Day 50 - Meat Liquor's Cheeseburger

Wow, what a way to finish my 50 days of Sandwich. Meat Liqour, like Lucky Chip, gained a healthy reputation in the Meatwagon, serving burgers to people committed enough to wait in the cold by a burger van. They have now got a fixed location just off Oxford Street, so now you can wait in the cold to get in to a restaurant. And there is a wait, because you can't book. Nonetheless it is worth the wait because the burgers are divine.

The burger was so densely packed with flavoursome meat (you could tell it had only been seasoned at the last minute on the outside so as to keep the juices in) that when you bit into it it didn't ooze with grease, but with the juices from the meat itself. The toppings of cheese, gherkins, tomato ketchup and mustard only enhanced the flavour of the meat, and the gherkin and lettuce added a nice bite. The bread was also very well made, not too sweet as some burger buns can be, but sweet enough. Simply delicious. If you live in London, or if you're ever visiting, you have to go here.



Description: Medium rare burger, cheese, lettuce, tomato, ketchup, mustard, gherkin
Location: Meat Liquor, central London
Accompaniments: Wine, fried pickles, chili cheese fries, chicken wings, coffee
Companion: Friends
Rating: 10/10

Day 45 - Salt Beef Sandwich

Salt beef sandwiches are usually a speciality in Jewish neighbourhoods. I had one in a local Finchley restaurant called Chix Chox. The sandwich was huge. There was twice the amount of beef for the bread that was provided, not to mention the chips, gherkins and salad. I removed some of the beef and then assembled the rest of the sandwich myself, adding layers of beef, mustard and gherkins to the white bread. The beef was wonderfully tender and (surprisingly!) salty, the gherkins added a nice acidity and sweetness, as well as a good crunch, and the mustard lit the whole thing up with a bit of heat. All in all it was a great sandwich ... that is until I hit the salt wall. A smaller portion would have been better, and would have earned a better mark.



Description: Salt beef, gherkin and mustard sandwich
Location: Chix Chox, Finchley
Accompaniments: Chips, salad, lots of water
Companion: None
Rating: 7/10

Day 44 - Mexican Chicken Sandwich

Greggs has become a British institution. It is about the only shop that has done well during the recession. Probably because it's affordable and tasty. My memories of Greggs are from University when I would indulge in a "Meal Deal" on a daily basis. I decided to do the same on Day 44. I went for the limited edition Mexican Chicken. Spicy chicken, peppery cheddar, semi-sweet mayonnaise, jalapenos and lettuce combined to make a rather tasty sandwich. The quality of the bread (which was a crunchy baguette) was surprisingly pleasant and lifted the sandwich from above average to good.



Description: Spiced chicken, Mexican cheddar, jalapenos, lettuce, mayonaise baguette
Location: Greggs
Accompaniments: Coke Zero, Ready Salted Walkers crisps
Companion: None
Rating: 7/10

Day 40 - Homemade Tandoori Chicken Sandwich

I think this sandwich is the best sandwich I have ever made for myself. And, as you may have cleverly deduced, I have made a lot of sandwiches in my life. I started off by baking a chicken thigh fillets marinated (for a day) in a yoghurt and spice mix. Once cooked, and slightly charred, I cut a couple of fillets into strips, put them between two slices of buttered (not margarine) seeded wholemeal bread, added some date and lime pickle and finished off with a handful of rocket and cress. The result was wonderfully aromatic, spicy and succulent chicken with hints of sweetness from the pickle and pepperiness from the rocket. The textured bread and leaves added a nice bite to the sandwich as well. If I hadn't made this myself, I would have given it a 10, but for some reason I find it difficult to award my own creation a 10.



Description: Homemade tandoori chicken sandwich with date and lime pickle and rocket and cress
Location: Home
Accompaniments: None
Companion: Friends
Rating: 9/10

Day 39 - Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki

Yes yes I know, I did previously give Subway a slating, but I did have a sandwich I'd never had before. I thought I'd give it another chance with a tried and tested favourite (not of mine, but of Subway's clientèle in general): the chicken teriyaki. And it was a reasonable effort. The chicken was a little on the dry side, and it tasted nothing like chicken teriyaki, but it had a pleasant flavour nonetheless. The salad this time, with the sweet onion dressing, had more vibrancy and flavour. Unfortunately the bread was pretty dull. Overall, okay.



Description: Chicken teriyaki with sweet onion dressing
Location: Subway, Northampton
Accompaniments: None
Companion: None
Rating: 6/10

Day 38 - Friend's Homemade Brie Sandwich with Chorizo and Pesto

The advantage of this blog is that people want to make me sandwiches. And I, for one, am not going to stop them. So, on day 38, another friend made me a sandwich. She forgot to name it so I have called it, rather imaginatively, by the name of its primary ingredients. I have mentioned proportions on this blog before, namely how important it is to appreciate the quantity of each ingredient in proportion to the others, and the amount of those ingredients as a whole to the bread. This sandwich is one of the best examples yet of good proportioning. The star of the show was the brie, therefore, logically, there was more of it than the other ingredients. It's flavour was mild but intensely creamy. This meant that other, stronger, flavours could be used to enhance the sandwich (not overpower it), and that's exactly what was done. The chorizo provided a spicy and salty element, the pesto added garlic and basil undertones, all of which combined with the cheese to give the sandwich a pleasant Mediterranean feel. The bread was deliciously thick cut tiger bread which was soft, but not in a way in which it absorbed the filling's flavour. My criticisms are minor: the rocket added to the aesthetics but was somewhat overpowered and lost underneath the pesto, and, as a whole, I think the whole sandwich could have been lifted with a dash of balsamic vinegar or a few capers. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed eating this sandwich.



Description: Brie Sandwich with choizo, pesto and rocket
Location: Home, Northampton
Accompaniments: Pretzels, 7up
Companion: None
Rating: 8/10

Day 2 - Chicken foot-long from Subway

I used to love Subway. Walking in, I used to feel like a spoilt kid in an Apple store. "A whole foot?" and "I can have all of that salad?" I used to scream to the confused server. Alas, those magical days are gone. Now, every time I go back to Subway I feel like I've somehow been cheated. It's just not how I remember it.

This time around I decided to have a foot long chicken special (or something along those lines). Basically, it is breaded chicken. It was supposed to be crispy, but after the salad was put on it, the layers and layers of flavourless salad, it became a hopeless soggy mess. That is was spite of the fact that it was "toasted". Subway must have the only toaster that makes things wetter.

Long story short, the sandwich was disappointingly below average.



Description: Chicken something something from Subway
Location: Subway, Northampton
Accompaniments: None
Companion: None
Rating: 4/10

Day 1 - Christmas Sandwich

For the first sandwich of my 50 day gorge, this was an excellent way to start. Initially I was reluctant to set the bar too high, and thought about rating a 7. But, ultimately, the quality of this sandwich was too good. I would go so far as to say that it is the best turkey sandwich I've ever purchased. Mainly because of the juiciness of the poultry, which had more in common with chunky ham than the dry meat that usually graces purchased turkey sandwiches. The chutney added a welcomed sweetness and sharpness, that cut through the creamy, but not overwhelming mayonnaise lightly coating the turkey. On the downside, there was too little bread compared to the filling and the accompanying salad leaves were undressed. But that did not detract from the overall pleasant experience that was devouring this sandwich.



Description: Open faced turkey sandwich with fruit chutney
Location: Dolly's Cafe, Selfridges, London
Accompaniments: Hand cooked crisps, mixed leaves (undressed)
Companion: Mum
Rating: 8/10