Peroni Bar, Sydney International Airport

Another day, another few hours spent in an airport, this time in Sydney.  I don't often buy much at airport concessions, as the prices are high and quality generally low, but Peroni drew me in, as it looked like a classier place.  Or maybe I was just bored.

Storefront.

Peroni is located in a food court near the Air New Zealand gates, with a fairly nice exterior.  Bar and table seating is available on the side, but you order everything at the register.

Peroni Bar has a fairly boring food menu, with pizza, pasta, burgers and salad for lunch/dinner, a couple starters (fried calamari, olives, pretzels, chips).  I didn't try any of that, opting only to get items to go.

Beverages

Peroni is a bar, but, since I was there at 10am, I didn't opt to try any of their wine or cocktails, although these seemed to be a main attraction.

Beverage Menu.

The beverage menu strangely doesn't list any of their morning drinks, only the beer, wine, and cocktails.

Beer, Mini Bottles.

I almost did get a mini bottle of wine to go, but I realized I'd need to drink it right then, since I couldn't bring through security at my next transit point (Auckland).

Decaf Long Black, Large.  $4.

I did order a decaf long black, with no expectations of it being very good, but I don't really care for the coffee in the Air New Zealand lounge (my next stop).

I was pleasantly surprised.  It was not harsh, no funk, and better than most of the decaf I had at fancy places all over Sydney.

I'd gladly get this again, and likely will, en route to the lounge.

Update: I did get this again, and got two in fact, stashing one in my travel coffee mug to enjoy on my flight.  #protip.  It isn't the best coffee ever, but, it really wasn't bad at all.

Baked Goods

A small variety of baked goods was available, morning appropriate, none looked awesome, and this place is clearly not a bakery.  Still, you know me and baked goods.

Danishes, Banana Bread.

I skipped the danishes as they looked pretty bad, and banana bread since I don't care for it.

Muffins.

Muffins were all large size, wrapped in plastic wrap.  None looked great, but I tried them all.

They were ... clearly not fresh items made with care.  Certainly mass produced, probably purchased wholesale as frozen items.  Or at least made with extended shelf life.

Double Chocolate.

The double chocolate was shockingly boring.  The chocolate base had no real flavor to it at all.  The cake was not moist nor dry exactly, it just was what it was.  So commercial, processed. I did like the chocolate chips on top for some crunch, and there were bits that were kinda gummy, like they were underbaked, that were slightly better than the fully cooked parts.

But really, this just was not a good muffin.  If you were expecting chocolatey goodness, you would not find it here.

Orange Poppyseed.

I liked the orange poppyseed even less.

The base was again this strange not moist-not dry, kinda commercial, chemical taste, sweet.  It had an essence of orange, not something I'd ever pick.

I do sometimes adore muffins of this pedigree, like Costco muffins, particularly the almond poppyseed, but this just wasn't worth a second bite.

Blueberry.

The blueberry was definitely the best, but it was also certainly a very generic, convinience store quality, muffin.  The kind that clearly isn't fresh, is loaded with preservatives, has a slightly gummy top, is very sweet, and yet, you kinda like it?  That's exactly what this was.

The blueberries were reasonably well distributed, but weren't fresh juicy berries, rather, they were more like dried berries.

This was very similar to the one from Better Burger.

Snacks

They also have bags of Red Rock potato chips (assorted flavors), Nobby's packaged snacks (cashews, peanuts, and pork crackle).  I grabbed some Nobby's to munch on later.

Pork Crackle.

I thought pork crackle sounded awesome, but alas, I didn't care for this.  It just tasted greasy and fried, in a stale old oil sort of way, and it stuck to my mouth.  It made me sad how much I didn't like it, and kept trying more and more of it, but alas, not good. 

I shared with a couple others, and they too were excited by the prospect, but didn't like it at all.