The famous Australian sandwich you’ve (probably) never heard of

The dish

Conti roll, Western Australia

Plate up

Funny thing about Australia: we don’t have too many entirely original dishes. We’re great at adapting and recreating the food of those who have migrated to these shores. However, we don’t invent too many well-known foods, and those dishes we do come up with tend to spread around the whole country pretty quickly (pavlova, flat whites, smashed avo and the like).

A conti roll from the Re Store.

So, it can come as a surprise for eastern-state dwellers to travel to Perth and discover there’s a famous local sandwich you have never even heard of. Meet the “conti roll”. It’s short for “continental roll”, and it’s essentially a long, crusty roll filled with multiple deli meats (mortadella, salami, prosciutto and friends), sliced cheese such as provolone, and preserved, antipasti-style vegetables. It’s bulky, hearty and delicious.

First serve

After World War II there was a wave of Italian migrants who arrived in Western Australia, and some of those migrants set up small grocery stores to serve people missing all the good things from home. At around the same time, in the 1950s, two of those shops – The Re Store, and Di Chiera Brothers – began selling similar sandwiches packed with “continental” ingredients to hungry workers. Though the sandwiches were known then simply as panini, or panini Italiano, someone eventually hit on the idea of anglicising the name to broaden its appeal, and the continental roll was born. And then, because this is Australia, people gave it a nickname.

Order there

Though the Di Chiera Brothers store in Perth’s Northbridge sadly closed last year, you can still grab one of the “other” original conti rolls from the Re Store (the-re-store.com.au), open since 1936.

Order here

You are unlikely to find a conti roll per se east of the Nullarbor, but there are options for similar sandwiches. In Sydney, try Fabbrica Bread Shop (ciaofabbrica.com); in Melbourne there’s Nico’s Sandwich Deli (nicos.melbourne), and in Brisbane, visit Ham on Rye (hamonrye.com.au).

One more thing

What is Australia’s favourite sandwich? Is it plain old Vegemite? The spaghetti jaffle? Nah. Our choice for the sandwich that truly moves people and is almost universally loved has got to be the Vietnamese banh mi.