Where to find the best sandwiches in London

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10 April 2012

In 2005, Ruth Reichl, then the most powerful food writer in the US, visited England. As editor of Gourmet magazine, Reichl ate at all the glitziest restaurants, enjoying feasts cooked by the likes of Gordon and Heston. But the meal she rated above all others was a simple toasted cheddar and onion sandwich from Borough Market. It was, she said, the "best thing" she ate during her entire visit.

In retrospect, Reichl's verdict confirmed that our attitude to sandwiches was changing. Farewell, Spam and pickle in Tupperware on a rainy day; hello, pecorino sardo and artichokes on ciabatta (as served at Rosie's deli in Brixton). Finally we were starting to realise the pleasurable possibilities in the most widely exported of all British dishes. Fast forward five years and London has become a truly exciting place to eat something between two slices of bread. We are the new sandwich generation. Our greatest invention has come home.

It's not as if we are sandwich novices — we've been eating them ever since the 1750s when John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich, an impatient man, refused to stop for dinner, instead ordering some cold beef in toast. By the 1840s, close to half a million ham sandwiches were sold on the streets of London.

Volume, however, is not the same as quality. The Victorian ham sandwich was simply a utilitarian thing, a measly portion of boiled gammon thrust between dry bread with a smear of mustard. They were bought by drunks reeling out of the theatres to sop up the alcohol.

Until recently, we'd never quite "got" sandwiches in the way Americans did. In the US, sandwiches are capacious parcels of pleasure. New Yorkers will cross town in their lunch hour to eat the perfect salt beef on rye. London sandwiches, by contrast, have often been sad affairs: cold, pleasureless morsels, to be dispatched, one-handed, as quickly as possible while staring at a screen. Our favourite national sandwich is still the sorry "sand-wedge", moist triangles available from chill cabinets in every supermarket in every high street.

Still, something has changed in the past couple of years. It's partly the new austerity, which has driven us to devise wild concoctions from whatever is in the fridge. You hear office workers talking, half competitively, half companionably, about the great sandwich they rustled up from last night's leftovers, comparing lunchboxes like kids in the school canteen. You show me yours, I'll show you mine. Briefcases open and bulging foil packages fall out on to desks. One person parades their Spanish omelette and watercress on sourdough. Another whips out an eccentric wrap rustled from cold chipolatas and lime pickle. "And it cost me nothing!"

However, our current sandwich revival goes far beyond homemade improvisation. The really exciting thing is the number of independent sandwich makers now selling a single variety, and obsessing over every last detail: the bread, the filling, the seasoning.

Let's return to Ruth Reichl and that toasted cheddar sandwich. This was not any old Breville toastie (lovely as these can be, when you're tired, broke and cold). Reichl's sandwich was devised by Bill Oglethorpe, who works for Neal's Yard Dairy. The cheddar was grated Montgomery's.

To this Oglethorpe added a mix of red and white onions, leeks, shallots and, in case this wasn't oniony enough, just a touch of garlic. The whole thing was heaped into pain Poilâne and grilled in a panini maker until golden and oozing.

Oglethorpe is still selling these gooey wonders at Borough Market on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays (his stall is Kappacasein). Even at £5 apiece, the queues are always huge.

Those crowds are not stupid. There's a reason the hordes gather at Kappacasein and at Brindisa, another Borough stall where people happily wait half an hour to get their hands around a chorizo and piquillo pepper roll. The reason is this: a good sandwich is as good as food gets. And it's cheap. In a high-end restaurant, £5 buys you zilch — maybe a side of wilted spinach. In sandwich terms, £5 buys you the whole meal: protein, vegetables and carbohydrate, united in one nifty farinaceous container.

The economics of the new sandwiches goes something like this: if you buy your lunch every working day from a high street chain — a sandwich plus crisps and a drink — you could easily spend £5 a day on nothing special. Over a year, this would add up to around £1,200. But what if you forgot the crisps (after all, who needs the calories?) and got your drink for free from the office water cooler? You could then spend your fiver on something truly fabulous and memorable. For example, if you work near Soho, you could take yourself to Fernandez & Wells on Lexington Street (fernandezandwells.com), where the sandwiches come piled up in mountains of Spanish-style bocadillos, or crusty white flutes. They look like a 17th-century Dutch still-life painting: chewy crusts and pinkly glowing hams.

Or you might seek out the ultimate Argentine steak sandwich at the Moo Grill on Cobb Street (E1). Or salt beef at Selfridges' Brass Rail.

