Airports all through the world are experiencing a post-pandemic renaissance. They’ve emerged from the ashes of being digital ghost cities and have been resurrected into not simply the bustling transport facilities they as soon as had been, but additionally fully remodeled and markedly improved incarnations of their former selves. With that rebirth has come a brand new and renewed technology of airport eating choices—a mix of traditional joints and newer entrants—working to fulfill the palates of a touring public that not needs to accept subpar predeparture meals.
Which isn’t to say that every one airport meals is wonderful. The panorama remains to be dotted with stereotypically overpriced and lackluster grab-and-go eateries. However throughout our latest travels all over the world, we have now come throughout some airport eating experiences that actually shocked and delighted us. Even higher, the airport meals we’ve loved essentially the most had been rooted in native delicacies and entrepreneurship and thus supplied both one final, lingering style of the place we had been abandoning or a fast pattern of the vacation spot we had been passing via.
So, with out additional ado, listed here are the latest scrumptious airport meals we’ve had that we’d gladly spend a bit of extra time within the airport for.
Bojangles at Charlotte Douglas Worldwide Airport (CLT)
Not all so-called fast-food chains are created equal. Some are markedly higher than others. And each time I’ve a morning flight from Charlotte, North Carolina I by no means fail to notice Chick-fil-A’s lengthy line snaking via the airport’s atrium. What a disgrace, because the true style of the South is just a five-minute stroll away on the Bojangles, positioned in CLT’s meals court docket–model plaza (there’s additionally a spot in Concourse B, in case you’re flying American). At this Charlotte-born meals chain, biscuits reign supreme: Cajun filet biscuit, sausage and egg biscuit, steak biscuit, and even a Bo-Berry biscuit, in case you’re feeling like having dessert for breakfast. Wash all of it down with some candy tea, and you’ve got your self a correct North Carolina begin. Is it the healthiest meal you’ll ever eat? Not by an extended shot. However the flavors—and the recollections—maintain me over till my return. —Chloe Arrojado, affiliate editor, locations
Bun Mee at San Francisco Worldwide Airport (SFO)
I’m an early at-the-airport girlie and thus usually have time to kill as soon as I’m via safety. However I don’t love spending an excessive amount of on a meal on the airport, which is why the pattern in elevated quick informal eating—together with at airports—fits me completely. As somebody who flies out of SFO frequently (it’s my house airport), I’ve to provide a giant shout-out to counter service outpost Bun Mee, a Vietnamese sandwich store based in San Francisco in 2011 by Vietnamese American Denise Tran that now has two places at SFO: one in Harvey Milk Terminal 1 (close to gate B3, pictured), and one in Terminal 3 within the meals court docket space simply earlier than you get to the primary gate corridor. My go-to favourite meals listed here are the sandwiches and the bun noodle bowl, normally with the lemongrass pork. I go for the sandwich—which is completed in conventional banh mi model with garlic mayo, pickled carrot and daikon, cucumber, onion, jalapenos, and recent herbs on a baguette—for when I’m travel-famished (which is extra intense than common starvation, proper?). Once I need one thing a bit extra refreshing, I order the bowl, that includes chilled rice noodles, a pork egg roll, lettuce, and all the identical fixings because the sandwich, plus peanuts and nuoc cham sauce. There are additionally hen, steak, tofu, and shrimp protein choices. Couple that with one in every of their Vietnamese chilly brews or, my private favourite, the vanilla lychee tea, and also you’re good to go. —Michelle Baran, deputy editor
Columbia Restaurant at Tampa Worldwide Airport (TPA)
