JBW‘s Hospitality Editor Narrell Tabone presents her latest foodie trail, chasing the best lunch rolls across the region. There are plenty of serious food debates on the South Coast, including the question of where to find the best roll. Narrell’s hunt has turned up two clear flavour favourites at four outstanding venues for an epic roll trail.
Discover rich lamb and gravy rolls alongside Vietnamese bánh mì, each served in generous proportions with ingredients that have been prepared with oodles of skill, experience and secret recipes. Here are the stories behind these anything-but-humble rolls and the people who make them: Nowra Village Hot Bake, Old Salt Distillery, The Café at Bay and Bush, and Harley’s at Husky.
First Stop: Nowra Village Hot Bake
Our first stop is Nowra Village Hot Bake on Junction Street, the family-owned bakery run by Debbie and her husband, Phu Tran. Here, the sights and smells of a traditional Aussie bakery sit alongside a Vietnamese menu that has built a following far beyond Nowra.
Daily, the line for Debbie’s bánh mì rolls stretches out the door, across the footpath and onto the roadside. There are five Vietnamese-style rolls on the menu, including the traditional pork roll $10, crispy pork roll $14, mixed chicken and pork roll $12, lemongrass chicken roll $12, and crispy pork with vermicelli noodles for $15.
The crispy pork bánh mì is a good place to start.
Made with pork belly, the meat is marinated in Debbie’s own special blend of house-made spices, a recipe she keeps closely guarded. It’s what gives the pork its deep, savoury Asian umami flavour before being cooked til the skin is crisp and crackling. There is no packet crackling here..
The bakery goes through between 150kg and 180kg of pork belly each week, so there is a serious amount of preparation behind those rolls.
The sauces are all made in-house to recipes that Debbie has developed and refined over many years—regular customers say they can taste the difference between her sauces and store-bought versions. They are not simply an extra layer; they help bring together the richness of the pork, the freshness of the herbs and the acidity and crunch of the house-pickled vegetables, all tucked into a light, crisp baguette.
The combination might sound simple, but it’s the careful preparation of each element that really makes the difference.
For those new to bánh mì, Debbie’s traditional pork roll is a great introduction. This version uses thin, wide slices of Vietnamese pork sausage known as chả lụa. They may look a little like luncheon meat, but chả lụa is made from finely ground pork, seasoned and steamed before being sliced, giving it a smooth, firm texture and mild savoury flavour.
Also on this roll is the bakery’s house-made pâté, a classic bánh mì ingredient reflecting the French influence on Vietnamese food. This adds a rich, creamy layer with savoury notes of garlic and black pepper while helping to protect the crisp baguette from becoming soggy.
Behind all of them is Debbie, who grew up in Vietnam before arriving in Australia in 1981. Her family’s connection with baking began in Sydney, where her husband Phu started baking for a family member’s business. Debbie remembers trying her first bánh mì while living in Sydney, long before the couple eventually made their way to Nowra after purchasing the bakery from her sister who ran it for the previous 10 years.
Debbie and Phu have owned Nowra Village Hot Bake for 20 years now. Phu is the bakery’s only baker, responsible for the daily rolls, pies and other favourites, while Debbie’s sister-in-law works alongside her each day. Her staff Tash and Tracey have also become part of the bakery family and Tash has her own childhood memories of the bakery, where her dad would order rolls for the Navy base’s hot dog days.
Debbie’s children and staff joke about just how high her standards are when it comes to bánh mì. Every roll needs to be generously filled so customers leave with full bellies. She checks the rolls from time to time for a little quality control, making sure there is always plenty inside.
Her guidelines are clear: there needs to be enough pork to have it bursting out the sides of the roll. From my experience, the temptation to pick out a piece of crispy pork belly before taking the first bite is impossible to resist. It is wonderfully messy food, and that is part of the appeal.
It is clear Debbie takes every roll seriously. And her customers seem to notice.
