54: Sausage Roll Scorecard — Getting closer to Perth

27 July 2024

We have three new entries in SRS today; two from Kalbarri (we exhausted all options to be thorough) and one from Dongara / Port Denison.

We also have a new look Scorecard, to make things a bit easier to read and maintain, plus noting the bakery — in case any of you want to try them out in the future.

Kalbarri

As you’ve read in previous posts, we had a very nice six-day stay in Kalbarri. During this stay we tried out the two bakeries to assess their respective sausage roll games. Fortuitously, they were both within easy walking distance of the Kalbarri Tudor Holiday Village where we were staying.

First was the Red Bluff Bakery. The bakery was fantastic, with a great range of food (we also grabbed breakfast here on the morning we left Kalbarri), however their sausage rolls didn’t quite rise to the occasion. In summary:

• Very pleasant service
• Good temperature
• Good texture
• A little dry
• A little low on taste
• Rating — 7.5 out of 10.

Next was the Kalbarri Hot Bread Shop a few days later. Their offering …

• Good temperature
• Nice pastry
• Reasonable texture
• A bit tasteless
• Rating — 7.2 out of 10.

Dongara / Port Denison

Mid-morning Nicole and I decided to head off to walk the waterfront from the Dongara Tourist Park where we are staying, right down to the main shopping area roughly 5.6km away. A key motivation? You guessed it — the Dongara Bakery.

The weather had fined up a bit from a rainy start to the day, so we had nice conditions to see the water, a very well-done ANZAC memorial, and a nice walk along the river. We also fortuitously ran into the only taxi in Dongara / Port Denison (more on this later).

So, after that lovely walk, we definitely felt we had earned some bakery goods. My first impressions of Dongara Bakery were that it was very quaint and well presented, and very busy — a good omen.

Next, after ordering I realised it was run by some Vietnamese ladies — another great omen as the Vietnamese really know how to bake.

So, with sausage roll in hand (and a croissant for Nicole) we headed to the tables outside. And …. sausage roll magnificence!! OMG!! I’m not sure if this is the Holy Grail of sausage rolls, however at that point in time it felt like it. In terms of a more detailed assessment:

• Good sized sausage roll — nice and big
• A nice weight (a good early sign)
• Perfect temperature — especially on a cold day
• Great taste, but low grease — how do they do it? (sausage roll sorcery)
• My impressions were corroborated by a local sitting next to us who said he thought the sausage rolls were pretty special too
• Nicole said there were other flavours, including cheese and bacon — but who needs them?
• Rating — 9.0/10!

In summary, a Dongara Delight and our new leader!

So good is this sausage roll that we will arrange to come back via the Dongara Bakery as we leave Dongara / Port Denison, to have a second swing at it.

Illegal Tender ‘after party’

I mentioned a taxi earlier. Nicole and I had been trying to work out how best to visit the Illegal Tender Rum Company cellar door. We had been tossing up whether to drive (meaning only one of us could partake in tasting) or catch a taxi. We had planned to call the taxi company for a rough estimate, but then ran into her taking a break while on our walk (hence the photo to remember the phone number).

After our sausage roll sensation, it looked like it might rain, plus we were feeling a bit lazy after our long walk — so we did the taxi thing.

It’s an interesting name for a distillery, explained thus on their website:

From 1787, and for the first three decades of Australia’s history, rum was an unofficial form of tender in Australia. However, in 1808 the Governor of New South Wales, William Bligh, ordered that rum be made an ‘illegal tender’.

The fellow who did the tasting session with us mentioned that the name did attract the attention of the local police once they started trading.

He also told us that, in 2020, they entered the word rum competition. They sent their samples off and had expected to hear back with a result around May. When they hadn’t heard anything, they assumed they hadn’t won any awards and decided to move on. This was just when COVID was really starting to kick off, and hand sanitiser was in huge demand.

So, as a very small distillery, they decided to get into the sanitiser production game and thus used the barrel of rum they had used to submit to the world competition to make some hand sanitiser. And then, they heard back from the competition organisers. They had been awarded the best rum in the world! They thought there must be a mistake and so called to clarify. And yes, they had indeed won.

Tears were shed apparently as they realised they had converted the barrel of the best rum in the world into hand sanitiser. True story.

Anyway, Nicole and I sampled their Barely Legal Gin, their Spiced Rum, and their Distiller’s Cut Rum and walked away with a bottle of their Spiced Rum.

So, after discovering the best sausage roll in Australia (so far), we sampled the best rum in the world. What a morning! But can the Dongara Bakery be beaten? We’ll just have to wait and see …

Current scorecard (new look)

*Note that where scores are tied, the sausage roll tasted first is placed highest in the list.

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