This classic Aussie breakfast is hard to muck up, but a good one can be exceptional. Here are a few of our favourites.
A bacon and egg roll is one of those great dishes that’s perfectly described in name alone. Bacon, egg and roll. Maybe a bit of sauce. Humble to the point that when it’s done right you don’t really notice, but when it’s done wrong you want to burn the whole world to the ground. In Sydney, they’re almost always as good as they should be, and when made with even the cheapest ingredients they’re likely to yield something wonderful. (In fact, it’s the fancy end of the bacon and egg roll spectrum that tends to muck it up, with spectacularly unnecessary additions like truffle mayonnaise or quail eggs.) But a list that directs readers “pretty much anywhere” won’t be helpful, so here are our faves of the moment.
One of the best things about Sydney’s organic farmer’s markets is the warm welcome of a cheery bearded bloke frying rashers of bacon in the corner. It’s as much a market staple as kombucha or gözleme, and there’s something special about bacon sizzling on a barbecue in the great outdoors. Two bacon and egg roll market purveyors worth checking out are Porky’s Henhouse (found each week at markets in Hornsby, Green Square and Parramatta), which uses sweet mango-cured bacon and homemade relish, and Sydney’s most beloved bacon merchant, Bowen’s Bacon & Egg Rolls (found at markets in Marrickville, Lilyfield and Kings Cross), famous for layering thin rashers of snap-crisp bacon with a ring of fried egg.
Want a classic rendition done perfectly for just seven bucks? A buttered soft round roll stuffed with scrambled Kangaroo Island eggs and bacon that’s right in the middle of crisp and chewy is the highlight of the menu at John Montagu (144 Cathedral St, Woolloomooloo). Want to pay $18 for pretty much the same thing? Kensington Street Social (3 Kensington St, Chippendale) has got it covered. Fancy a Greek twist? Go to the bacon and eggs in a hot, freshly baked pita over at Alpha (238 Castlereagh St, Sydney). Is Malaysian more your thing? Lucky Suzie (previously called Lazy Suzie, 78 Stanley St, Darlinghurst) does a mighty fine BELT (the “e” is for egg) and wraps it up in a roti with sambal mayo.
If you really want to change it up, go straight to Boon Cafe (1/425 Pitt St, Haymarket), the best thing to happen to Sydney sandwiches in the past decade. Boon swaps the bacon for a fermented spicy pork sausage served between two slices of sourdough toast with wedges of boiled egg and a pickled cabbage salad with herbs. Bacon and egg purists may cry foul, but this unbelievably good sandwich absolutely belongs on this list (besides, “Sydney’s best pork product and egg rolls” doesn’t have the same ring).
Our “best Sydney breakfast burger award” goes to Mary’s CBD (154 Castlereagh St, Sydney), which combines bacon, pork sausage patty, a hash brown, an optional egg and HP sauce to create a burger worth getting hungover for.
What Sydney needs next is a decent breakfast taco joint serving scrambled eggs with a wedge of avocado, a streak of salsa and crumbly bacon in a warm tortilla. But we’ll settle for the Mexican chorizo and soft-boiled-egg taco at Ghostboy Cantina (B08, Dixon House Food Court, 413-415 Sussex St, Chinatown), which will do just fine.