People travel from Sydney and further afield to visit the bakery. Some customers who have moved away make a point of returning whenever they are back in Nowra, while others bring visiting family and friends to try what they describe as “the best banh mi in town”.
The crispy pork rolls have even attracted attention beyond the local following, with a food reviewer who travels widely trying new food stopping by to make a TikTok review of the bakery’s crispy pork rolls.
But for Debbie, it’s not the reviews or the distance people travel that matters most. It is what happens at the counter each day.
“My lovely customers’ smiles and positive comments make all our hard work worth it,” she says. “To know we make people happy with our food is the best feeling.”
For Debbie, the recipe for success is simple: make the food to a standard you are proud of, look after your customers and keep the bakery doors opening at 6am.
Debbie starts her 10-hour day at 6am, but for her, one of the best parts of the job remains the simplest. “I love to serve and talk to all my lovely customers, knowing they are leaving with my food made from the heart and their bellies will be full.”
142 Junction Street, Nowra, Monday to Friday 6am to 4pm, Saturday 6am to 1pm.
Second Stop: Old Salt South Nowra
Tucked into the South Nowra industrial zone, Old Salt Distillery has built a loyal following for its lamb and gravy roll, with some customers planning their week around Thursday and Friday lunch just to get their hands on one. They sell an average of 50 rolls a day, but when things pick up, as many as 100 can go out the door, $22-$25 with chips and a soft drink.
This is why. The local lamb is cooked low and slow for 18 hours in their combi oven, allowing the meat to become fall-apart tender. Then it gets kissed by the fire on the grill, which helps cut through the richness of that fatty lamb and gives it depth from a slightly smoky flavour you just can’t get any other way, says Chef Terry Robinson.
Terry says the two-step cooking process takes time, but the result is worth it.
Then comes the homemade gravy, made old-school style by roasting down bones and vegetables, then thickening the pan juices with a traditional roux. The resulting gravy is glossy and creamy, made to drip generously from the sides of the roll rather than sit politely beside it. Because of that classic flour base, however, it is unfortunately not gluten free.
The bread matters too and has been given just as much attention. Old Salt works with Bakehouse Delights, using their Bomo Bakery torpedo roll without seeds. It is crusty and toasted on the outside, sturdy enough to carry a generous filling but still soft in the middle. Even the toasting time has been carefully worked out to get the balance right.
It might sound like a simple lamb roll, but there is plenty of experience behind it.
Terry and Michelle Robinson are both chefs by trade, with more than two decades of experience between them in some of Sydney’s best-known fine-diners including Tetsuya, Quay, Sepia, Victor Churchill and Bourke Street Bakery.
They apply the same attention to technique in everything they do at Old Salt—from the still to the fire—to present food that is deliberately uncomplicated. “It’s not about complexity for the sake of it,” they explain. “It’s using different cuts and letting technique do the work, so the result speaks for itself.”
The lamb roll has been on the lunch menu since Old Salt opened in 2022 and is an icon of the distillery’s identity alongside its seltzers.
The rolls are only part of the story. Once the kitchen’s full menu closes and the last lamb rolls have gone out, Terry and Michelle keep on working behind the scenes as distillers.
It is a full day of wearing different hats, moving between the kitchen and the distillery, but it is clear Terry and Michelle would not have it any other way.
Third Stop: The Café at Bay and Bush Woollamia
Our trail now takes us closer to home in Jervis Bay, where The Café at Bay and Bush in Woollamia has cleverly encased a classic baked dinner into a roll, $23.
Chef Alexia invited us into the kitchen to see how this comforting combination comes together and it all begins with the lamb shoulder. Kept deliberately simple, the lamb is slow-cooked in the oven for three and a half hours with carrots, garlic and salt.
“Nice and simple,” says Alexia, who prefers not to add too many herbs at this stage. More can always be added later if needed, allowing the flavour of the lamb to remain the focus.
