Are the Christmas sandwiches the best bit of the festive season? Probably. It’s that time of year when eating sarnie after sarnie for lunch is totally acceptable and here’s our rundown of this year’s festive offerings.
The Christmas Sarnie | Kossoffs
Kentish Town bakery Kossoffs does Christmas in style with some unusual inclusions in their festive sarnie. Roasted turkey, sage & onion stuffing, and maple & orange cranberry sauce are joined by roasted sweet potato and sautéed savoy cabbage, and it’s all sandwiched into their signature focaccia.
Vibe | Alternative potato
Structure | Whopping
Christmassy-ness | With bells on
Cost | More than pocket change
Kentish Town
@kossoffs
The F*ckin Turducken | Dom’s Subs
You can always count on Dom’s Subs for a supersize sarnie and with not one but two Christmas specials, they’re not letting us down this festive season. The F*ckin Turducken has a Mexican spin, featuring roast turkey dipped in guajillo gravy with “carnitas style” chicken and duck, provolone and sprouts, whilst the Very Vegan Christmas is on an Asian tip, with mulled aubergines with soy ginger and scallion, spicy and fragrant sprout salad with XO five spice powder, and sesame seeds. Now that’s how you spice up Christmas.
Vibe | Spicy
Structure | Overflowing
Christmassy-ness | Christmas but if it went on holiday
Cost | Up there
Bevis Marks and Hackney
@impeccablesandwiches
The Sleigher | The Black Pig
The Black Pig really is sleighing the competition with this whopper of a Christmas sarnie. Smoked turkey is joined by the signature slow-roast pork, spiced red wine braised cabbage, confit leek mayo (an excellent idea), cranberry sauce and pecan, sage & onion crumble. It’s only available in limited numbers each day and be prepared for it to get messy.
Vibe | Meaty
Structure | Huuuuuge
Christmassy-ness | Sizeable sleigh
Cost | Double digits
Borough Market
@theblackpig_ldn
The Christmas S+Dwich | Sons + Daughters
We know and love Sons + Daughters for their doorstop sarnies and they’ve gone for another generous fill with their 2022 festive offering. A white roll is the vehicle of choice for the Christmas S+Dwich, which is stuffed with roasted Yorkshire turkey, bacon & cranberry XO sauce, bread sauce mayo, marsala gravy, pickled red cabbage and watercress.
Vibe | Traditional
Structure | Deep fill
Christmassy-ness | Santa and Rudolph
Cost | Pushing a tenner
Borough & King’s Cross
@sonsanddaughtersldn
The Natale | Mondo Sando
Mondo Sando have gone big for their festive offering – frankly we expected nothing less – with the Italian-inspired The Natale. Tuscan-herbed turkey porchetta is joined by bacon-wrapped apricot stuffing, pickled cranberries, salad, pangrattato and gravy mayo, with an extra pot of gravy on the side for dunking. Immense.
Vibe | Italian
Structure | Mighty
Christmassy-ness | Jingle all the way, with extra gravy
Cost | Main course
Available from 30th November 2022
The White House, Peckham and Grove House Tavern, Camberwell
@mondo.sandwiches
The Vegan Trimmings Sandwich | PAUL
This year’s PAUL’s best Christmas sarnie is vegan and it’s all about the trimmings. It’s got carrots, maple roasted sprouts, chestnuts, stuffing crumb, salad, veganaise, and cranberry sauce stuffed inside a walnut baguette. Big up for the interesting bread too.
Vibe | Vegan
Structure | Solid bread foundation
Christmassy-ness | Sprouts galore
Cost | Change from a fiver
Christmas Lunch | Pret a Manger
Pret always turns out a reliable Christmas sandwich. The ratio of fillings to bread is on point, so it doesn’t fall apart when you wrap your chops around it; the port & orange cranberry sauce isn’t overly sweet; and it has crispy onions, which everyone knows totally makes the sarnie. Plus 50p from every sarnie goes to The Pret Foundation, which helps tackle homelessness.
Vibe | Classic
Structure | Perfectly proportioned
Christmassy-ness | Santa would be pleased
Cost | Affordable, with a charity bonus
Turkey & Trimmings | Benugo
According to Benugo, nut roast is a Christmas dinner trimming and not a main event as they’ve included in their Turkey & Trimmings sandwich, and seemingly in place of stuffing (!). It does have bacon, crispy onions and chilli jam though, which is a plus, and you can get it in a ciabatta or a wrap.
Vibe | Hot turkey
Structure | Under-filled
Christmassy-ness | Stocking filler
Cost | Mysterious
Bauble & Squeak with Sage Mayo Grilled Wrap | LEON
LEON is mixing it up this year with the new Bauble & Squeak wrap aka its take on the classic leftovers creation, bubble & squeak. It’s got a root veg, chestnuts & orange fritter with caramelised onion & sage mayo, crispy onions, and spiced pickled red cabbage in a khobez wrap, and it’s also vegan.
Vibe | Controversial – is a wrap a sandwich?
Structure | One-hander
Christmassy-ness | Big Leftovers Energy
Cost | Creeping up there
Christmas Croque | Patisserie Valerie
Patisserie Valerie is doing the obligatory turkey sarnie this year but they’ve also gone a bit off-piste with this Christmas Croque. Defo one for cheese fans rather than Christmas dinner fans, it’s got extra mature cheddar, emmental, becahmel sauce and slices of roast turkey, grilled between two slices of bloomer, and topped with cranberries and nutmeg.
Vibe | It ain’t easy being cheesy
Structure | Melted
Christmassy-ness | Token cranberries
Cost | Punchy
