Food That didn't take long. After unsuccessful perusals in Iceland and Sayers, I have now officially suspended the pre-pack only rule at least to the extent of chain bespoke sandwich retailers. Which means, for now, independent cafes etc are still excluded but given how things are going, I can see that relaxing before Christmas too. Which is fine. Perhaps this will turn into some kind of survey of the current state of play in the sandwich industry. Or at least the desperate mutterings of a blogging lifer trying to get his writing back on track.
Not featuring Subway in this would have been ridiculous anyway given that they're the largest sandwich retailer in the country. My reticence for inclusion was because Dad and I visited the outlet opposite the hospital on the night we found out Mum was dying and I'll never forget pushing that spongy chicken, brown lettuce and pale tomato about the plastic salad bowl as everything else in our world was crashing down around us. It's been difficult to face returning to any of the chain, but part of the healing process is to emotionally address these things.
Truth be told, I've never been a big fan of Subway's sandwich, the bread always seeming a little bit too dry, the filling never quite appetising enough. For a while though I ate a salad pretty much every day because they were cheap (so long as you didn't have any other additions) and filling (so long as the person creating it took into account you weren't having any other additions). But eventually I grew tired of the ingredients, as you often do when you have just a little bit too much of something and moved on to the Tesco Chicken Salad sandwich (see yesterday).
Subway serve a turkey sandwich all year round so I decided to try one of their specifically seasonal offerings and went with this Tiger Pig affair, which is a long sausage wrapped in bacon, covered in cheese, sozzled in tomato sauce and with the usual salad. Endeavouring to keep some sort of order, I asked for it to be prepared just as it is in the menu photograph which looks it should have included spinach, onion, peppers and tomatoes. Instead, the server piled on all the salad, so all of the above plus lettuce, olives, pickles, sweetcorn, cucumber and jalapenos.
The overall result is crunchy. Subway prepare their warm sandwiches by putting the prepared items on a bread roll which has been sliced down the middle and flattened then put in the toaster. This is then subjected to the salad before serving. As you can see from the photo, this results in something which is crusty on the outside and inside and in the middle too which honestly makes it a challenge to eat. especially in this case because the sausage is completely intact and hugging the hinged side of the tole while the salad tries to not to fall out of the other.
Flavourwise it's fine. Warm sausage and salad on a sandwich isn't something you'd usually expect and indeed it does feel like eating two different delicacies at the same time, biting through one side of the bread and then the other, crumbs and bits of crust falling onto the paper throughout. About half way through my mouth was burning, I'd forgotten about the jalapenos and ran over to the counter gasping for water which the server quickly gave me from the self service tap at the front of the counter.
What I suppose was missing was that it didn't feel especially Christmassy, being essentially a sausage and bacon sandwich made strange bedfellows with a pile of salad (although I've been to New Year's Eve parties which have been exactly like that which is I no longer attend New Year's Eve parties). Given that they already have turkey on the menu that Subway would be well equipped to deliver a more traditionalist festive feast and I could have tried to cobble something together myself from existing menu items but that's not why I'm here (why am I here?).
The Subway website suggests, with some jiggery-pokery in the customisation section that this business would have been 485 calories which seems on the low side considering the side of the bread and sausage and the cheese. It cost £3.99, although as this review of the same thing from an outlet in Lincoln last year suggests, it's cheaper than some parts of the country. And that's that put to bed.
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