Tampa Worldwide Airport is a standout for a lot of causes (not least of which is the enormously Instagrammable mega-flamingo statue, Phoebe), however probably the greatest components is that most of the metropolis’s prime eating places have outposts on website—which is available in particularly helpful after I’m visiting my people. In “Airside C,” Ulele (named for a maybe apocryphal Tocobaga princess who apparently saved a Spanish explorer, à la Pocahontas) serves gator tail and okra fries; Goody Goody is the reboot of a neighborhood Nineteen Twenties burger store identified for its tomato-based secret sauce; and Cigar Metropolis Brewing was the primary micro-brewery in North America to make beer at an airport. But when that is your first time in Tampa, it’s a must to attempt Columbia Restaurant—Florida’s oldest restaurant, which opened its doorways in 1905. The unique location within the historic cigar-manufacturing district of Ybor Metropolis is a tile-covered Spanish Revival gem with stay flamenco, however the airport location in Terminal E has fairly a little bit of character as nicely, due to a dark-wood bar, ornate chandeliers, and framed archival images. There’s a full menu of Cuban and Spanish dishes, however in case you’re a first-timer, I’d persist with a trio of Tampa-specific specialties: deviled crab croquettes, greatest served doused in sizzling sauce; the signature “1905” salad, which is loaded with shredded ham, Swiss cheese, and olives; and a pressed Cuban sandwich, which within the Tampa iteration consists of Genoa salami as a nod to the town’s Italian immigrants. —Nicholas DeRenzo, contributing editor
Ah Huat Hainanese Rooster Rice at Singapore Changi Airport (SIN)
Singapore’s Changi Airport, a vacation spot unto itself, is a treasure trove of meals choices—however the one I maintain returning to there’s the on-site hawker meals heart in Terminal 3, which includes a handful of the town’s well-regarded avenue meals distributors. I significantly love Ah Huat Hainanese Rooster Rice, which serves an iconic native dish with tender hen and broth-flavored rice. Add a drizzle of that sweet-savory darkish soy sauce and a contact of crushed crimson chilies, and you’ve got the proper closing style of the town state’s unbelievable culinary scene earlier than departing. — Jennifer Flowers, senior deputy editor, resorts
Hermann’s bratwurst at Frankfurt Airport (FRA)
There couldn’t be a extra cliché German layover meal, and I’m completely okay with that. With household who stay in Poland and Romania, I’ve spent numerous hours at Frankfurt Airport, a well-liked switch hub for flights to Japanese Europe. Regardless of the time of the morning (sure, morning), day, or evening, if I’m within the Frankfurt Airport, I’m getting a bratwurst. And ideally, I’m getting one at Hermann’s. It’s usually served on a crunchy roll with a aspect of sauerkraut and, in fact, that completely spicy-but-not-too-spicy mustard. The principle Hermann’s outpost is close to gate A24, however a pair Hermann’s carts all through the airport serve a pared-down to-go menu that features frankfurters (one other nice possibility). On the fast-casual storefront, beer is served alongside a collection of sausages such because the pork-based bratwurst, the Berlin specialty currywurst (with spicy curry ketchup), frankfurters (German sizzling canines, however higher than ours), rindswurst (a beef sausage that jogs my memory a little bit of Polish sausage), and bockwurst (manufactured from pork and veal). Sides embrace potatoes, pickles, pretzels, coleslaw, and sauerkraut. It’s a easy but hardy meal that may put you on the trail to glad abdomen success, regardless of the place you’re headed. —MB
La Lucha Sanguchería Criolla at Jorge Chávez Worldwide Airport in Lima (LIM)
It was 6 a.m. at Lima’s Jorge Chávez Worldwide Airport, and I used to be in search of breakfast: There was Dunkin’ Donuts and there was Starbucks. Then I noticed it: La Lucha Sanguchería Criolla, a Peruvian sandwich and juice store that I’d examine however not managed to get to throughout my all-too-brief weekend in Lima for a good friend’s pre-wedding festivities. I joined the road and ordered a sandwich and passionfruit juice. Inside 5 minutes, my buzzer buzzed, and I received my tray and sat down. The crusty sandwich roll was stuffed greater than my carry-on: with chunks of pork, a fistful of pickled crimson onions, and pressed candy potato. I completed the sandwich in near-record time, wishing I’d purchased two—nevertheless it was time to board. Transiting again via the airport two weeks later, I once more hustled to hitch the road at La Lucha Sanguchería. (Though it opens at 4 a.m., there at all times appears to be a line.) Different choices had been tempting—grilled hen, roasted pork, ham and egg—however I went again to the chicharron, this time including a glass of candy, funky chicha morada, made out of purple Peruvian corn, on the aspect. The roll was simply as crusty and gentle as I remembered; the meat simply as crunchy and fatty. It’s arduous to mess with a great factor. —Katherine LaGrave, deputy editor
