Sandwich review: The BLT from Pick Of The Pantry

The official description of this sandwich is:

Slices of Grilled Dry Cured Bacon, Tomatoes, Lettuce & Mayonnaise on Malted Wheatgrain Bread

I had never heard of this sandwich brand before, but even in the packaging this looked promising – two well filled sandwiches, and a good colour to the bacon which seemed to suggest quality ingredients.

I was not disappointed.  BLT is a classic sandwich recipe – almost every sandwich brand makes one.  I have tried many different BLTs over the years, but this is up there with the very best of them.  The bacon is crispy, but not tough, and nicely flavoursome; there is a good balance of ingredients, and no overmayonation; the salad is fresh and the bread is not soggy.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable sandwich experience, and I would buy this sandwich again.

Sandwich review: Roast chicken salad with black pepper mayonnaise and juicy tomatoes by deli2go

The official description for this sandwich is:

Roast chicken breast, curly lettuce, free range black pepper mayonnaise and tomato on malted wheatgrain bread

Although this sandwich was perfectly serviceable, I felt a little let down by its lack of flavour.  The 'black pepper mayonnaise' was intriguing, and a large part of what drew me to this sandwich in the first place – in the end, though, the black pepper never really made itself known, and I would've been hard pressed to tell the difference between this and ordinary mayonnaise.

Unfortunately, this rather set the tone for the rest of the sandwich experience – whilst perfectly edible, this sandwich and all its ingredients fell a good way short of 'spectacular', landing instead in 'disappointingly tame'.  I would not buy this sandwich again.

Sandwich review: Turkey Club from Waitrose 'Good To Go' range

Apologies for the photo quality - I was so hungry at this point that I ate the sandwich straight away, before I thought to photograph it.

The official description for this sandwich is -

Smoked turkey, Emmental cheese and ranch dressing with vine ripened tomatoes, bacon and apollo lettuce in bar marked white bread.

A club sandwich is never quite such a good idea as it seems when you buy it - the extra slice of bread in the middle adds nothing but extra bulk, and quickly turns soggy (and therefore not very nice) if it comes into certain other ingredients (tomatoes, in particular, tend to have this effect).  Sadly, plenty of perfectly viable sandwich concepts have been spoilt by having been turned into 'club' versions, rather than just sticking with a standard 'filling between two slices of bread' approach.

Having said that, this sandwich was very enjoyable.  I still felt that it would have worked just as well (if not better) as a standard sandwich, rather than a club sandwich - but leaving that aside, the filling was excellent.  The salad was fresh and crisp, the turkey was not dry (this can often be a problem with this particular meat) and the ranch dressing was full-flavoured without being greasy or overpowering.

Despite my reservations about 'club'-style sandwiches in general, I would buy this sandwich again.

Sandwich review: Cheese Ploughmans by delicious

The official description for this sandwich is -

Vintage Cheddar cheese with tomato, cos lettuce, pickle and seasoned mayonnaise on malted bread.

By popular demand, I am posting my first vegetarian sandwich review. I chose a classic Cheese Ploughmans sandwich, from the delicious brand, to be the subject of this groundbreaking new step.

I enjoyed this sandwich. The salad was crisp, and fresh (which is a huge positive, just in itself) and the balance between the mayonnaise and the pickle (a combination about which I admit I had my doubts) worked much better than I was expecting.

However, for a sandwich in which the main event is Cheddar cheese, it could've done with a bit more flavour in that department. The cheese is described as "vintage Cheddar", but it seemed rather milder than I had hoped, and was consequently a little disappointing.

A more mature Cheddar would do this sandwich a world of good. However, in spite of this, I would buy this sandwich again.

Sandwich review: Taouk Chicken Salad from Waitrose' World Flavours range

The official description for this sandwich is:

Marinated chicken breast, tomato, apollo lettuce and cucumber with spiced mayonnaise in sliced herb bread.  Chicken from carefully selected British farms.

I was unsure, when I bought this sandwich, what "taouk" actually meant.  After reading the description and ingredients, I was no wiser.  The illustration on the packet was similarly unhelpful - a man in a hat appears to be offering me an ornate lantern and an urn containing his ancestors' ashes, on a tray.

Having eaten it, I thought it might be something Moroccan - but was still, basically, ignorant as to the nature of a "taouk".

In spite of this, I enjoyed this sandwich.  As we so often see, it was down to the mayonnaise to make, or break, the success of the sandwich as a whole - and, in the case, it was definitely "make"...

The "spiced mayonnaise" was a triumph, with the herbs in the bread adding a nice touch too, and the sandwich overall was piquant enough to be interesting, and to bring to mind the flavours of exotic places, without being off-putting for those who may dislike hot or spicy foods.  The chicken was tender, and clearly of good quality.  The salad was salad.

I later Googled the meaning of "taouk", only to find out that it is simply a Turkish word for "chicken" - essentially, this sandwich is named Chicken Chicken Salad.  Waitrose may make a good sandwich, but there appear to be serious deficiencies when it comes to naming them!

In spite of this tautology, I would buy this sandwich again.

Sandwich review: deli2go Triple BLT

The official description for this sandwich is:

Bacon, curly lettuce and tomato with mayonnaise on malted wheatgrain bread.

