There's a whole host of purveyors battling it out to take out the top bagel-maker spot in Sydney: from drive-through bagels in Marrickville, to the classic boiled and baked kind at Iggy's Bread, to the creatively stuffed masterpieces at Bondi's Lox Stock and Barrel.
Bondi's Lox in a Box is a relative newcomer to Sydney's bagel scene, with founder Candy Berger opening up a little shopfront at Bondi's Seven Ways in 2019. Selling just five classic bagels at the deli – hot salt beef, panko schnitzel, classic egg salad, veggie, and, of course, a lox bagel with cured salmon, capers and cream cheese – the hole-in-the-wall joint sure is holding its own.
Now, Berger and her team have launched a collaboration with renowned cheese providores, The Studd Siblings, to create a whole new favour combination: the creamy and fiery 'Aphrodite Haloumi Bagel of Love' featuring Southern-fried haloumi, jalapeño sauce, bread and butter pickles, and a drizzle of Louisiana hot sauce.
The 'Aphrodite haloumi' at the heart of the creation is handmade in Cyprus from a combination of ewe's and goat's milk with varying ratios of each dependant on the milk's seasonal availability. Ellie Studd, of The Studd Siblings, is focussed on traditional cheese-making methods that preserve the quality and natural flavours of the product – like the haloumi, which is "drained in wicker baskets, before being hand-folded into its unique pocket shape." The craftsmanship woven into this humble haloumi results in an "incredible lemony tang from the goat milk, golden crust from the ewe milk and no rubbery texture,” says Studd.
That's enough for us. Grab your bagel from Saturday July 25 from Lox in a Box – it'll be available on weekends until August 23.
