Has there ever been a more exciting way to pep up a working lunchtime than with a Christmas sandwich? Probably. Still, take a moment out of your day this week to celebrate the arrival of December by treating yourself to a seasonal sarnie (if you’re a seasonal Scrooge, here is our pick of the most delicious non-festive sandwiches in the City).
But which is the best? Here are our honest verdicts.
Tesco Turkey & Trimmings Sandwich
Tesco’s classic festive sandwich falls at the first hurdle: why is no one using white bread for Christmas sandwiches? Supermarket sandwich brown bread has a stiff, granary texture that feels like a perfect treat for chickens (or turkeys).
This is a generously stuffed sandwich, with slabs of turkey and too big a tangle of anaemic bacon. Weirdly, the stuffing is indiscriminate from the mayo, creating a strange, claggy herby base. A studding of sausages adds extra height, texture and protein, but leaves a grainy aftertaste.
Overall the flavour isn’t terrible, leaning heavily on smokey flavours and sweet cranberry sauce (or jam), which works pretty well as a counterpoint. But it’s crying out for something crunchy like a pickle, or even a bit of freshness from some salad to cut through the bacony, mayo quagmire. Christmas is for indulging, but, as they say, health is wealth.
★ ★
Pret’s Christmas Lunch
Pret’s bread is also malted, but it has a slight softness that supermarkets seldom do. Here the stuffing is the real star, big chunks of herbed bread and golden fried shallots lend texture and good flavour. The turkey is surprisingly tasty, and comes in decent sized hunks.
What this sandwich gets so right is the restraint on the bacon, which is my Krampus of Christmas sandwiches. Here it gives flavour without becoming a choking hazard.
There’s a welcome sharpness to the cranberry sauce and the perfunctory spinach leaf gestures at balance. It may not be cool to like Pret, but this is a really decent festive offering. Not the best bang for your buck, but you can actually taste the individual ingredients and not just the thwack of ‘CHRISTMAS FLAVOURS’’. The reports of Pret’s death are greatly exaggerated.
★ ★ ★ ★
Paul’s Turkey & Bacon Christmas Club
Why not go fancy this Christmas with this rather yummy sarnie from Paul. We tried to keep this taste test exclusively to sandwiches rather than baguettes, but Paul specialises in the latter, those great crusty sticks that underpin French culture, so we thought we’d include one for balance.
Their seasonal Christmas baguette is generously filled, overflowing with turkey that tastes good enough for the Christmas dinner table. The generally high-end feel comes thanks to a sophisticated amalgamation of Christmassy bits and bobs: we’re particularly into the shredded Brussels sprouts, bacon and stuffing. Don’t miss the mince pie croissant at Paul as well, which is rich and flakey in equal parts. Don’t ever say the French don’t know how to have fun.
★ ★ ★ ★
M&S Turkey Feast
In my household, M&S is head chef when it comes to Christmas dinner, at which time Mr Marks and Spencer’s finest festive collection is popped into the oven – with love – by my no-fuss mother, with no stove-top sweating in sight. One should not bite the hand that feeds but their turkey feast left me wanting.
Layered with turkey, bacon, pork stuffing, onion mayonnaise and a slightly translucent cranberry chutney, it makes for an absolutely fine Christmas sandwich – but this isn’t meant to be just a Christmas sandwich, it’s meant to be an M&S Christmas sandwich for crying out loud! It needs more va va voom to be worthy of its brand heritage.
Not all is lost though, with the supermarket stepping up its festive snack game instead; the ‘festive turkey dipper’ (pretzels and a turkey dip – don’t think too much about it) is genuine innovation.
★ ★ ★
Joe & The Juice’s Joe Ho Ho
Joe & The Juice doesn’t only sell expensive juices, it sells expensive sandwiches, too! Their Christmas Joe Ho Ho sarnie is as hipster as their stores, which pump out dance music and are full of people poring over laptops in statement glasses, lingering over a cup of something with kale in it.
The sandwich comes on nice, thin bread with a good bite. It is good to save space by using less bread and allowing more room for filling, so there are quick marks gained here.
The turkey is the best I tried: thickly cut slices of meat are moist and clearly fresh, with decent depth of flavour. No tasteless supermarket turkey here. Elsewhere find slaw, rocket and sage shallots, which bring a grown-up, lighter palette to the typically hedonistic sarnie. Gravy mayonnaise and red cabbage ketchup are refreshing twists on the classic Christmas fare. And you don’t feel completely gross afterwards. Bravo Joe Ho Ho!
★ ★ ★ ★
Sainsbury’s Turkey Feast
I grew up near a Sainsbury’s and it was our family’s supermarket of choice, so I have a natural affinity for the brand. So it was disappointing to find that their turkey sandwich is lacking in all the key ways: there’s no twist or surprise ingredient, and no particularly high quality element that really sings (the turkey is just fine).
It is a fairly bland, beige Christmas sandwich that will excite no one, unless you’re geed up by incredibly ordinary things, like turkey sandwiches with a trace of cranberry sauce. The sandwich also contains maple cured, smoked British bacon and cranberry chutney and it comes on malted bread.
Much better is the mince pie brioche wrap, an inventive and surprisingly tasty new addition to the supermarket’s seasonal range.
★ ★
Co-op Turkey Feast Christmas Sandwich
I’ve had a wonky history with reviewing Co-op sandwiches. I won’t be polite: sometimes they are bad. But I was surprised to discover that this year’s Christmas gambit is actually really rather nice. There’s a tendency for supermarket sandwiches to be overly sweet, relying on cranberry to appease the mass market with its pleasingly approachable sugary flavour.
But this Co-op lunch option has an interesting umami note, with pork, sage and onion stuffing, cranberry sauce, smoked bacon and mayo on malted bread. It tastes homemade, the bacon is flavourful and high quality, not that horrible stiff, crunchy stuff you often get in supermarket sandwiches, and there’s an all-round balance that meant I was interested until the last bite. Often these novelty sandwiches can grow tiresome after a few mouthfuls so it’s refreshing to report that I was invested until the final mouthful.
And while I’m here, shout out to the Worthy Farm cheddar, only stocked occasionally, which is, for many, the closest you’ll get to Glastonbury (it’s made using the cows from Michael Eavis’ farm).
★ ★ ★ ★
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