Why Sizzler will give away its cheese toast next week

IF you're one of those people that keeps going back to Sizzler restaurants on the strength of their cheese toast, I have two pieces of good news for you.

MEET SAM: Everybody... I'd like you to meet Sam. He is enjoying some famous cheese toast. He loves it so much he wanted a snap of himself eating it. Photo Matt Green. Picture: Contributed

IF you're one of those people that keeps going back to Sizzler restaurants on the strength of their cheese toast, I have two pieces of good news for you.

I also have one piece of bad news, but that only applies if you're in Bundaberg, which some (not me, obviously) might say qualifies as bad news all by itself.

1. The restaurant chain is giving away cheese toast for free to anyone who turns up next Saturday* between 11am and 4pm. No purchase of any kind required. The bad news is if you're in Bundaberg you'll need to buy a meal to get your cheesy toast the regular way. Up to you.

2. Sizzler has let slip the recipe for their cheese toast on their website, so now you can make your own any time you have a loaf of bread, some butter, some pecorino cheese, and a hotplate.

The recipe is actually not much more complicated than that list of ingredients. Here's how Sizzler puts it (random capital letters and ellipses their own):

"To make our famous Cheese Toast we start with a thick slice of fresh white bread... spread it with a delicious mix of Pecorino cheese and margarine. Then we toast it on a flat grill until it's cheesy on one side and soft and chewy on the other, and tadah... you have your own delicious Cheese Toast!"

So, why the big, cheesy largess?

January 21, it turns out, is National Cheese Toast Day. Well, actually, it's just Saturday for most people. But Sizzler has decided here in Australia it is National Cheese Toast Day.

And if that means a free, if somewhat carb-heavy, feed without having to fork out for the salad bar, then that's fine by me.

In the US, incidentally, where they have a National Day for pretty much every bit of tomfoolery you can imagine, National Cheese Toast Day is an actual thing, although it happened a few months ago.

You'll also no doubt be completely unsurprised to learn the US National Cheese Toast Day is also something entirely of Sizzler's own invention, despite its extra layer of legitimacy.

According to the nationaldaycalendar.com website, Sizzler's US headquarters petitioned for a National Cheese Toast Day back in July 2015 and the day was officially chalked down for solemn observation on September 15.

So if you are so genuinely excited by National Cheese Toast Day that you're still reading this, you'll presumably be happy to know you can celebrate it twice a year.

Good times.

* In a burst of cheesy enthusiasm the author initially interpreted Sizzler's National Cheese Toast Day press release as referring to today. He shares your disappointment and anticipation.