920 Military Road, Mosman, New South Wales

I’d taken a Wednesday off work, and decided to head out for lunch. I took a drive to the suburb of Mosman, which has a long main street with dozens of shops and cafes. Unfortunately my first choice for lunch had just sold out of sausage rolls when I arrived – the man immediately before me had bought the last two! So I wandered in search of another bakery for my lunch.

I found Rustique, sitting on the corner of Military Road and Raglan Street. The sign proclaimed it to be a “bakery patisserie cafe”, which sounds good. Mosman being a posh suburb, I expected it to be a bit fancy inside, but it was very standard bakery-cafe sort of decor, a bit tired looking even, as though overdue for a renovation. Furthermore, even though there was a fairly large selection of cakes, they didn’t have a vanilla slice! I decided to try a sausage roll and a pie, and seek a slice elsewhere.

Since I was eating in, the savouries came served on a white plate. The very first thing I notice is that the sausage roll looks shrivelled and dried out, as though it’s been sitting in the pie warmer having the moisture sucked out of it for several hours. This unappealing look turns out to a bit deceptive though, as the first bite reveals. The pastry is surprisingly not bad, with a firm snap and a high flakiness factor. Rather than having the greasy, buttery feel of really rich puff pastry, it’s slightly dry and crumbly, but I don’t mind that so much. It’s certainly not as tough and dried out as it appears to the eye.

The filling is also a pleasant surprise. The meat is subtly peppery and nicely seasoned, with really large chunks of onion. It tastes pretty good, and has plenty of moistness to counter the slightly dry crust. There’s nothing at all offensive to write about, and the whole experience is on the enjoyable side of the ledger. Overall, this roll is definitely… above average – but only a little bit.

Sausage roll: 6/10