Or, if you're feeling brave, the goat and potato roti roll at Mooli's on Frith Street (W1D), a sublime northern Indian wrap. The sandwich can encompass all cuisines. You can hold almost anything between those two slices of bread.
A sign of how serious the London sandwich scene has become is the rising number of blogs devoted to finding the perfect sandwich in the capital. Check out the excellent Sandwichist by Jonathan Brown (at http//londonist.com) — "In search of London's best sandwich since sliced bread" — or youngandfoodish.com by Daniel Young, who has heroically tasted hundreds of butties in his quest to bring us the city's best.

This sandwich renaissance goes far beyond the working lunch. It is a sign that London eating has come of age. For the sandwich boom to happen, there first had to be a bread boom. It is no accident that some of the greatest sandwiches are coming out of the city's top artisan bakers, such as the divine bacon sandwich served at St John Bread and Wine. To make a great sandwich you must care deeply about the provenance and quality of food. Yet a sandwich — unless we are talking about finger sandwiches at The Ritz — is not a snobbish thing.

Almost all of us eat sandwiches (except for masochists on a low-carb diet). On average in Britain, we eat 200 of them per person per year. In other words, we devour them on more days than we don't. Why? We work too hard and never have as much time as we would like for cooking.

We may talk and dream of other foods; of multi-course banquets or leisurely brunches, but most of the time, if we are honest, what we actually end up eating is sandwiches.

So we should rejoice in the influx of great sandwiches in London right now. At this exact moment, this may actually be the best city in the world to eat sandwiches.

The working week can be measured out in lunches. By eating better ones your life becomes, in a small way, significantly happier. You glance at the clock. Lunchtime comes at last. Your mouth waters, anticipating the mingling of flavours, the balance of salty and sour, the heft of the bread. You hold the package in your hand. You unwrap it, savouring the moment ... It's a reward for getting through another morning: a present from yourself to yourself.

Sandwich: A Global History by Bee Wilson (Reaktion Books — Edible, £9.99).

TEN BEST LONDON SANDWICHES
1 Op-La-Di steak bánh mì at Banhmi11 (Saturdays, Broadway Market, E8, banhmi11.com)
It doesn't get better than this authentic version of the bánh mì (Vietnamese baguette) — fresh herbs, pickled carrot and daikon, and a choice of pork (they make their own pâté) or marinated tofu. Jamie Oliver rates them. From £2.50.

2 Bocadillo of tomatoes and Iberico ham at Fernandez & Wells (43 Lexington Street, W1F, 020 7734 1546, fernandezandwells.com)
A traditionally French stone baked baguette filled with 36-month cured Juan Domecq ham and plum tomatoes. Made to order, £7.50.

3 Grilled cheese sandwich at Kappacasein (Borough Market, SE11, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, kappacasein.com)
You have to be hungry to finish a whole one. But Kappacasein uses the finest cheddar in the finest bread, toasted until just on the cusp of burning. About £5.

4 The ultimate bacon sandwich at St John Bread and Wine (94-96 Commercial Street, E1, 020 7247 8172, stjohnbreadandwine.com).
The bacon is Gloucester Old Spot. The ketchup is homemade. The bread is white, soft and yielding. £5.60.

5 Fried cauliflower falafel wrap at Mr Falafel (Units T4-T5, New Shepherd's Bush Market, W12)
Crisp, golden falafel balls, pickled cucumber, salty pickled turnip, crunchy shredded lettuce and parsley, white tahini and a slash of chilli, all wrapped in flatbread. £4 (medium).

6 Salt beef sandwich at Reuben's
(79 Baker Street, W1U, 020 7486 0035, reubensrestaurant.co.uk)
Savour the pumpernickel, too. £7.95.

7 Sausage and mushroom baguette at Rive Gauche (20 Warren Street, W1, 020 7387 8232, caferivegauche.co.uk)
Comes with onions. Master Guy Gumption — allegedly the pioneer of the mini baguette in London — runs a little gem of a place where the sandwiches are inventive and the fillings are incredibly fresh. £3.70 (large).

8 Lamb Keema roti wrap at Delhi Grill (21 Chapel Market, N1, 020 7278 8100, delhigrill.com)
Flat bread wraps with homemade fillings and fresh chutneys sold at lunchtime from a cart outside the restaurant. A diverting meal under £3.

9 Roast beef sandwich at Birley Sandwiches (Cabot Place West, E14, 020 7512 9112, birleysandwiches.co.uk)
As soon as you've taken a bite you'll understand what makes it so good. Generous portion of tender roast beef on proper bread — good hangover cure. £4.95.

10 Punjabi goat mooli at Mooli's (50 Frith Street, W1D, 020 7494 9075, moolis.com)
Punjabi-spiced goat is soft, stewed meat mixed with lettuce, cucumber and tomato, plus pomegranate salsa, all presented in warm, chewy bread in a paper package — a really different taste and not messy. £5 (mini £3.50).

By our panel of sandwich experts, Bee Wilson, Fay Maschler and Charles Campion.

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Where to find the best sandwiches in London

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