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The sandwich is the mightiest of meals. Simple yet serious. Filling but fast. Bread with stuff inside it is what keeps this city ticking. So, to celebrate the sandwich in all of its glory, we’ve decided to stage a knock-out fight to the doughy death to decide who makes the finest sarnies in the city.
We’ll be launching our very first Sammie Slam on Monday July 29 on Time Out’s Instagram stories, where we’ll launch the first round of the contest, ready for your votes. A huge 16 of London’s best-loved sandwich spots are in the running. The final takes place on Friday August 2 and the winner will be announced on Monday August 5 to eternal glory.
The competing sandwich makers and their initial bouts are:
Panadera v Popham’s
Max’s Sandwich Shop v The Black Pig
Secret Sandwich Shop v Paul Rothe & Son
Mondo Sando v Toklas Bakery
St John v E5 Bakehouse
Dusty Knuckle v Sons and Daughters
Dom’s Subs v Rogue Sarnies
Untitled Sandwich Shop v Sandwich Sandwich
And who better to launch such an auspicious contest than Jeremy Lee, head chef at Quo Vadis and creator of London’s fanciest fine dining sarnie: QV’s legendary smoked eel sandwich. Over to you, Jeremy...
Jeremy Lee: ‘The sandwich is almost biblical. People have been breaking bread since they invited fire, and, fascinatingly, if you look at every single style of cooking on the planet, there is a sandwich of sorts. The variety is absolutely staggering. A sandwich at lunch is the most perfect thing, but you can also have them for breakfast, elevenses, afternoon tea, shivery bite, high tea, tea time, supper time and dinner time; especially with the remains of yesterday’s roast chicken or little slivers of roast pork, or a great big plethora of roasted vegetables.
‘My sandwich revelation was a holiday to France when I was 10 and I had a baguette with lettuce, tomato, ham and mayonnaise. I had never eaten anything like it in my life. I was blown away and that love remains. Moving forward, that became a benchmark.
‘Currently, when Anna Tobias of Cafe Deco posts a picture of her focaccia I’m all over it. I think Brindisa’s chorizo and rocket roll is a knockout sensation: always has been and always will be. And Lorcan Spiteri’s unbelievably good prawn toast at Caravel – it’s one layer of bread, but you can fold it!
‘The great thing about a sandwich is that it is pure simplicity itself. Making my smoked eel sandwich honed an instinct I didn’t even know I had. It was many moons ago, and I’ll be honest, I was hungover. I put smoked eel with horseradish cream and red onion pickle, slapped some sourdough on the grill, slathered it in butter and put this sandwich together. It was on the menu within minutes. Nobody was doing sandwiches back then, you would have been laughed out of the pool.
‘Now there are so many bread makers, bakers and sandwich makers out there, which is testimony to all the brilliant people who take sandwiches so seriously. The list of places included here is amazing. My message to them? Stick to your guns and don’t get too inventive! And there should always, always, be crisps on the side.’
The Time Out Sammie Slam kicks off on Instagram on Monday July 29. The winner will be announced on Friday August 2.