About Time You Discovered: London’s Best Veggie SandwichesBy Felicity Spector
We love a good sandwich. And the happy union of Sandwich Week and National Vegetarian Week inspired us to come up with this list of some of the best veggie sarnies in town. The themed weeks may have been and gone – but nothing beats a decent, well-made veggie packed sandwich. Yes, there’s Veggie Pret and a new vegan sandwich at Paul – but if you’re trying to support some independent businesses and not just chains, what better way to cheer up a lunch break than one of these? Time to eat:
1. Best For a Meal in Itself: Dusty Knuckle Bakery
The Run-Down: Dalston’s Dusty Knuckle Bakery is a brilliant social enterprise that bakes some of London’s finest sourdough. Their massive sandwiches are legendary – you certainly won’t go hungry after one of their creations. Try the roasted aubergine with muhammara, chopped herb salad and seasoned yoghurt, or marinated mozarella with wild garlic pesto, olives and red onion – just a fiver each.
Where: Abbot St, London E8 3DP
The Run-Down: Head to The Good Egg for their classic Israeli sabich sandwich – roasted aubergine, boiled egg, spicy amba pickle, chopped salad, tahini and zhoug stuffed into a pita bread.
Where: 93 Stoke Newington Church St, Stoke Newington, London N16 0AS
The Run-Down: Or try Bala Baya’s lunchtime pita, baked on the premises, the veggie option features roasted cauliflower, herbs, pomegranate and tahini.
Where: Arch 25 Old Union Yard Arches, 229 Union St, London SE1 0LR
Photo Credit: Lucy Richardson
3. Best for a Toasted Feast: The Cheese Bar and Yolk London
The Run-Down: The Cheese Bar in Camden Market has a cheese toastie menu of dreams. Our favourite is the goats cheese and walnut, in exemplary sourdough.
Where: Unit 93, 94 Camden Stables, London NW1 8AP
The Run-Down: Down in the City, Yolk London have just opened their new site. They’ve come up with a genius Parmigiana toastie: aubergine, mozarella, parmesan AND cheddar, with crème fraiche and roast tomato jam.
Where: Yolk, Unit 4 Finsbury Ave. Square, London EC2M 2PG
4. Best for a Haute Breakfast: Dominique Ansel London, and Granger & Co
The Run-Down: The team at Dominique Ansel London don’t just do pastries. Their ‘perfect little egg sandwich’ makes a perfect breakfast – a fluffy pillow of egg with a paper thin slice of gruyere, inside a home made brioche bun.
Where: 17-21 Elizabeth St, Belgravia, London SW1W 9RP
Where: Locations here
Best for Some Real Excitement: Honey and Spice, and Max’s Sandwich Shop
The Run-Down: Honey and Spice, the new little food shop opposite Sarit and Itamar’s original restaurant Honey and Co, serves amazing takeaway lunches every week day. Sandwiches, on their home made sesame bread sticks, may include aubergine and roasted peppers with tahini or labneh.
Where: 52 Warren St, Bloomsbury, London W1T 5NJ
The Run-Down: No list of top sarnies would be complete without Max’s Sandwich Shop. His veggie version is The Bhaji Smuggler: a carrot bhaji with coriander, green chili salsa, pickles and bombay mix.
Where: 19 Crouch Hill, Stroud Green, London N4 4AP
Best Riff on a Mushroom: Sub Cult, and Mae and Harvey
The Run-Down: Sub Cult are justly popular for their sandout sarnies. Their Subterranean includes griddled mushrooms, onion marmalade, stilton, roasted garlic and black truffle. A heady mix!
Where: Locations here
The Run-Down: Or head down to Hackney’s Mae and Harvey, for their extremely good mushroom, leek, egg and salsa verde sandwich on fresh sourdough bread.
Where: 414 Roman Rd, London E3 2RZ
Best For Cross-Cultural Creativity: Esters and The Piadina Project
The Run-Down: Esters in Stoke Newington is the place to come for some creative sarnies: veggie ones include almond hummus with harissa and broccoli rabe.
Where: 55 Kynaston Rd, Stoke Newington, London N16 0EB
The Run-Down: The Piadina Project, where Lincolnshire meets Italy – offers flatbreads filled with stracchino, cherry tomato and rocket and home made pesto. They’re also doing a brunch bap with smashed avocado, hash brown, griddled courgette and fried egg inside a brioche bun.
Where: 66A Drayton Park, London N5 1ND
Other bakeries worth checking out for their daily changing lunchtime sarnies: Bread Ahead in Covent Garden and Kensington, and Brickhouse in Peckham Rye and East Dulwich.