I enjoyed this sandwich.  The deli2go range is sold in Shell garages, and on the whole, I have found them to be surprisingly good, for petrol station fayre.

The ingredients are all there, although the bacon is possibly slightly bland.  On the front of the packet, it is described as "smokey" - I'd like to see a bit more of the smokey flavour in the bacon, if I'm honest.  I'm pleased to see that the mayonnaise has been kept to an appropriate level, though - I have spoken before about the dangers of over-mayonnaising a sandwich, but luckily we don't have that problem here.

The aspect of this sandwich with which I was most impressed, though, was the excellent forethought exhibited by the makers in placing the tomatoes right in the middle.  Cushioned by the bacon, to one side, and the lettuce and mayonnaise to the other, the tomatoes are kept well enough away from the bread - tomatoes left too close to the bread will it soggy and damp, causing the whole sandwich to disintegrate all too easily.  This has not been allowed to happen here, and for that I am very grateful.

My main criticism of this sandwich is not actually to do with the sandwich itself, but with the packaging.  Aside from the minor issues with the bacon, which I have already mentioned (it could do with being a little more flavourful) it is the packaging which has impressed me the least...

This is a triple sandwich - that means it's 50% as big again as a normal sandwich.  The cardboard packet in which it is served, however, is not 50% bigger than normal sandwich packet; at best, it is about 25% bigger.  This means, of course, that the sandwich is squeezed into the packet so tightly that it's quite difficult to grasp any one of the three individual pieces - with the pressure of being packed into such a small space, the three pieces of the sandwich have almost become fused together, and are actually rather hard to separate.

In spite of these problems with the packaging, and the resulting issues involving actually getting into the sandwich to eat it, I would buy this sandwich again.

Sandwich review: Chicken & Bacon Club from Sutherland Deli

The official description for this sandwich is:

Chicken breast, mature cheddar cheese with smoke flavoured sweetcure bacon and seasoned mayonnaise topped with tomato and lettuce on malted bread.

Overall, this sandwich delivered on its promise.  All the ingredients were there, and noticeable - the bacon was nicely flavoured, the cheese actually had some tang and bite to it, and the chicken was nicely tender.

The salad was rather wilted, unfortunately, but at least the sandwich was not too over-mayonnaised.  (I've spoken before, in previous reviews, about my frustration with sandwiches that are so mayonnaise-sodden it spoils the rest of the ingredients completely.)

The only issue I have with this sandwich is the fact that it's a "Club" sandwich - that is to say, a sandwich with three slices of bread in each half.  While I don't object to large amounts of bread on principle, I find that the middle slice of bread (which has filling on either side of it) can often end up getting quite soggy.  I don't really understand what the extra slice of bread adds to the sandwich (apart from an increase in carbohydrates, and an increase in width) so I can't see why the sandwich makers don't just put these same filling ingredients in between two slices of bread, as per a normal sandwich - what would you lose, by removing the middle slice of bread?  It doesn't seem, to me, to be an integral part of the sandwich.

Having said that, I knew it was a Club sandwich when I bought it (the packaging proclaims as much) and I enjoyed it nevertheless.  I would buy this sandwich again.

Sandwich Review: BLT, from Morrison's "The Best" range

The official description for this sandwich is:

British sweetcure streaky bacon with vine ripened tomato, slow roast tomato mayonnaise and salad leaves on malted wholegrain bread.

I enjoyed this sandwich.  To name it "the best" is perhaps a little presumptuous - but the overstated moniker aside, it was a triumph of taste and flavour; the bacon was succulent and flavoursome, and the salad crisp and fresh.

What I was most impressed with, though, was the "slow roast tomato mayonnaise" - this dressing was, in all honesty, the highlight of the sandwich for me.  Although the addition of roasted tomatoes into the mayonnaise gave it a flavour of its own, this managed not to take anything away from the balance between the main components of the sandwich filling, but instead added to the overall combination of tastes.  It has long been my opinion that dressings can make or break a salad - both in terms of taste (too bland) and texture (too greasy, too runny, etc.) - but this dressing has certainly made the sandwich for me.

However, despite having enjoyed the sandwich, I had a few gripes with the way it was packaged.  Ostensibly, there is nothing wrong with the green cardboard box the sandwich comes it, nor the little window of clear plastic that lets you see what you'll shortly be devouring - but sadly, this packaging ended up really irritating me.

Y'see, this is one of those sandwich packets which opens backwards - it splits in the middle, down the "spine" of the triangular cardboard packet, and makes it rather difficult actually to access your sandwich.  Here is a picture of the packet once open, from the back, to illustrate what I'm saying -

Once you have split the package down the middle, and opened it slightly with your hands, the two halves of the sandwich contained within divide, and start to lean over in opposite directions.  The result of this is that they end up "hiding" from you, inside the two bits of cardboard which are left once the middle strip has been removed, and are consequently very difficult to get at.  This is obviously quite an annoyance, and is made even more so by the fact that, once you can actually get to it, this sandwich is very tasty indeed.

In conclusion, therefore, I would certainly be tempted to buy this sandwich again.  I very much enjoyed eating it, and would be happy for it to be a staple part of my diet.  I would hope, however, that the packaging is soon redesigned, as the idea of having to grapple with that every time I fancy a delicious BLT from my local Morrison's is not a very savoury one.