Chiko Rolls are apparently an Australian cultural icon. ‘Apparently’ because I’ve lived in Australia my entire life and only just tasted them. In my defence, they were popular at football matches and other outdoor events, neither of which I’m a regular.

Chiko Rolls have a crisp crunchy pastry outer filled with a mix of vegetables and meat. They’re essentially a Western spring roll as the person who developed it was inspired by people selling Chinese chop suey rolls at a cricket match and thought to develop something more robust and easily handled.

The Chiko Rolls are sold frozen. We choose to deep fry the Chiko Rolls, which involves cooking them for 10 minutes in oil preheated to 180°C. Alternatively, the instructions also recommend pan frying by cooking them for 20 minutes, turning every 5 minutes in a pan with 5mm of oil at medium to high heat.

Everything about the Chicko Roll is optimised for easy handling, from the provided signature paper sleeves for easy handling to the thickness of the pastry. Indeed, the pastry is too thick to be tasty with the filling, which is mostly vegetables (31%) with a touch of meat (4%). The overall mouthfeel was like chewing through tough, dry cardboard to eat a soggy, wet cardboard mash of cabbage and barley with a hint of carrot, celery, onion, and the odd green bean. Cardboard may be sturdy but it’s not tasty. Suffice to say, we’re not fans and we didn’t miss out by not having it in our childhood.

This Chiko Rolls contained 650 g or 4 pieces. It was produced in Australia and purchased in Sydney, Australia in 2018.