Potato cake burger, lasagne hot dog: Australia’s crazy food creations reveals

Just when you thought this year was a complete write-off, we discover a potato cake burger that’s well worth the road trip.

Just when you thought this year was a complete write-off, we discover a potato cake burger and a chicken nugget / donut hybrid called the “donug”.

These are Australia’s most jaw-dropping food creations, and some are well worth the road trip.|

This is the food worth the road trip.

Once upon a time, we gave some consideration to the food we put in our bodies. Perhaps we said no to the chips on the side with our schnitzel at the pub. Or went for the low-carb bun option with our ‘treat’ burger.

But then coronavirus swept in, and all of a sudden there’s more of a “live for today because who knows what tomorrow may bring” vibe going on.

The other thing COVID brought with it is the resurgence of the local road trip. So to give you a little inspiration for your next jaunt out of the house, we’ve rounded up some of the country’s most inventive food mash-up / hybrids for you to venture out and sample.

Sure, many of them are calorie-laden but as we said: seize the day. This one here is the ‘donug’ that you will find at the Red Hill Hotel in Chewton, Victoria. The chef’s creation was actually featured on Shark Tank – basically a giant chicken nugget shaped like a donut. The savoury treat goes perfectly with beer, and you can have it dunked in cheese, curry or chilli sauce.

Loosen your belt for this one.

Burgers are a pretty greasy affair a lot of the time, so we take our hat off to the fine folk at Griffin Burger in Ballarat, Victoria, for really upping the ante and creating a burger using two potato cakes in place of a bun. They also get extra bonus points for the name.

It’s called the “Carbra Streisand”. On one hand? It’s great for our gluten intolerant friends. On the other hand? You can only wear stretchy pants from here on in. If you really want to flip the bird to your health, order a side of their carbonara fries (!) with it.

Croissant and the meat pie wraps breakfast and lunch into one.

This one is a fairly recent addition. Rollers Bakehouse in Manly, NSW marked Father’s Day this year by merging two classic bakery snacks: the croissant and the meat pie. The only mash-up name we can come up with for it is The Cry.

Two classics merged into two – a schnitty and the classic eggs and bacon.

Here are two classics merged into one heart-stopping breakfast – the chicken schnitty and the classic eggs and bacon Aussie breakfast. Credit goes to Munich Brauhaus in Brisbane for coming up with this wild concept.

The ingredients in this lasagne hot dog hybrid may surprise you

Behold, the lasagne hot dog, which has a lot going for it. You’re doubling down on your carb intake (bread and pasta, together at last!) and it’s a way to eat lasagne without the pesky use of a fork, which really speaks to the lazy sloth inside us.

Fun fact: this is actually completely plant-based. It was created in conjunction with vegan chef Shannon Martinez (of Smith & Daughter’s fame in Melbourne) by the Alternative Meat Co and Deliveroo.

Think we might skip this dish.

Here’s something deeply upsetting. For Australia Day this year Adelaide’s Chuck Wagon 175 created a “special burger” that combined the iconic Lamington with a hamburger. The backlash online was swift and fair – as someone said on Facebook: “you ruined two meals”.

We’re not sure how to get your gob around this burger pie fusion.

This, on the other hand, has some merit. (Also, there’s definitely a theme emerging here … people just love swapping out those hamburger buns). The meat pie cheeseburger was created by the owner at Warnbro Quality Meats in Western Australia.

The fact that they opted to go with not one, not two, NOT THREE, but *four* burger patties really makes the mind boggle.

The Hamburger pie is the perfect road trip meal, although you may want to pull over to enjoy it.

Aaaaand here’s that concept flipped on its head. The ‘hamburger pie’ is the invention of Aussie celebrity chef Adriano Zumbo. Just putting it out there – the soggy-but-also-crispy pastry top of a pie is a thing of culinary beauty … why you would replace it with a dry ol’ burger bun is kind of baffling.

This is the stuff childhood food throwbacks are made of.

If you made a beeline for the fairy bread at birthday parties when you were a kid, this is the stuff dreams are made of. The Tea Cosy in Sydney presents the fairy bread sandwich – elegantly smushed together with lemon curd. It’s kind of genius – because as we discovered as kids, why shove just one piece of fairy bread into your gob when you can go for two?

This is another fine example of the ramped up fairy bread genre.

Another fine example of the ramped up fairy bread genre. Gelato Messina came up with this mouth-gift: a fairy bread pie, topped with ice cream. The crumbly bad boy (with a cookie base) is stuffed with vanilla custard and topped with 100s and 1000s. This is not part of the summer diet plan.