The Missing Link – Review of BBaba Sausage Sizzle

In Australia you would be hard pressed not to come face-to-face with a sizzling sausage.

At any given time, BBQs and grills are being fired up in car parks, sports grounds and even at high end events and links of sausages being prodded and poked all in the name of fundraising.

Yes, we Aussies love a sizzling sausage.

Sausage sizzles are a fundraising and community event. Consisting of a gathering where a barbequed sausage is served on a slice of white bread or on a bread roll, and may be accompanied by tomato sauce, mustard, and sometimes barbecued onions. All ingredients are usually purchased as cheaply (or donated) as possible, so as to maximise fundraising.

It’s a right of passage.

So when I heard about an “Australian Hotdog Place” opening in Doha, I knew two things. A. I must go there and B. they really meant sausages.

I was right. BBaba Sausage Sizzle plays on that Australia love of a sausage. The family run place tucked away in Abu Hamour also serves up other Australian delicacies including sausage rolls (that’s another post), chips with chicken salt and the much contested potato scallop.

My visit with the ever-willing Brooke on a hot Saturday in August saw us restrain ourselves from ordering everything on the menu. I settled for The Sizzler which pressed all my umami buttons – pickles, onions, mustard, cheese with a beef sausage. You can choose from lamb, beef or chicken.

The sausages are home made and you can tell – no extra filling just pure meat and spices.

While the bread is still very Doha (a little sweet), the resulting taste took me right back to those 1st Mays Hill Brownies sausage sizzles held in god forsaken supermarket carparks on a Saturday morning. That’s a good memory.

Other options include sausage and rolls filled with smokey BBQ bacon, chilli cheese or basically anything you want.

The chips were also excellent – hand cut and dusted with chicken salt. How to describe chicken salt other than “Chicldren’s Crack”. It contains chicken extract…and crack.

They make their own chicken salt at BBaba and I dare not ask the secret. The above photo also reveals they had pineapple fritters – a strange Australian tradition made from tinned pineapple which has been battered and fried.These were dusted with sugar and cinnamon.

Where I really had a childhood flashback was their potato scallops. The name differs depending on your state of birth – scallops, potato fritters or potato cakes. There has been an ongoing Twitter war

Essentially they are slices of potatoes, battered, deepfried and dusted in salt. I like mine with tomato sauce (ketchup to peasants) on white bread.

I have challenged the team to make a Doha version of the epic Australian delicacy Chiko Roll and await their response.

Verdict: while it’s great to see a little slice of Australia in Doha, I’m also pleased to see a unique, family owned concept developed here. As a foodie and blogger, I’m also excited to see fresh, hand made food being served up at reasonable prices. BBaba Sausage Sizzle maybe firmly rooted in their Australian heritage, but this is a concept everyone can enjoy. Who doesn’t love a sizzling sausage?

The details:

BBaba Sausage Sizzle

Shop 22

01 Mall (AKA Megamart)

Ain Khaled

You can find them on Facebook: http://www.facebook.combbabasausagesizzle or Twitter @SoSizzled