Last weekend in a Sydney warehouse, a bacon festival sizzled its way into our rapidly-clogging hearts. Restauranteur and chef Luke Mangan - as in mojo by Luke Mangan - threw a bacon-centric brunch in his #BrunchOfFun series.
As he has in the past, Luke brought together some of Sydney's best, baconiest, and brightest "foodie legends" including Black Star Pastry, N2 Gelato, Cuckoo Callay, Andy Bowdy, Katherine Sabbath and Tippity Teas.
Luke and his team raised the stakes, and our cholesterol, as we attempted to eat and drink our way throughout the bacon bonanza. Six intrepid Buzzfeed writers made sure that anything containing bacon was immediately consumed. Here are our thoughts.
Anna: Ohhhh, YUMM! Definitely my kind of brekkie drink. I wish the bacon was crispier, though.
Mat: I don't love tomato juice but I can definitely get used to drinking this liquid bacon and egg roll for breakfast.
Jemima: This is the first time I've tried a Bloody Mary. Can I have like ten more right now please?
Brad: This was gross, I also don't like Bloody Marys, but... the bacon was bacon-y?
Stephanie: I had like 40 of these I think and they were all A++, although they could have been spicier.
Anna: I don’t want to know what’s in this drink because it’s really good, and really good drinks have really bad stuff in them.
Mat: This froth is from MEAT FAT right? Which sounds gross at first but then you taste it and it's WORTH IT. I mean it still sounds gross... but this works on such a spiritual level for me.
Jemima: This is basically just champagne and bacon fat? I love it.
Brad: It looked like someone had already vomited it back up but it was quite tasty and refreshing.
Stephanie: After my 40 Bloody Marys, this was a pleasant and refreshing taste that I was not expecting to be so damn good. But there I was, gettin' my life from it.
Anna: Meh. Would have liked it more if there was bacon IN the drink, not just on top of it.
Mat: This was a fine plastic cup of tea until Jemima demanded they put vodka in it. Then it was GREAT.
Jemima: This tasted exactly like those free tasters at T2 until I asked the bartender to add vodka and it got a million times better.
Stephanie: I had NO time for these tea shenanigans and ordered another Bloody Mary instead.
Anna: Not the best bacon and egg roll I’ve tasted. Sorry!
Mat: Any bacon and egg roll is a good bacon and egg roll. Yes.
Jemima: Eh. Meh. Not amazing.
Stephanie: Like... it was fine? I don't know, I don't even really like bacon and egg rolls so my opinion on this is kind of whatever.
Nick: I’m hungover right now so this hit the spot perfectly.
Anna: This one had so much potential. I was imagining really deadly, really oozing with flavour, really Mexican empanadas. Alas, nothing like what I had in my head.
Mat: Cheesy, gooey... This was nice, I enjoyed it because it was very much like me - simple.
Jemima: I've never met an empanada that I didn't want to devour in ten seconds because of how good it was. This was no exception.
Anna: Ohhh, mmm. Wait, is this bacon?
Mat: There was a bacon party in my mouth and this pork katsu showed up uninvited and STAYED THE NIGHT.
Jemima: Yes please get this in my face. I don't think this is bacon but at this point I've had three Bellinis so who cares?
Brad: This was nice but also not bacon? It's not porkfest.
Charlotte: Um this is mind numbingly delicious, but seriously what's the difference between katsu and schnitzel?
Stephanie: I was so hammered by the time I tried this that I needed someone to explain to me that I wasn't eating a chicken schnitzel so like, it was good from what I remember but perhaps I'm not the best person to ask about this????
Nick: I can see myself alone in my bed at night eating a kilo of this.
Anna: I can make better paella than this. Nope.
Jemima: Nope, pass. Not enough bacon.
Charlotte: This aromatic dish summoned a delightful reminiscence in my mouth of the Iberian peninsula, evoking visions of gorgeous Portuguese men softly whispering "chorizo" with the correct pronunciation. 10/10 would have again, but without prawns because I hate prawns, this was a bacon festival, get outta there prawns.
Anna: SHIT!!!!!!! Best thing that’s entered my mouth today.
Mat: DID A WITCH CREATE THIS OUT OF ALL MY HOPES AND DREAMS? PROBABLY. Fatty, delicious and should be in my face all the time. Just like my dream man.
Jemima: Oh fuck. I want this for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day.
Anna: … it’s a cone of meat. Nothing more to it.
Mat: My vision board at home just says "cone of meat" on it, and this is everything I need in life.
Jemima: Like a deconstructed cheese board minus all the cheese and bread. I could probably pick the same thing up at Coles tbh.
Stephanie: This was great but also could have done with some cheese?
Anna: Love it! Love the theatrics too! WIN!
Mat: Gelatohmygod I am in love. I want to put this into all my holes. Mostly my mouth but - I mean - I'm not ruling anything out just yet.
Jemima: You had me at gelato. Then you had me more at sweet potato. Then you had me even more at cream. This is amazing.
Stephanie: This was so fucking good and you can trust me because I ate it before I was too drunk to tell the difference between pork and chicken. The crushed up fried bacon strips were delicious.
Anna: Like, they’re good, sure. But I didn’t really taste much bacon in there.
Mat: The chocolate/caramel tart has candied prosciutto shards, and the chocolate bit tastes slightly alcoholic? This was also my breakfast and was A+ life choices. The other two didn't taste like meat enough for me, but I loved the look of them.
Jemima: The prosciutto was the best part and I think if it had included more bacon / prosciutto it would have been better. As it was, it was yummy in a way that I would describe as "good", but nothing more.
Stephanie: These was good, a little hard to eat, needed more bacon, also. The actual cake could have been less cake and more brownie, also, but that's probs just me.
Anna: SOMEONE GIVE THIS TO ME FOR MY BIRTHDAY. OCTOBER 14.
Mat: This is what I imagine cake is like for angels. Like they put their harps down for an hour a day to eat this fucking glorious cake and God is just like 'ur welx'.
Jemima: Eh where's the bacon?
Brad: THIS WAS AMAZING AND EVEN THOUGH IT COST $12 I REGRET NOTHING.
Stephanie: I think this was good. I barely remember eating this but hey there's a GIF of me eating it so I suppose it must have happened.
Nick: BACON CAKE!!!! EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS!!!!!
Anna: I LOVED the food. And the smells! I just wished there was more selection. Maybe next year?
Mat: I thought this was going to be like a pile of bacon and egg rolls which would have been very boring. What we got instead was a huge array of incredible, delicious, alcoholic tastes and I loved every second of it. TBH I don't need bacon for at LEAST three hours.
Jemima: That was a lot of bacon for one morning, to be perfectly honest. I don't know if I'd buy anything like this ever if I was out at a cafe, but god damn, I enjoyed the hell out of it.
Brad: The ice cream bacon cake thing was by far the greatest part of the event, and also my weekend. I would try to make it at home, but I am pathetic.
Charlotte: As a wholehearted carnivore, this event was everything I imagined and more. Not only was bacon used in a myriad of innovative ways, my arteries are now clogged beyond the point of return and I expect to die a slow, pork-induced death... and I couldn't be happier!
Stephanie: I loved any event where I can get hammered at 10am. It ruined me. It also made my Snapchat story everything it could be and more.
Nick: Bacon is life. That is all.