Grab a sarni before bussing to Bluesfest

BALONEY’S deli is collaborating with Brisbane sandwich shop Sarni to offer flame-roasted meatball subs for a special event on Easter Saturday.

The sandwiches will be available from 2.30pm into the evening — or until they sell out.

“We’re aiming to serve 300 of them,” said Baloney’s owner George McFarlane, whose love of the US mob drama The Sopranos inspired him to open a New York-style Italian sandwich deli at Byron Colab on Arakwal Country.

“There’s a bus stop just around the corner that takes people to Bluesfest and I just had this picture in my head of someone having a flame-roasted meatball sub with mortadella on the deck, and then hopping on the bus to go sing their heart out.

“It sounded like a pretty delightful experience so I thought I might as well make it happen.”

McFarlane said the business owners bonded over their love of sandwiches and started talking about what they could do together.

“The guys from Sarni are good friends of mine, and they’ve carved out a great niche with sandwiches designed for dinner,” he said.

“We all share the same values — we want to have fun with what we do. We recognised that cooking in each other’s spaces and pushing our businesses in new directions would be both exciting and challenging.”

The experience will be immersive, with customers able to watch their dinner sizzling in pizza ovens on the deck.

“We picked meatball subs because they’re a delicious New York–Italian classic,” he said. “We’re throwing some mortadella into the mix — it’s a nod to Baloney’s and adds a fun, flavour-packed twist.”