Airport Food & Beverage Opening of the Year Joint Winners
A taste of the high life
F&B Opening of the Year was a joint award, shared between Plaza Premium Group and its acclaimed Hong Kong International Airport Intervals bar, alongside the stunning Louis Vuitton Lounge by Yannick Alléno – Qatar Duty Free, Hamad International Airport
This was a hugely competitive category with top-class finalists from all around the airport world.
Intervals was a deserving joint winner with the Louis Vuitton Lounge by Yannick Alléno (see below) both for its mission to make the airport an integral part of the traveller journey and for the delightfully experiential way it has delivered on that mission.
The FAB judges were wowed by the vision, daring and superb execution of this hugely ambitious concept.
Located 28 metres above the ground on Hong Kong International Airport’s spectacular new Sky Bridge, Intervals elevates the consumer experience in more ways than one. “It is a destination in its own right,” as the judges noted.
A unique F&B experience
Intervals was hailed by the judges as a “highly imaginative” project. Co-created by Plaza Premium Group senior executive Mei Mei Song, Creative Director Victoria Chow (the celebrated Founder of esteemed Hong Kong bar The Woods) and Australian architect Mitchel Squires from AVT Studio, the three came together to create a unique airport experience that caters to travellers wanting a taste of the high life.
Intervals’ signature drink programme offers a selection of ‘flights of cocktails’, miniature sips that are tailored to the amount of time travellers have available, ranging from 15 to 45 minutes.
Each mini cocktail set is expertly crafted with the same attention to detail as their full-sized counterparts, ensuring that guests can enjoy a quality experience even when pressed for time.
In addition to ‘flights’, judges were impressed with the quality of low and non-alcoholic options the bar thoughtfully offers.
Food comes in the form of ‘pinchos’ (tapas-style bar snacks), presented on a custom-made trolley that roams the bar with a nod to the retro past of glamorous 1960s airline travel.
Options include Hong Kong prawn toast with sakura shrimp, fig and goat’s cheese on rye with honeycomb crumbs, and mini tacos with glazed turkey meatballs. For travellers who are short on time, custom takeaway boxes of cocktails and pinchos are perfect for onboard dining in style.
Plaza Premium Group Director, Global Brands and Product Transformation Mei Mei Song was delighted to pick up an award for the glamorous and innovative Intervals concept
At Intervals, cocktails come in 15 minute, 30 minute or 45 minute 'flights', depending on how long you have before catching your next flight
Local love
Intervals set out to support homegrown Hong Kong F&B companies, showcasing them to a global audience. The bar has partnered with brands such as Plantation Tea, Loveramics, Young Master Brewery, Conspiracy Chocolate and Wood and Co to integrate a Sense of Place in the experience.
The Intervals bar and restaurant creative team played with the idea of Time and how distorted and dreamlike it can seem when travelling. As the homepage says ‘It’s always happy hour at the airport!’
Mei Mei Song with friend, business partner and Creative Director Victoria Chow
The leafy entrance to Intervals, which has been designed with both single travellers and groups in mind
Beautiful small plates with edible flowers and seasonal herbs complement flights of cocktails
The Louis Vuitton Lounge by Yannick Alléno – Qatar Duty Free, Hamad International Airport
The exceptional Louis Vuitton Lounge by Yannick Alléno at Hamad International Airport was a worthy joint winner of the F&B Opening of the Year award.
Opened in May 2023, the unique airport concept saw the luxury fashion house branching out into the F&B space in spectacular style. The lounge has a suitably stylish entrance above the airport’s Louis Vuitton store adjacent to the airport’s magnificent indoor garden The Orchard, making passengers feel they have stumbled upon a hidden gem.
Not only beautiful in design, the lounge won over judges for its outstanding Michelin-level menu that includes Parisian viennoiseries, sushi platters and generous dollops of caviar. At lunch, there are high tea sandwiches stamped with Vuitton’s famous quatrefoil logo, crying out to be ‘Instagrammed’.
For dinner, lucky travellers can dine on langoustine carpaccio, confit lamb shoulder seasoned with yuzu limes, or seabass and sesame with pilaf rice ‘jewelled’ with dried fruit and spices (à la Morocaine).
An open-plan kitchen preparation area makes for some nice theatre too as staff roll out culinary delights on huge, monogrammed LV leather luggage containers-on-wheels.
You can read more about the multiple award-winning Louis Vuitton Lounge by Yannick Alléno on pages 53 and 62.
(Above) Inside the stunning Louis Vuitton Lounge by Yannick Alléno at Hamad International from Qatar Duty Free; (below) Qatar Duty Free Senior Vice President Thabet Musleh collects the award from Dermot Davitt
FAB eZine
January 2024
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