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Montreux Jazz Cafe

Restaurants

First published on 6 Jul 2010. Updated on 6 Jan 2012.

The powers behind the world-renowned Montreux Jazz Festival - easily one of the most popular music fests anywhere - have joined forces with the food and beverage company SSP to open the very first Montreux Jazz Café outside of Switzerland, right here in Sydney.

The eatery is located amid the currency exchanges and souvenir shops of Sydney Airport's international departure level, before you hit your first security check. Frequent-flying jazz fans can enjoy footage from past fests on multiple monitors in the cafe, while surrounded by larger-than-life floor-to-ceiling images of Marvin Gaye, Yuksek, Macy Gray and others.

"The Australian market is a very big market for the festival," says Heinz Egli, Asia Pacific operations director for SSP. "It is a jazz-loving place. It made sense to open the first location in such a city."

The café boasts an extensive breakfast, lunch and dinner menu if you're looking for a meal with your Miles or Monk, as well as a full bar. Egli says that once things get rolling they hope to feature regular weekend performances from local and national touring acts that are passing through.

"This definitely has a different atmosphere than any other airport restaurant," Egli says. "If you don't like jazz, you are in the wrong place."

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Words by Gerald M. Gay