there was no chocolate in the muffin base, just the chocolate on top. The chocolate was great, thick, rich. The base muffin was … interesting. I can’t really describe the flavor, but it was moist enough, crispy on top. A bit boring of a base, but the chocolate was great.
I think my favorite of the muffins, because I was really in a mood for chocolate.
The raspberry muffin looked basically the same, but with stewed raspberries on top in place of the chocolate.
The berries on top of this were fabulous. Soft, stewed, fruity.
The base of this was actually different from the chocolate one, although it too was a plain style, no raspberries inside, but a different flavor to the base. Again hard to describe, but almost moist, crispy top. Not a bad muffin, just not what I'd expect.
And finally, blueberry.
Then came the cheesecake, not very creamy, not very rich, and ... not very cream cheese-y? It had no flavor at all, really. And then, strawberry gel, pretty, but it didn't add much flavor either.
I have no idea what this was, but, it was the only other item in the dessert case.
Baked Goods
Most of the time, my visits were to grab baked goods to take on board my flight, because, um, baked goods and pastries *always* catch my eye, even if I'm about to head into the fabulous Air New Zealand lounge where I adore the food ... sometimes you need to grab a few things to bring on board, "just in case", you know? I've also grabbed items when arriving, jetlagged, confused, and drawn in by the visual appeal of the goodies.
 |
| Sfogliatelle. $5.90. (February) |
When I later looked it up, I found out this is a traditional Italian pastry, and the name means "small, thin leaf/layer", as it is a layered item. Fillings range from ricotta as I had, or almond paste, or citrus.
While it looked excellent, it wasn't. Maybe I just don't like this item in general?
The pastry was layered, but it was really chewy, not crispy and buttery as I expected. It seemed really dense, really heavy, and almost under-baked. I had it literally 10 minutes after getting it, so this wasn't a freshness issue.
I did not care for the pastry itself.
The price was an amusing $5.90, particularly given that the muffins are all $6. These look more labor intensive, by $0.10 less?
 |
| Sfogliatelle: Inside. |
Meh to this item, but at least I liked the filling. It wasn't available my next visit, which I certainly didn't mind.
 |
| Muffins (February 2019). |
They are all huge, the garnish did look compelling. I got all 3 available.
They were not quite what I expected, but not bad. All were fresh, moist, and had crispy tops. All had fairly plain bases, with the flavors just as toppings, not fillings. I’d consider getting these again, just to bring on board in case my onboard food didn’t measure up. $6 per muffin is fairy pricey though, even if large sized.
This was a strange muffin, not what I expected at all. It was not a traditional chocolate muffin in that the base didn't seem to have chocolate, just a plain base, but with chocolate pudding-like ganache-like topping. It got all over the bag it was placed in, since, clearly just coming out the top.
They were not quite what I expected, but not bad. All were fresh, moist, and had crispy tops. All had fairly plain bases, with the flavors just as toppings, not fillings. I’d consider getting these again, just to bring on board in case my onboard food didn’t measure up. $6 per muffin is fairy pricey though, even if large sized.
 |
| Chocolate Muffin. $6. (February) |
 |
| Chocolate Muffin: Inside. |
I think my favorite of the muffins, because I was really in a mood for chocolate.
 |
| Raspberry Muffin. $6. (February) |
The berries on top of this were fabulous. Soft, stewed, fruity.
 |
| Raspberry Muffin: inside. (February) |
 |
| Blueberry Muffin. $6. (February) |
The topping on this was the most generous, tons of stewed berries.
This one again had a plain base, again one that was slightly different (it was a blonder, sweeter style), but it had a couple token blueberries inside.
 |
| Blueberry Muffin: Inside. |
A pretty decent blueberry muffin, very moist inside.
When I visited in March, the chocolate muffin was a totally different form, a dark muffin (chocolate based?), with little chocolate chips, and no ganache.
But ... the chocolate chip muffin was pretty much the same as the others. The base wasn’t actually chocolately, the darker color was just due to being slightly over-cooked. It wasn’t dry exactly, but it certainly wasn’t moist. There were not chocolate chips studded throughout, instead, just a bunch of tiny chips on top. They were reasonable quality though.
The base had that same interesting tang and flavor that I couldn’t really pinpoint.
Again, a standard, decent but not amazing, kinda odd, Mach 2 muffin.
The day I decided to order cake though, there was only one choice, and not one I was that excited for ... a layered strawberry cheesecake ... ish. Still, it was my only option.
 |
| Chocolate Chip Muffin. $6. (March) |
But ... the chocolate chip muffin was pretty much the same as the others. The base wasn’t actually chocolately, the darker color was just due to being slightly over-cooked. It wasn’t dry exactly, but it certainly wasn’t moist. There were not chocolate chips studded throughout, instead, just a bunch of tiny chips on top. They were reasonable quality though.
The base had that same interesting tang and flavor that I couldn’t really pinpoint.
Again, a standard, decent but not amazing, kinda odd, Mach 2 muffin.
Desserts
Inside the restaurant, there is also a dessert case, and a full dessert menu.
 |
| Dessert Cake. |
On one visit, I glanced over at the dessert case, and was certainly drawn in, except of course it was 9am, and I wasn't sure I was allowed to get those to go, as the case is located deep inside the restaurant, not near the front with the other pastries.
Eventually though, several visits later, I decided to ask. It turns out, I could order from there, it just would take a while, as separate staff handle that area.
 |
| Strawberry Cheesecake. (March 2019) |
It came in a way too big togo container, so it slid all around and quickly didn't look quite as nice as when it was handed over initially.
It wasn't very good.
The base was a hard layer, almost cookie-like, but not very sweet. It was fairly dry. Above that was a very dry plain cake layer. Boo to cake.
Then came the cheesecake, not very creamy, not very rich, and ... not very cream cheese-y? It had no flavor at all, really. And then, strawberry gel, pretty, but it didn't add much flavor either.
It came with some whipped cream on the side, and a few sliced strawberries. The berries were decently fresh, and the whipped cream standard. They were the best parts.
I wouldn't have called this a cheesecake at all, as it had a number of non-cheesecake items, and, it really didn't seem cheesecake-y anyway. Clearly, would not get this again.
 |
| (March). |
It seemed to be ... a bowtie shaped, powdered sugar coated ... hard crispy pie-dough-esque item? Very plain, very boring, but good enough dipped in the whipped cream from the cheesecake.
I'm sure this is actually some kind of traditional Italian item I just don't know. Perhaps you dip it in coffee? I have no idea.
0 comments:
Post a Comment