463 Miller Street, Cammeray, New South Wales
maggios.com.au

The previously reviewed Cammeray Cakes has closed down, but just a few doors down the street now sits Maggio’s Italian Bakery. This is an establishment that was spawned out of the nearby Maggio’s Cafe, which has been an institution in Cammeray since 1998. The new bakery shopfront takes some of the strain from the always busy cafe, allowing people to buy loaves and take-away cakes and pastries without battling the sit-down clientele of the cafe.

Being an Italian bakery, they are heavy on cannoli, biscotti, bomboloni, and various tortes, but they didn’t have anything resembling a vanilla slice when I scoped the place out. They do however have a pork sausage roll, as well as a small selection of meat pies. I ordered a roll and retreated to a nearby wooden seat under a shady tree outside to inspect their take on the Australian classic.

It looks fat and well stuffed, a nice generous roll. The pastry looks well made but also well cooked, a touch darker than ideal. It runs out to be very flaky and buttery, really quite good. They obviously know how to make good puff pastry. But alas the filling is a let down as it’s about 50% air accompanying only a small, thin sliver of meat. it loks almost pitiful lying inside the generously proportioned pastry blanket. But what meat there is is nice and moist, well cooked and seasoned and very tasty. Some chopped onions and tiny pieces of green herbs are visible, but there doesn’t seem to be quite enough to impart a truly herbaceous flavour. It’s pork meat pure and simple. This would score better if the filling actually filled the pastry shell and the pastry wasn’t quite so well done.

Moving slightly away from the sausage roll, I also tried a chicken pie. This was well worth the experiment, because the pastry is delicious, light and flaky on top and crispy and just firm enough on the bottom to support the filling, But what a filling! The chicken is juicy and delicious, like your grandmother’s Sunday roast, with the meat pulled apart into tender strips, accompanied by a rich and flavoursome sauce with tomatoes, onions, mustard seeds, and spices. This is truly one of the most delicious pies I’ve ever had. So I guess the advice for Maggios’s is to skip the sausage roll and go straight for the chicken pie.

Pork sausage roll: 6/10
Chicken pie: 10/10