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 are the best of the best to get in your gob.
Festive Turkey Sando | Christina’s
Christina’s, the all-day dining spot inside the Mondrian Shoreditch, is slapping all the Christmas trimmings between their signature 72-hour slow fermented Tokyo milk bread. We’re talking a turkey fillet, sage and onion stuffing, and cranberry sauce. We’re into it.
45 Curtain Rd, London EC2A 3PT
@christinas_uk
Xmas Sandwich | Trade
One of the city’s best sarnie spots TRADE was obviously gonna get in on the festive action. Filled with smoked turkey, bacon, cranberry, stuffing, red cabbage, gem lettuce AND pigs in blanket, this one’s a proper mouthful!
Commercial St, Essex Rd & Old St
@trade_coffee
Christmas Dinner in a Bun | Blacklock
Is it a burger? Is it a sandwich? Does it really matter when it looks this good? Blacklock’s festive offering features grilled turkey thigh, a Phillip Warren sausage patty, sprout slaw, cranberries & chestnuts inside a sesame brioche bun.
Shoreditch, Soho and the City
theblacklock.com
The Xmas S+DWich | Sons + Daughters
If you’re round Coal Drops Yard way, you’ll defo want to make a pit stop at Sons + Daughters because their Xmas S+DWich is back on the menu. Roast Swaledale turkey, spicy cranberry & bacon XO, bread sauce mayo, pickled red cabbage, watercress and the all-important marsala gravy moistmaker on white bloomer, what’s not to like?
Unit 119a Coal Drops Yard, London N1C 4DQ
sonsanddaughterslondon.com
Turducken Xmas Sando | Albie
Albie at The Hoxton, Southwark has taken the turducken and turned it into a Christmas sarnie, by sandwiching sliced turkey, duck, chicken, sutffing, red cabbage slaw & cranberry sauce inside a brioche bun. You can’t have a three bird roast without gravy, so of course it comes with a pot of chicken gravy on the side.
40 Blackfriars Rd, London SE1 8NY
albielondon.com
Roll & Snips | Dom’s Subs
Why do one Christmas sarnie when you can do three? The folks at Dom’s Subs have gone big this year with THREE festive sarnie specials – there’s the Roll & Snips, sweet & sour parsnips, shredded sprout salad with vegan XO, Chinese five spice crispy noodles & vegan mayo; the Santa’s Club, roast turkey, sage & onion stuffing, iceberg, cranberry sauce & mayo; and the Yule Hog, slow-roast orange pork shoulder, pecan mole, cranberry hot sauce, pickled red cabbage, ancho roast pineapple & coriander. Yes, yes, and yes.
Hackney Road & Bevis Marks
@impeccablesandwiches
Christmas Breakfast Sandwich | Snackbar
Freddie Janssen has put a festive spin on the Monte Cristo sarnie for Snackbar’s Christmas special and boy is it a good’un. Spence Bakery brioche is filled with Neal’s Yard Ogleshield, black treacle-glazed gammon, cranberry sauce & honey mustard mayo, then it’s dipped in egg batter and fried, and then it’s dusted with icing sugar. DROOL.
20 Dalston Ln, London E8 3AZ
snackbarlondon.com
The Vegan Stuffing Sandwich | PAUL
This year’s PAUL’s best Christmas sarnie is vegan and it’s all about the stuffing. It’s got sweet potato & chestnut stuffing, vegan pâté, grilled carrots, salad and cranberry sauce stuffed inside a sage, onion & cranberry baguette. You can get this in-store or have it delivered via Uber Eats or Deliveroo.
Various locations
paul-uk.com
The Xmas Sandwich | Quality Chop House
Quality Chop House is a classic restaurant so it’s no surprise that they do a classic Christmas sarnie at the shop next door. It’s got roast Fosse Meadows Bronze turkey breast, stuffed leg, gravy mayo, cranberry sauce, crispy bacon and stuffing inside a nice crusty roll. Simple but oh so effective.
94 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3EA
thequalitychophouse.com
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. Pret has also got some new hot festive items this year – we’re liking the sound Turkey & Trimmings Toastie and Christmas Stuffing Mac & Cheese – and the Pigs in Blankets Hot Roll is making a return too.
Various locations
pret.co.uk
Christmas Sandwich | Eggslut
Egg-cellent news for all you eggheads because Eggslut have a brand new festive spesh for 2021. Their take on the Christmas sarnie includes a turkey & sage burger patty, Christmas spiced butter, cranberry sauce, rocket salad and a Clarence Court Burford Brown fried egg stuffed inside in a Bread Ahead Brioche roll.
Shoreditch, Fitzrovia & Portobello
eggslut.uk
Christmas Sandwich | The Dusty Knuckle
The Dusty Knuckle always do epic sarnies and their Christmas options are no different. There’s a meaty version stuffed with porchetta, quince aioli & watercress, and a vegan one with cranberry sauce, parsnip puree, stuffing balls & charred, lemon-dressed sprout tops. We’ll take both.
Dalston & Haringey
thedustyknuckle.com
Pigs in Blankets Sandwich | Marks & Spencer
If you think the best bits of the Christmas dinner are the sides, especially the pigs in blankets, then this is the festive sarnie for you. It’s got outdoor-bred pork sausages, bacon, gravy-style mayo, caramelised onions and a sage, port & red onion chutney stuffed between malted brown bread, it’s porky heaven. And M&S donates 5% of every sale from their Christmas Food on the Move range, including their vegan No Beef Welly Roll, Naughty & Spice Turkey Roll and Ultimate Turkey Feast, to Shelter and Together For Short Lives.
Various locations
marksandspencer.com
The Ultimate Christmas Sandwich | The Black Pig
Roast pork sarnies may be their specialty but this year The Black Pig are getting in the festive spirit and pimping their sandwiches to high heaven by combining slow roast pork, bread sauce, sauteed leeks, spiced red cabbage, apple & cranberry slaw, gravy mayo and crispy onion, sage & toasted pecan crumble and slapping it inside a toasted ciabatta. It’s a Christmas miracle.
The Black Pig, Borough Market Kitchen, Winchester Walk, London SE1
theblackpiglondon.co.uk
Henry’s Xmas Sando | Peckham Cellars
Peckham Cellars’ head chef Henry Freestone has gone XXL for Christmas with this mega sando. It’s got turkey schnitzel, whipped brie, sausage stuffing, cranberry & orange chutney, bacon jam, and mayo, plus gravy for dipping/soaking, because what’s a Christmas dinner without gravy?
125 Queen’s Road, London SE15 2ND
peckhamcellars.co.uk
Christmas Sandwich | Big Jo Bakery
Sometimes you don’t need to mess with the classics and that exactly what the Big Jo crew have done with their Christmas sarnie. Roast turkey, onion & sage stuffing, bread sauce mayo, cranberry sauce and pickled red cabbage in between two slices of bread, job done.
318-326 Hornsey Road, London, N7 7HE
bigjobakery.com
