I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Pina’s Egg-and-Sausage Roll

I just devoured an egg-and-sausage roll from Pina. Not for the first time, mind you – my inaugural bun was consumed on the last day of 2020. I thought I might at least finish that stinker of a year with something delicious, and let’s just say it was a highlight of a hardcore year.

And while I’m now struggling to stay awake – my warm, full belly propelling me to find a comfy corner in the office for a power nap – I am once again reminded why thoughts of that dish keep reoccurring in my mind.

It’s not an elegant egg-and-sausage roll like the one at Intra (an outstanding cafe in Canberra you should visit if you’re ever there). Pina’s one is more like a burger – a breakfast burger, if you will.

The Potts Point cafe makes it with a soft burger bun (so soft I want to rest my cheek on it right now) and that classic mustard-coloured cheese you get on cheeseburgers. The sausage is not in its usual cylindrical form, but is a wide-load patty that takes all the real estate on the bun.

Under the top slice of bread is a smear of garlic-y, house-made aioli, and on the bottom there’s a hot tomato sauce. It’s not hugely spicy – it just complements the beef sausage that sits above it and is draped in a slice of melted cheddar. It all arrives at the table with a jauntily placed bun top, ready for you to slide over onto the meat-and-cheese stack topped with a fried egg and take a bite.

And just at that moment before you do – your two hands guiding the warm bundle from the plate to your open mouth – a thought pops into your head: if I take a big bite, will the yolk explode in a magical mess?

Your question is immediately answered with a splattering yes – the runny yellow yolk is now making a dash down your hand, and a bit of cheese has slid off and is hanging on as if it’s bungee jumping to freedom. It might be messy, but it sure is one tasty package.

And now, as I sit typing this love letter at my desk, and digesting my breakfast burger like a baby drunk on milk, I think fondly about my triumphant meal. It might be another couple of months before I get the energy to consume another one of these hefty fellows, but until then I’ll keep these tender thoughts percolating in my mind.

Now, how about that nap?

“I Can’t Stop Thinking About” is a series about Sydney dishes Broadsheet editors are obsessed with. Sarah Norris is the national editor.