The Day Today

119 Ormeau Road, BT7 1SH

Vital stats

Price: 85p | Length: 182mm | Girth: 50mm

Condiment delivery method: Sachet

Scores

Filling / pastry ratio: 7

Filling consistency: 6

Pastry flakiness: 8

Structural integrity: 7

Overall taste: 6

Overall presentation: 7

Total: 41 snout of 60

In one of my many consultancy roles, I spend a bit of time in a charming little speakeasy on University Street. Whilst the establishment itself doesn’t sell sausage rolls, the staff are more than partial to a bit of pork and I’m happy to keep them on top of criteria. Their local snag provider is primarily a newsagent - The Day Today. Having enjoyed many an off-duty roll from this shop, I stride in practically writing the review before I even sample the sausage.

How foolish! As I should have known from their title, this establishment lives firmly in the present. Things have changed - their humble hot cabinet of half a dozen savouries has been replaced by a mammoth mission control offering sodas, lattices and much more. Slightly perturbed, I seem to question myself more so than order “One sausage roll please?”

I’m relieved to find the roll is still delivered in my favourite paper bag. Depicting a healthy golden meadow with long shoots of grass and flowers in full bloom, it is completely at contrast with any manner of food ever to be served in it.

Condiment delivery method has changed from a generous squirt to a sachet but I’m glad to see it’s Heinz and not the inferior Country Range.

I retire to the aforementioned bar and tuck in. Having noticed a worrying crack in the pastry along the side of the roll, I’m expecting heavy flaking but it doesn’t transpire. A very tight and slightly dried looking crimp provides the roll with enough tensure to prevent the dreaded pastry lift-off. For a such a long savoury, it is consistently stable throughout the whole of the tasting. Whilst there are visible signs of onion, the meat itself doesn’t have a lot of discernible taste and turns into a sort of mush - something I believe may help with it’s structural integrity.

The squashed sausage and generally well lubricated nature of the roll means it’s dispatched within a manner of seconds. This easy eating leads me to advocate it as a savoury for a young child being weaned off his mother’s teat although I’d imagine the Department of Health and Social Services may beg to differ. This generic roll may lack the intricate tastes of it’s bakery counterpart but there is a certain something about it that leaves us feeling satisfied. Like the cornershop from where it came, it truly serves it’s purpose.

Dr. Sage