This award, which has been running since 2013, recognises a concept that is of fundamental importance for the travel dining sector, now more than ever before. Any airport – whatever its size – must reflect the history & heritage, tastes & traditions, culture & cuisine of a country, a city or a region.

The category, encouragingly, attracted the equal biggest number of entries, an affirmation of how airports and food & beverage providers are striving increasingly hard to capture local flavour in multiple senses, from food & drinks through to design and art.

To recognise the vital role of lounge on one hand, and the critical restaurant channel on the other, the judges made two overall awards.

The Lounge winner of Airport Food & Beverage Offer Best Representing Sense of Place – 080 Domestic Lounge at Bengaluru Airport – has demonstrated a commitment to celebrating local tastes, traditions and culture, and it does so triumphantly, offering design, service and culinary standards of a remarkable level. This was also named regional winner for Asia Pacific.

The Airport Food & Beverage Offer Best Representing Sense of Place – Restaurant winner was Tadında Anadolu by BTA at Istanbul Airport. This outlet (also regional winner for Europe) blends regional archaeological influences in its design, local partnerships and menu inspiration that magnificently gives the impression that you are steeped in the history and culture of this ancient civilisation. It captures sense, taste and history of place, said the judges.

For the Americas & Caribbean, judges voted for dual regional winners. The first, a multiple winner on the evening, was Bob Marley’s One Love Restaurant, a multi-sensory location that encompasses taste, smell, design, sound and touch blended with heritage, culture, history, hospitality and music.

Judges also saluted Fat Bottom Brewery by Paradies Lagardère at Nashville International Airport, a location that shouts loudly and proudly about its local produce, local but globally acclaimed music scene and a true taste of place.

Basta by Qatar Duty Free at Hamad International Airport captured the regional award for the Middle East & Africa, with local cuisine and culture wonderfully encapsulated in a sublime setting within an airport that blends the regional and the global to superb effect.