Mascot's Methadone Clinic (Hong Ha Bakery)

On the rare occasions that I go to Mascot, which is usually to pick up or drop off a friend at Sydney's domestic airport. I will find myself having Bánh mì's at Hong Ha Bakery 90 percent of the time.

For all the years I seldomly visit Hong Ha, there is always a queue, no matter the day, I will make the comparison to 'heads lining up at a methadone clinic'.

It gets me asking all these questions as I approach the 2-storefront-long queue:

Where do all these people appear from?
Do they start queuing before it opens?
What's the earliest someone has ever lined up for a pork roll here?
Do they see a lack of a line and choose to line up because there's that opportunity?
What are the margins on a pork roll?
Why are there even other pork roll places^ nearby?
Does Hong Ha ever run out of pork rolls?
What if I don't get a pork roll?

All these existential questions happening, and each time I look behind my shoulder in paranoia that I won't get my pork roll in time for my friend's departing flight, I find other heads appearing from thin air. More questions fill my mind and then in an instant, I get a rude awakening.

It's the lady at the counter, the madame. 'What you want?' she says without patience. I fumble my basic order in broken Vietnamese, hands trembling from what seems like withdrawal symptoms as I remember: "It has been at least a year since my last hit here"

I promptly pay cash, and in less time than it takes to put the change away, they hand us the goods and we go to a local bench to take our first inhalation...

Each bite is just as good as it was the first time round.

The bread roll is 5/5. Filling is 5/5, to the brim, and the Ratio is 5/5.

The only con, outside of role-playing a junkie in the queue, is the 'service', but if you care about service at a pork roll place, you're clearly too pretentious and ignorant to understand what dedication and stamina it takes to feed thousands of junkies each day at that speed.

Is it the best pork roll in Sydney? It could be, but frankly, I'm not the guy to end that debate. All I can say is that if you're nearby, it is worth the trek.

What should I order? (For 2, ~$20)

• 2x Original Banh Mi

Hong Ha Bakery is found at 1151 Botany Road, Mascot NSW

^Footnotes: The other places that serve pork rolls within 100 meters of Hong Ha (1,2)