Murray Bridge savoury slice and chocolate-coat Vegemite fudge quirks in creative Murraylands food, South Australia
The serious side of food being created in South Australia's Murraylands around Murray Bridge was balanced by novolities such as McCrue Bakery's savoury slice – puff pastry sandwiched together with minced meat gravy, topped with cheese and bacon bits – and chocolate-coated Vegemite fudge from Murray Bridge Cottage Box Chocolates.
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The South Australian river town of Murray Bridge created its own food subculture with oddities such as the savoury slice and chocolate-covered Vegemite fudge. The savoury slice – described by food writer and television show host Adam Liaw as “like a cross between a pie, lasagne and ham and cheese roll” – celebrated what was possibly its 50th birthday in 2024.
Murray Bridge’s Arcade Bakery, burned down in 2001, was credited by some as originating the savoury slice but what became McCue’s Bakery from 1975 took up the mantle as “home of the famous savoury slice”.
With two sheets of puff pastry sandwiched together with minced meat gravy, topped with cheese and bacon bits and baked, the savoury slice was formidable in itself. But Murray Bridge locals insisted that the best way to eat it was sandwiched in a flat buttered roll. Versions of the dish also were served in nearby Tailem Bend and Balhannah but the McCue’s version was the most famous.
The savoury slice wasn't the only oddity from Murray Bridge. Cottage Box Chocolates, a local business since 1984, made its own take on a classic Australian flavour with chocolate-coated Vegemite fudge. It also created the truly local such as chocolate laced with Murray River pink flat salt flakes as well as Mypolonga-grown apricots dipped in chocolate.
Murray Bridge and its Murraylands presented its serious food claims to nearly 60 noted chefs, including its own Mark Best, from all over Australia at a lunch hosted by Rio Vista Olives in Mypolonga in 2022. The focus of the lunch was buffalo, produced by Corey Jones’ South Australian Buffalo Company at Mypologa. Kris Lloyd, award-winning artisan from the Adelaide Hills, crafted the curd from milk supplied by the buffalo company, and was one of the only buffalo curd producers in the world. Other local brands presented at the lunch included Aussie Apricots, Woodland Apricots, Pomi Gold, Paradise Hill Honey and, from elsewhere in South Australia, Prohibition Liquor Co. and Koi Knives.
