We’ve crowned Sydney’s best steak frites sandwich, plus eight more chip sangas to try

We don’t have to tell you that steak frites are everywhere right now. Lately, though, it’s even started showing up in sandwich form.

A steak frites sandwich is essentially a steak sanga with a few key differences. Firstly, it’s served on a crusty French baguette. Secondly, there’s the small but important matter of the fries, which are stuffed inside. And finally, there’s the sauce. Not tomato or barbecue, but something herby, buttery and delicious.

In the latest edition of Sandwich Watch – the column that tracks all the sandwiches you need to know about – we’ve rounded up our favourite steak frites sandwiches in Sydney, and crowned the city’s best.

Sandwich americain from Cafe Loulou

This take on the steak frites sandwich, known as a sandwich americain in France and mitraillette in Belgium, swaps the sliced steak for a minced beef patty, which ends up being juicier, crispier and infinitely easier to eat. But this $23 sandwich is no sloppy fast food number, at least not at Loulou, which serves le sandwich at its Martin Place bistro and North Sydney cafe. It starts with the bakery’s own French baguette, split and stuffed with a medium rare Haverick Meats’ beef patty. On top goes a tumble of hot fries and a slick of sauce andalouse, which is sweet, tangy and sharpened with confit garlic, espelette pepper and a splash of cornichon brine.

168 McLaren Street, North Sydney, loulou.sydney

Mitraillette from Bouillon L’Entrecote

The crew at this CBD French restaurant pride themsevles on their steak frites and have put a mitraillette on the lunch menu as a more accessible way to experience it. Between 11.30am and 5pm, you can eat their hefty sandwich with thin slices of wagyu sirloin (choose between rare or medium rare) on a house-made baguette with a generous scattering of French fries. On the side sits a silver gravy boat of buttery and herbaceous sauce inspired by the secret sauce at Parisian steak restaurant Le Relais de l’Entrecote. Going for $35, it’s enough to feed two, or one mega-starving diner if you’re keen to tackle it solo.

6 Loftus Street, Sydney, bouillonlentrecote.com.au

The caricato from Dom Panino

We reckon Tony Soprano would approve of this Italian-American style sandwich. The caricato at this Leichhardt panini powerhouse is an evolution of its rocky, their take on a Philly cheesesteak. Caricato is Italian slang for being “loaded” in the card game briscola, and this sandwich is indeed loaded with slices of crisp, salty MB+4 wagyu. The caramelised strips of meat are placed on its signature pane di casa roll and layered with sheets of melted provolone cheese, then finished with shoestring fries, kewpie mayo and house-made salsa verde. It’s $24, and is what hangover dreams are made of.

122 Marion Street, Leichhardt, dompanino.com.au

And the winner is: steak frites sandwich from Frank’s Deli

This is the steak frites sandwich to measure all other steak frites sandwiches. That’s partly due to its superb chips-to-meat-and-sauce ratio, but also the ingredients this Waverley shop uses are elite.

Each chewy baguette (from Grain Bakery across the road) comes with 180 grams of flank steak (120-day grain-fed premium Riverina Angus beef with a marble-score of 2 from Haverick Meats), which Frank’s sous vide and then finishes on the grill. Golden, well-seasoned chips are layered on top, then a verdant entrecôte sauce is liberally applied.

“It has upwards of 20 ingredients,” says owner and head chef Sammy Jakubiak. “There are fresh herbs – tarragon, thyme, parsley – capers, anchovies, mustard, egg yolk, garlic, escallops and a lot of butter.”

Made to her own recipe, Jakubiak’s luscious sauce importantly gives the big bundle much-needed lubrication and zest to cut through the richness.

Yes, it’s a task to smoosh the ingredients together so you can even pick it up, let alone eat it. But its size means you can easily share it with a buddy and be deeply satisfied. It’s $32, but the ingredients are worthy of even eating it deconstructed and in plate form (you know what we mean).

279 Bronte Road, Waverley, franksdeli.com.au

And more fried-potato-filled sangas to try

The most famous Sydney chip sandwich is probably the chip butty with curry sauce from Petersham’s Splash. Good Food reviewer Lee Tran Lam likes the “fry-heaped joy” so much she ordered it five times in three days.

In Camperdown, Derrel’s serves a chip “putty”, which is like a chip butty, only served on a soft Indian pav bread, doused in a butter chicken “gravy”. Two French sisters are behind Marrickville’s Metro Brew’In, which also serves hefty steak frites sandwiches (find the cafe on Edinburgh Road).

For some double potato action, head to Lu’s Deli in Newtown, where the steak sandwich on the dinner menu ups the potato factor with a sandwich-friendly hash brown inside, plus French fries on the side. Add the fries into the sandwich to reach potato nirvana.

Chicken and chips lovers should try this sandwich special currently at Happy Alley in Rockdale. The house-made, sesame-speckled Lebanese ka’ak bread is filled with spiced hot chippies, juicy lemon and garlic-marinated chicken, pickles, cheese, tomatoes and shredded lettuce. They have also done a steak frites sandwich special in the past, which is making a return soon.

This is the latest instalment of Sandwich Watch, a column dedicated to the Sydney sandwiches you need to know about.