Its time for the final and it’s a late kick off today because I spent most this morning and early afternoon pretty hungover and watching wrestling before going out to sort some shit out before Christmas, so I didn’t finish off this post for the usual lunchtime slot. I’m here now though, let’s get on with the final!
After what seems like a 1000 years of writing about Christmas sandwiches every weekday, we are down to just two sandwiches – The Rye Cafe and Jamie Oliver. My local cafe versus my local Shell garage. A fight for the ages but, as ever, there can be only one winner, and the winner is:
The Festive Toastie by The Rye Cafe and Juice Bar
Before we get to that though, we must review our second placed sandwich.
REVIEW: Jamie’s Christmas Turkey Feast by Jamie Oliver
British butter-basted cooked turkey, sage and onion stuffing, chunky cranberry chutney, sage and onion mayonnaise, beechwood-smoked streaky bacon on malted brown bread.
I think all of us were hoping for Poundland to get a major upset and knock Jamie Oliver out early in the first round, but it was never to be. Then Jamie saw off pretty good sandwiches by both Morrisons and Waitrose. Who would’ve thought that a world famous celebrity chef might know a thing or two about making a decent sandwich? Or at least someone working for him does.
There is great flavour in the stuffing, moist chunks of turkey instead of wafer thin slices and some pretty good bacon. If I had one complaint about this sandwich, it’s that you can’t really taste the cranberry chutney. Other than that, very good for a sandwich bought from a petrol station. But it wasn’t as good as:
REVIEW: Festive Toastie by the Rye Cafe & Juice Bar
Roast turkey, sage and onion stuffing, pigs in blankets, cranberry sauce, Brussel sprout ketchup, crispy onions and sage seasoning in a toasted baguette.
Yes, I’d say it’s been pretty obvious from the moment you laid eyes on it that this was going to win. Is it fair putting fridge stored supermarket sandwiches up against a freshly made hot sandwich with proper ingredients from my local cafe? No, not at all, but it’s my blog that’s been knocking around for 10 years and I’ve been eating the same old sandwiches for so very long so please just let me have this one.
This had everything you’d want. Proper roasted turkey, thick, good quality sausage (matron), stuffing full of flavour, chunky actual cranberries, and it was served nice and warm (with a classic “don’t touch the plate, it’s hot” warning). I even got a nice portion of chips with it. What more could I ask for? It’s so good, I’m going back for another one tomorrow and the missus wants one too as you can see the prawn baguette she foolishly ordered last time in the photos (although to be fair all of their sandwiches are good, especially the Ploughman’s Special).
So there you have it, this long convoluted World Cup format is over and the Rye Cafe is our winner. Congratulations to them.
But the blog isn’t quite finished for this year (sigh). Tomorrow I’ll stick up the traditional Christmas sandwich rankings. You wouldn’t want to miss those, would you?
Christmas Sandwich Reviews 