Obrycki’s at Baltimore Washington Worldwide Airport (BWI)
The primary time I stepped off a airplane at what was then a reasonably not too long ago renovated and expanded Baltimore Washington Worldwide Airport, I used to be shocked—and happy—to see an Obrycki’s restaurant proper throughout from our gate. From the time I lived in Baltimore within the late ‘90s and early 2000s, I remembered Obrycki’s—identified for its steamed crabs and the very best and freshest crab muffins on the town—as an establishment within the metropolis’s historic Fells Level neighborhood. Admittedly, I used to be skeptical that any airport model would stay as much as that fame. However I gave it a go and was not upset, by both the blue crab muffins or the Bloody Marys. On the menu are loads of different tasty choices, from crab dip to Maryland crab soup, crab Benedict, burgers, and quite a lot of recent seafood and non-seafood salads. With the unique Obrycki’s within the metropolis now gone, the restaurant acknowledges on its web site the impossibility of duplicating its genuine crab home really feel, however guarantees to keep up its genuine requirements. To date so good. Fifteen years after our first go to, my husband and I at all times make certain to cease in anytime we fly via BWI. —Jeri Clausing, Afar contributor
Salt Lick BBQ at Dallas Fort Value Worldwide (DFW) or Austin–Bergstrom Worldwide Airport (AUS)
I’ve lounge entry in most airports due to co-branded bank cards and airline standing, so I usually persist with noshing on no matter is within the lounges after I journey. Why spend cash when I’ve this membership perk? However there’s one restaurant that lures me in after I go via Dallas or Austin: Salt Lick BBQ. These are the airport outposts of a famed establishment of Texas-style ‘cue that began in Driftwood, a group within the Hill Nation outdoors of Austin, in 1967. I’m all concerning the pulled pork sandwiches, which include a beneficiant serving of tender, slow-cooked shredded meat topped with a tangy vinegar-based sauce. Every features a selection of aspect (I normally go for the smoky baked beans or creamy coleslaw) and a fountain drink. At $17, it’s a reasonably moderately priced airport meal. Even when it’s too early or I don’t have sufficient time for a sit-down meal (it’s actually too messy to get to-go), I’ll nonetheless run over to that terminal to seize a bottle of their dry rub to make wings, pork chops, and burgers at house; we undergo numerous it. — Bailey Berg, Afar contributor
Tia’s Genuine New Mexican Eats at Albuquerque Worldwide Sunport (ABQ)
In New Mexico, it’s all concerning the chile. Pink or inexperienced is the query you’ll be requested anytime the state’s famed peppers are a part of a dish. (I want Christmas, which suggests a mixture of each.) And the flavour and high quality of the chile will make or break an genuine New Mexican meal, together with breakfast. From gasoline stations to the best New Mexican eating places, burritos loaded with eggs, cheese, hashbrowns, and bacon or sausage (meat elective), and—in fact—a lot of chile are a staple. Regardless of their abundance, one in every of my favourite breakfast burritos spots, even after I’ve spent 13 years residing within the Land of Enchantment, is Tia’s Genuine New Mexican Eats at Albuquerque Worldwide Sunport (the one different Tia’s location is at Denver Worldwide Airport). It’s a must-stop for locals and flight crews alike. However carry your urge for food, or make certain to get a to-go bag—and a fork. These are hard-to-fit-in-your-mouth massive, and arduous to complete in a single sitting. Oh, and in case your go to has turned you right into a chile addict, you may also decide up a small tub or two of frozen chopped chile to carry house—Tia’s is simply inside safety. —JC
