Ask a chef what they cook for a living and you’ll get a considered answer. Ask what they eat at home or feed their team when nobody’s watching, and the reply comes back in minutes.
That was our experience putting this piece together. We reached out to a handful of WA chefs expecting the usual polite delay, and instead had replies within the hour, several within minutes, all of them detailed, opinionated and clearly enjoying the question. Turns out the toastie occupies a particular place in a chef’s life: the thing made after service, the staff meal thrown together from whatever’s left from prep, the lazy Monday day off version that has absolutely nothing to do with the menu they cook for a living.
What came back was a genuine cross-section of fillings in the humble toasted sandwich which WA’s best cooks eat when they’re off the clock. Wheatbelt eggs and homemade ham. Tinned steak and jalapeño in a jaffle maker. A Croque Monsieur built the proper way, and a very unserious peanut butter and jam on white. Strong opinions came through on stale bread, mustard and the correct amount of cheese.
Here’s what they told us, in their own words.
Chef Brendan Pratt, Wayfinder
My fave is leftover spag bol, a good wack of whatever cheese I have in the fridge, hopefully parmesan, and a heap of Jibba’s hot sauce. Toasted hard.
Just good old sliced bread so the crusts aren’t too tough. Outside smothered with butter, and then you’ve got to use a good cast iron pan, a little baking paper on top and weight the sandwich down a little as it grills, and the butter starts to foam. This way you get that even colour and crispness across. No sandwich press!
Chef Blaze Young, Edward and Idas, and Foxtrot Unicorn
My favourite at the moment is a mushroom melt: mushrooms sautéed in an ungodly amount of garlic and thyme with a little butter, sandwiched with a nice, stretchy cheese. I love raiding the specials bin at my local deli, ripe cheese is the best cheese. My go-to for that perfect melt is a smoked scamorza or provolone, though the GOAT toastie cheese, in my opinion, is fontina: the perfect amount of silky, gooey and funky.
The trick to a crunchy, golden crust is buttering the outside of the bread and sprinkling it with grated parmesan. And if you’re toasting in a pan, weigh the sandwich down with another small pot for maximum surface contact.
Chef Ben Ing, Alberta’s
I’m pretty old school when it comes to toasties. Give me a proper ham and cheese with a hot English and seeded mustard mix and I’m happy.
Growing up, the best toasties were never planned. They happened the day or two after Easter or Christmas, when there was still a massive cold-smoked ham sitting in the fridge: thick slices of Ontario ham glazed with good maple syrup, tucked between sourdough with plenty of Old Quebec vintage cheddar. That’s the benchmark for me.
A few hills I’m willing to die on: day-old, even slightly stale bread, because fresh bread just drinks butter and goes soggy, while slightly stale bread gives you that proper crunch. Cheese on the outside of the bread as well as the inside, the inside-out grilled cheese move is elite, the crispy, caramelised cheese edges are the best part. And no tomato inside the toastie, ever, unless your goal is to remove the roof of your mouth with molten tomato and ruin your weekend.
Hot English mustard is a massive upgrade too, it cuts through the richness and gives the whole thing some punch. And choose a cheese with some personality: a good mature cheddar, Gruyère or Comté. Life’s too short for flavourless cheese that melts into beige slop. Simple, done properly, beats a loaded toastie for me every time.
Chef Brayden Davis, The Box Tree, UK
Humble in name, elegant in execution. Good leg ham layered with a cheesy bechamel, given depth by a solid dollop of English or seeded mustard. More bechamel goes on the lid, finished with a light scatter of cheese and grilled until golden. A fried egg on top turns it into a Croque Madame. If Western Australian truffle offcuts are around, especially in season, they’re always worth folding through.
Chef Mal Chow, Chow’s Table
My toastie is a Turkish chicken version. I take a barbecue chook, shred it, and mix it through with a dollop of Japanese mayo and a scatter of chilli flakes. On the Turkish bread, I spread butter on both sides, Branston pickle on one, the chicken mix on the other, then top it with a blend of cheddar and mozzarella before pressing it together and toasting until the cheese is bursting out the sides.
Chef Eddie Bulatao, Gather Foods
Mine is leftover chicken, from a whole chicken from Woolworths, and a cheese toastie. I use sliced cheddar and lots of butter on both sides of the bread, and Wheatbelt Bakehouse rye bread, sliced.
Chef Matt Moran, Matt Moran Restaurants
No question, good leg ham, cheese and tomato, lots of cheese, and extra toasted so the cheese melts. I do it in a pan with a fish slice weighing it down on top. Sourdough is the bread of choice, always.
Chef Toby Fisher, The Table at Bullara Station
My toastie is a Croque Madame, built on a beautiful country loaf with quality French Comté and Gruyère, artisan dry-cured ham, and my wife’s mum’s unbelievable homegrown eggs, fried in Capel butter.
