Are the Christmas sandwiches the best bit of the festive season? Probably
We all love the traditional turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce combo but with so many other festive ingredients also on the table, we like to see who’s brave enough to deviate from the classics. 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.
S.A.N.T.A | Dom’s Subs
How about that for a cut-through? The S.A.N.T.A (Sandwich And Nice Toppings All-together) is so loaded with roast turkey, stuffing mayo, brie, red cabbage, tomatoes, and cranberry sauce, it’s a two-hand job just to hold onto it.
Natale | Mondo Sando
Whether you have turkey, ham or a nut roast as your Christmas centrepiece, Mondo Sando has you covered. Down at the Grove Tavern, they’re slinging the Natale (turkey, bacon-wrapped pork & apricot stuffing, cranberry mostarda and gravy), the Glazed Boar (glazed ham, Christmas kraut and pineapple) and the Nut Roast (veggie cranberry stuffing, fried sprouts, crispy onions and glazed carrots).
Christmas Sando | Cafe Francois
Matthew Ryle is doing a French-inspired Christmas Sando at Cafe Francois and it’s a beauty. He’s stuffed harissa focaccia with roast turkey, Morteau sausage, sprouts, red cabbage remoulade and cranberry chilli sauce. Napkins at the ready.
The Blue Christmas | Chatsworth Bakehouse
Of course the Chatsworth Bakehouse festive sarnie is a whopper. It’s filled with spiced and smoked turkey pastrami, blueberry & cranberry jam, onion & mustard mayo, provolone and bread & butter pickles, and there’s a veggie version too loaded with rosemary roasties.
Xmas Sarnie | Fink’s
Fink’s always delivers a deep-filled sarnie and it’s Christmas special is keeping up the tradition. There’s roast turkey, cranberry sauce, sprout top slaw, sausage stuffing and onion & sage mayo stuffed between two slices of potato sourdough, and you can get your mitts on it at all Fink’s locations.
XXXmas Banger | Bangers
Brekkie bar Bangers has created a cracker of a Christmas sarnie. The XXXmas Banger is fully loaded with a turkey, bacon and stuffing sausage, a goose-fat roastie, pickled sprouts, crispy onion slaw and cranberry mayo, with a pot of gravy on the side for dunking. A guaranteed festive hangover buster.
Christmas Sandwich | Pophams
Pophams has kept it classic for its Christmas sarnie this year and we’re here for it. Roast turkey, bacon crumb, brown butter sage stuffing, cranberry hot sauce, bread sauce mayo, job done.
The Gobbler | Wilde’s
Wilde’s may just have created a new Christmukkah classic with The Gobbler, which blends the best bits of a deli sarnie with the festive flavours we know and love. It’s a challah roll loaded with pulled pastrami turkey, caraway bread sauce, four G relish (that’s a mix of gorgonzola, guindilla, gherkin and gruyere), root veg latke and mulled wine chutney.
Christmas Sandwich | Sandwich Sandwich
Of course London’s most hyped sandwich shop has gone big for its first Christmas sarnie in the capital. This monster sandwich has sliced turkey breast, pulled turkey thigh, thick cut bacon, sage & onion stuffing sausage patty, cranberry sauce, herb mayo, and crispy onion & parma ham crumble stacked so high it looks almost impossible to eat. Oh and there’s turkey gravy on the side too.
Tuscan Turkey Sandwich | Cubitt House
Ben Tish has put a Mediterranean spin on the Christmas sarnie with this creation, hitting the menu at all Cubitt House pubs. Toasted schiacciata is filled with crispy turkey thigh Milanese, chestnut sausage, grilled bacon, shaved sprouts, garlic butter, nduja ketchup, parmesan bread sauce and marsala gravy.
Christmas Dip | It’s All Gravy
Gravy fans, this is the Christmas sarnie for you. Dip sandwich specialist It’s All Gravy serves its festive creation – filled with turkey, sausage meat stuffing, spiced red cabbage, sage & onion mayo, cranberry sauce and crispy onions with lashings of gravy for you to pour, dunk and drink.
Chapmas Sandwich | Chap Bistro
At Chap Bistro, Angus Kitchin is paying homage to the Boxing Day leftovers sandwich with the Chapmas Sandwich – simple but stacked with roast turkey, ham, stuffing, gravy mayo and cranberry sauce.
Xmas Sub | Stakehaus
Given its usual menu centres around steak, Stakehaus wasn’t gonna do a turkey sarnie this year was it? Meet the Xmas Sub, a toasted hoagie roll stuffed to the brim with dry-aged roast beef rump from HG Walter in gravy, sage & shallot crumble, parsnip crisps, cavolo nero, cauliflower cheese sauce and horseradish mayo. HELLO.
The Sleigher | The Black Pig
You might need to call in reinforcements to finish this absolute monster from The Black Pig. The Sleigher is full to bursting with smoked turkey, slow roast pork shoulder, braised red cabbage, cheesy leeks, cranberry sauce, gravy mayo and pecan, sage & crispy shallot crumble.
Turkey & Sugar Pit Pork Toastie | Daffodil Mulligan
Richard Corrigan isn’t doing any old turkey toastie at Daffodil Mulligan this year, his festive sarnie has got sugar pit pork and pickled beetroot alongside Kelly Bronze turkey and plenty of melted cheese, with cranberry sauce for dunking. It’s the pefect partner for the pint of the black stuff.
The Spicy Nutcracker | Chet’s
Chet’s is putting an Asian twist on the Christmas sarnie, using shokupan to encase shredded duck (or tofu larb for the veggies), pickled spinach, spicy peanut sauce, crispy carrot & red cabbage, prawn crackers and ranch dressing.
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.
Turkey Toastie | Ole & Steen
The Danish bakery is doing a load of festive treats this year, including its Turkey Toastie (given a 5-star Gold Award at the Good Food Taste Awards), which has roast turkey, crispy bacon, cheddar, cranberry & sprout slaw and chilli jam stuffed between slices of focaccia.
Christmas Sando | Marks & Spencer
M&S always does something a little different with its Christmas range and this year is no different. The Christmas Sando is winter riff on its summer chicken katsu sando, with chicken goujons, gochujang mayo, pickled slaw and gravy mayo stuffed between thick slices of brioche. There’s also a Turkey Shawarma wrap filled with spiced turkey, garlic mayo, apricot & cranberry harissa, spinach and cabbage.
Smoked Turkey & Swiss | GAIL’s
GAIL’s festive sarnie is back for another season. Made with the bakery’s Wasteless Sourdough, it’s filled wtih smoked turkey, Swiss cheese, bacon jam, chipotle aioli and rocket.