Having just opened before Sydney's progressive shutdown of cafés and restaurants, Mrs Palmer Sandwich barely had a chance to flex its sambo-making muscles before moving exclusively to takeaway service. But now, the Darlinghurst local sandwich shop – and sneaky Margarita bar out back – has scored a coup: it's inviting ten of Sydney's most illustrious chefs into its hole-in-the-wall kitchen and asking them to whip up the sambo of their dreams.
This week, Mrs Palmer Sandwich has invited Aria's Joel Bickford to create his own dream sandwich – and it's going to be a good one, with Bickford foraging for his own mushrooms in his hometown of Bowral for the occasion. He'll be using them to make a dry spice for the short-rib that will be the hero ingredient, along with a wombok slaw and fried shallots. Drool.
Two weeks ago, Josh Raine, executive chef at the one and only Tetsuya’s, kicked off the initiative in truly epic style with his sansho-crusted Japanese fried chicken sanga, smothered in a seaweed-infused burnt-cheese béchamel, and layered with smoked English bacon and sake-pickled cucumber. Raine's masterpiece was originally only going to be on sale for a week, but they decided to extend its reign "by popular demand and death threats". While white tablecloths and fine china may have taken a bit of a back seat in Sydney's dining scene for now, but you can still get your gourmet foodie fix here – for just $16 a sandwich.
Make sure to check in to Mrs Palmer's Instagram to keep up with the latest sandwich-making guests – Australian DJ Hayden James is slated to take part in coming weeks. You can grab your gourmet sandwich by pre-ordering here for pick-up, or drop in and say hey at their Darlinghurst outpost for takeaway.
Mrs Palmer Sandwich, 81 Stanley St, Darlinghurst 2010. 0400 475 710. mrspalmersandwich.com. Mon-Fri 11.30am-3pm.