🥪 an interstate guide to sandwiches
a sandwich a day is a joy and a slay
Hi sweetie pies and sugar puffs,
How are u bubina?
Before you answer, does anyone know where I can procure the type of chihuahua seen below? My favourite digital chihuahua is Fletcher, the little Melbournian prince of @spicytacobelle on TikTok.
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I really would like my own Fletchie! But I’m so out of the chihuahua loop. Please keep me in your prayers or reply to this email if you are aware of where I can find a doggie with this same blessed disposition. Thanks 🥹
Now onto tonight’s main event. It’s been a little while between rodeos here on the FROOMESWORLD newsletter and I felt it was About Damn Time™️ to provide some extra added value to subscribers.
This evening, the FW canteen will be serving up a multi-pronged, carbohydrate-powered guide to sandwiches. It’s like a Ministry of Sound: Clubbers Guide, but bread.
I am a certified sandwich slut. I eat one every day. I find it easy to wake up in the morning, content in the thought that I’ll be eating one in a matter of mere hours. They’re the most satisfying and logical foodstuff in the world. Portable, filling, customisable. Wow!
Tuck a napkin into your dacks and prepare to chow down on this – my deeply biased, relatively under-researched guide to the Western world’s greatest invention since sliced bread: the humble sandwich.
Hector’s Deli
Whenever I come to Melbourne, I’m treated with an airport pick up from Froomini Snr. She’s learnt the art of a perfectly-timed Terminal 3 pick up – a real 13CABS-style slay.
We yeet down Tullamarine freeway and exit onto Kings Way in pursuit of one thing and one thing only – a sandwich from Hector’s Deli in South Melbourne.
I fell for the Hector’s Deli hype when it opened in 2017, but it took me a half decade longer to bite the bullet and consummate our parasocial relationship.
Now, in 2022, I can confidently call myself Hector’s little bitch. A trip home from the airport feels incomplete without a pre-ordered roast pork sandwich. I imagine this is what cheating feels like, where interstate ‘business meetings’ are quasi-justifications for personal urges.
The details: smoked pork shoulder, pickled fennel, calabrian chilli paste & kale pesto on a turkish roll. When I finally succumb to my homeland and return to Melbourne full time, you’ll find me at Hector’s Deli, blowing the budget on a $16 biweekly treat…
NEWSFLASH: I have it on good authority that Hector might be crossing the border and setting up shop in Sydney soon… More to come. 🤭
South Dowling Sandwiches
Recently on TikTok, I made a video remarking on the absurdity of food you’ve just eaten being inside your body. In my mind, the minute it passes the threshold of my mouth, it’s gone. Vanished, Deleted and resting in pieces elsewhere.
But there is allegedly a bellyful of South Dowling goodness congealing in my stomach right this minute.
To think that my chosen sandwich – ‘The Justin’ consisting of two soft, crusty-edged piece of brown bread stuffed with chilli chicken, hummus, caramelised carrots, red pesto, lettuce and rocket – is in me right now is really very biologically concerning.
I just love South Dowling Sandwiches. There’s always a line out the front but like Hector’s Deli, the factory-efficient sandwich artists have mastered the balance of consistent quality and mass production. All of the salads and sandwiches on offer and made-to-order. My fave is on the ‘specials’ board because it has all the trimmings… but still comes in at a steal for $11.50. Mi scusi?
The founder of SDS is a man called Avi, and he is a king, plain and simple.
I visited for a sandwich a few months ago after a prolonged period in Melbourne. Avi said he was glad to see me, and congratulated me on the ED newsletter I wrote a while back. I felt very special and appreciative and appreciated in that moment. It reminded me of the important role these institutions play in building community.
If you ever find yourself in Sydney, this is a crucial lunch experience. It’s open everyday bar Sunday. Choose a sunny day and take your treatie down to Centennial Park for the perfect picnic afternoon!
Room Ten
This is another beloved neighbourhood spot, this time in Potts Point.
It’s in a Parisian-style laneway* just off the Kings Cross main strip. It’s a little reprieve from what is otherwise a quite colourful pocket of Sydney. If I had an interstate friend come and visit, this would be my first port of call on a hungover Sunday when South Dowling is shut.
Pictured above is my favourite toasted sandwich on the menu (and admittedly, the only one I’ve ever tried). It’s the toasted ‘Gypsy Ham’ sandwich replete with 3 cheeses, tomato, egg, chilli jam and rocket. It’s oozy, gooey and indulgent. It’s the kind of thing Nigella would throw together the morning after the night before on Nigella Bites.
*I’ve never been to Paris but I’m going there in September so I’ll report back on the validity of this bold and uninformed comparison.
The Shop & Wine Bar
I wrote about this in my last iteration of Froomy’s Top Hat Tips. I labeled it my ‘most loved sandwich’ and the title stands. I’m averaging 4 of these a week right now.
These sandwiches bring me total and utter joy. I am relieved from the world’s pressures when I eat the ham sandwich on cushiony brown bread with cheese, mayonnaise, tomato and salad dressing-soaked leaves. The BLT (pictured above) is as popular as Regina George in the first 30 minutes of the seminal classic, Mean Girls.
City Edge
Holy fuck in my ass ! If I had to create the ultimate Bermuda Triangle of Sydney sandwiches, it would be South Dowling Sandwiches, The Shop & Wine Bar and… City Edge.
It featured in the prestigious April edition of the FROOMESWORLD newsletter and I said what I said – this sandwich and salad realtor is the real deal.
Read, and salivate, here!
Single O
My old local and faithful is Single O, an effortlessly cool and understated cafe deep in the bowels of Surry Hills.
Like South Dowling Sandwiches and Room Ten, it’s another locally loved spot. It’s best known for its beans (which you can buy in bags, like an aromatic bean bag) and beautiful staff who are equal parts knowledgable and simply lovely, it brings a tear to my dry eye.
Sustainability is at the forefront for them – they don’t serve almond milk (I cry but understand) and they encourage BYO mugs.
The menu is seasonal but has some forever treats – like toasted banana bread with espresso-infused butter and the ‘mothership’ bowl with avocado, eggs, veggies, a dollop of addictive cashew cream all topped with macadamia crust.
My fave, of course, is the toastie. The OG was a lemon pepperberry chicken one, which has now been replaced with the annato pork toastie with a fresh rocket and fennel side salad.
Scrumptious.
Out Of The Blue
Not technically and sandwich, but also not not technically a sandwich – the burgers are better at Clovelly’s best fish and chip shop, Out Of The Blue.
It’s a stones throw from the beach and there’s a near-constant line out of the door during summer. They don’t take phone orders and they’ve been known to shut for weeks on end with little correspondence – which makes the burgers feel even more slay. Slayussy, even 💅
I personally go for ‘Julian’s Famous Fish Burger’ – a crispy fish fillet elevated by chilli mayo, grilled pineapple, lettuce, carrot, tomato, cheese, fresh onion, salt, pepper and a soft egg (which I opt out of) on a pillow-soft white bread bun. It’s like Grill’d before Grill’d was Grill’d.
Let’s all go as a team!!!!
Woomp deretes!
Thanks for reading. Please feel free to send me your favourite sandwich recommendations! Don’t be shy – I love 2003-style café focaccias, too.
Regards,
Froominda Price