Those eggs come from the family’s place out in the Wheatbelt, honestly the best eggs I’ve ever eaten. The hens get all the homestead scraps plus natural supplements and spent wheat, so good. For oil, I use Block 275 canola, from just outside Geraldton. When I’m in Perth I use bread from Padbury baker Kilo, amazing sourdough, owned by a mate of mine, Luca. And I love Rickles pickles, made by another friend, Ricky, who used to work at Glenarty Road. Any of his recipes and sauces are great.
Chef Justin Bell, Pinchos
Pork, jalapeño, cheese and caramelised onion is my favourite toasted sandwich filling combination. Whatever pork is on hand, from a leftover roast to a simple chop, forms the base. Pickled jalapeños bring heat and crunch against the richness. For cheese, a strong cheddar, Parmigiano or manchego, chosen for bite rather than meltability alone. The onions are caramelised low and slow, finished with sherry vinegar and brown sugar for a sweet acidic edge that cuts through the pork and cheese. Pressed hot until the cheese collapses and the edges turn dark gold.
Chef Chase Weber, Sesh Mafia Group
Mine would be a triple-smoked country ham, provolone, mozzarella and green tomato chutney toastie. Nothing too fancy: good crusty white bread, plenty of butter on the outside, thick-sliced smoked ham, provolone, a good handful of shredded mozzarella and some green tomato chutney. I also sprinkle a bit of pecorino on the outside so it fries into the bread and gets nice and crispy.
I cook it pretty slowly in a pan with plenty of butter until it’s properly golden, then I always give it a cheeky twenty-second zap in the microwave at the end. Probably sacrilege to some people, but it makes sure the cheese is completely molten. The green tomato chutney cuts through all the ham, cheese and butter nicely. Pretty simple, but bloody good.
Chef Stephen Chen, Millbrook Winery
At work, my go-to is a very classic Croque Monsieur, but using the ham we make here at Millbrook Winery from our own Berkshire pork. It’s inspired by the classic jambon blanc; we brine the pork rump for a week with plenty of Christmassy spices before cooking it. I then layer it with Gruyère béchamel and slices of Gruyère between the layers, with more béchamel spread over the top of the sourdough. It gets baked until lightly golden and bubbling, then served simply with a few cornichons on the side.
At home, though, I’m pretty lazy. I’ll just do plain white toast with a heavy spread of peanut butter and strawberry jam, only lightly toasted, with a little colour on the outside but still soft in the middle.
Chef Amy Hamilton, Liberté
Okay, so I actually really love canned braised steak and onions with a really sharp cheddar and some pickled jalapeño. I prefer basic, sliced trashy supermarket bread, and it’s best made in a jaffle maker, because all the juices get contained within the toastie. The brand: Harvest braised steak and onions – the only choice for me.
Chef James Higgs, Lulu La Delizia
Toasted sandwiches are my late-night, post-service snack. My favourite to smash out when I get home from work is a classic ham, egg, cheese and tomato.
I melt two generous spoons of unsalted butter, not the spreadable kind, in the microwave, then grate in some Parmigiano Reggiano or pecorino, whatever’s in the fridge, and spread that butter and cheese mix on what will be the outside of the bread. I put the first slice in a large nonstick pan and crack an egg in at the same time. While the bread and egg are frying, I put good-quality cheddar and ham on the other slice. Once the egg is done, sunny side up, I place the second slice into the pan, add tomato, heirloom or oxheart are best, along with a bit of a blended parsley and roasted capsicum salsa verde or chimichurri I normally have in the fridge, then put the egg in the middle and combine the two pieces.
It comes out like a crispy, sizzler cheese-toast sandwich, hitting all the right spots: runny yolk, meaty, gooey, cheesy filling. Perfect after service, and easy to put together.
Chef Mandy Anthony, Vitality House
I love the simplicity of a good cheese and tomato toasty. This is my go to – the secret is black pepper on the tomato.
Chef Kim Brennan, FiveEight Group
Lately, for a staff meal, when we trim beef cheeks, all the trim gets kept and turned into pulled beef, slow cooked down with the reduced braising liquor. It goes onto sliced sourdough with some hot pickles, sliced provolone and a bit of aioli to round it out.
Chef Scott Bridger, Pearla
For me, it’s a can of good quality sardines, laid over sourdough (top choice is Hunter Bread, Bicton, if they have any left). On the other slice of sourdough, a light rub of harissa and some pickled red onions. Rubbed all over with some olive oil, sea salt and a crushed garlic clove, then toast as you would.
Once it’s toasted and slightly warm inside, I put a couple of slices of cos lettuce in the middle. No cheese in this bad boy, so it’s easy to add fresh ingredients at the end.
Chef Melissa Palinkas, Parker Group
My favourite toasty has to be a classic from the 90s cafe era in Perth. Rotisserie chicken, cheddar cheese, smashed avocado and semi dried tomato with mayo on thick toast. Butter has to go edge to edge on the outside before it goes on the plancha. In an ideal world I’d use Kerrygold butter all the time, but generally I buy the grass fed butter from Woolies.