Made to order, the lamb is carefully pulled apart, quickly grilled on the kitchen hot plate to give the meat a caramelised finish without drying it out.
Then there is the gravy, which has a story of its own.
The cooking juices from the lamb are strained to retain all that good collagen before being refrigerated. As it cools, a thick layer of fat rises to the top, which is carefully removed and put to good use, adding richness to other dishes or wrapped in paper to become firelighters for the 27-acre property’s fireplaces. When the stock is needed, it becomes the base for the café’s gravy, along with a few of Alexia’s secret ingredients.
The lamb stock is also put to work elsewhere in the kitchen. For the café’s osso buco, carrots are cooked in the stock for three hours before being finished on the grill, showing just how versatile a good stock can be when it comes to building flavour across a menu.
Importantly, the gravy is gluten free, something Alexia says is a priority across the menu. Almost everything at the café is gluten free to make the food accessible to more diners.
The roll is toasted in the oven before being layered with melted butter, the warm pulled lamb and plenty of that silky gravy, which drips generously over the meat. On top comes The Café’s signature roasted rosemary crisp carrots, which curl into little crisps, finished with a sprig or two of dill.
It’s a baked dinner in roll form, but there is beauty in the simplicity of it. Alexia describes the lamb roll as the epitome of comfort food, much like a traditional roast.
21 Pritchard Avenue Woollamia, Thursday-Sunday 8am-1.30pm.
Last Stop: Harley’s at Husky in Huskisson
Our trail ends in Huskisson, where Harley’s at Husky has been serving its own take on the Vietnamese classic since Harley’s caravan days—this roll has earned its rightful place on their menu. We were invited into the kitchen to see exactly what goes into Harley’s $17 bánh mì, with Italian chef Marco taking us through the process from the first slice of pork to the finished roll.
It all starts with the pork neck.
We watched Marco finishing off a piece of his two hour and 40 minute slow-cooked pork neck on the hot plate, cooked to order. This is his preferred cut because the higher fat content keeps the pork beautifully juicy and tender while bringing plenty of flavour to the finished roll.
The pork is slow cooked with Harley’s own secret spice mix and fresh lemongrass before being chilled and sliced into thick discs, ready to be cooked to order.
The familiar flavour shines through when the sliced pork neck hits the hot plate at high heat, quickly rendering the fat and giving the edges that delicious crispness and caramelisation Marco is looking for. The result is tender pork through the middle with those slightly charred, crispy edges, bringing two very different textures to the one bite.
This simple finishing step is why Marco is so particular about the pork. The slow cooking gives it tenderness, while that final blast on the hot plate brings it back to life.
Harley’s has given the classic bánh mì its own local interpretation. Rather than using traditional pâté, Marco uses their house-made mayonnaise, while butter is left out altogether. With the pork carrying plenty of its own richness, the mayonnaise works as a lighter partner while allowing the pork to remain the star.
And judging by the numbers, customers agree.
Harley’s sells around 20 bánh mì a day during the quieter months, climbing to 30-plus during peak season.
The fresh ingredients arrive daily, with finely sliced red cabbage layered over the pork before the roll is finished with slices of cucumber and the kitchen’s crunchy batons of pickled daikon and carrot. Spring onion, coriander and sliced red chilli bring the final burst of colour, freshness and heat. A perfectly flaky, crisp roll holds everything together. In the space of our six-minute kitchen visit, Marco had taken a collection of carefully prepared ingredients and turned them into a delicious spin on a bánh mì.
If you like your pork with plenty of crunch, Marco is more than happy for you to ask for it “extra crispy”. After watching those slices hit the hot plate, caramelise and crisp up around the edges, it is certainly how we will order it next time.
What I particularly like about Harley’s version is that it doesn’t try to be something it’s not. It takes the idea of a traditional bánh mì, keeps the things that make the roll so good, then gives it a Harley’s twist.
Open every day on Owen Street from 6:30am–3pm.
