Daily Delivery Tour: A Plethora of Beijing's Finest Sandwiches
The options to take your taste buds for a trip around the world are pretty amazing here in the capital – so we’re taking it upon ourselves to focus on the culinary works of a new country or region each day.
Today we bring our attention to the humble sandwich and some of its many classic varieties.
Panini are Italian sandwiches that are
usually served warm after having been pressed on a grill. While a few
Beijing spots serve their own panini variations, the best place to grab
one is Panino Teca, which shares a space with Assaggi (you’ll find them
on Meituan under this name) up by the Dongzhimenwai Embassy District.
Personal
recommendations would be the Re Sole (RMB 55), parma ham combined with
melted mozzarella, arugula and artichokes; and the classic Crudo (RMB
58), which is just parma ham, mozzarella and tomato.
There is no sandwich, in my mind at
least, more legendary than one with roast beef on rye bread. The variant
sold by the folks at Stuff’d and Arrow Factory (RMB 95) is more or less
a Reuben, but the name here doesn’t matter.
This sandwich sees
succulent roast beef topped with cheese and sauerkraut on smokey rye.
Pair it with fries and maybe a beer for a triumphant trifecta.
This one is simple: just tuna fish with
mayo and melted cheese on bread. You can find this classic at one of
Beijing’s OG American eateries, Lily’s American Diner, for RMB 49, which
sees tuna salad combined with melted Swiss on toasted bread.
This classic dates all the way back to
1894 when it was allegedly concocted at the Saratoga Club House in
Saratoga Springs, New York.
Since then, the Club Sandwich, which
sees meat – usually chicken, ham and cooked bacon – layered with
tomatoes, lettuce and mayonnaise. One of the best variations of this
hails from Park Side Bar & Grill (RMB 78), cut into four sections,
skewered with cocktail picks, and served with a side of fries.
While not technically a sandwich and not
technically a pizza, this offering from La Platea bridges the best of
both worlds in the form of its trapizzino.
This Roman street
snack sees triangular bread sliced open and filled with a variety of
fillings. The best on offer from La Platea include the Porchetta &
Mozzarella, which also features a special mushroom sauce, and the
Arrabiata Chicken (all trapizzino are RMB 42 each).
This sandwich, eaten in South America
since ancient times, is as simple as it gets. It’s just a meat of your
choice or cheese on a bread traditionally made from ground maize dough.
It can be found in Beijing at Andino, and with a side of their corn
fries (starting at RMB 52 for a set), it’s a grand meal.
Also
available are larger sets which feature an arepa of your choice, fries,
salad, an empanada and choice of juice all for RMB 87.
This simplest of sandwiches – it’s
literally just melted cheese on toasted, or grilled, bread – is also the
easiest to mess up. It’s also got its own controversy, with some
people swearing by buttered bread and others by bread with mayo (for me,
it’s only butter).
With such a contentious sandwich, there are a
great many options to choose from. For the classic variation, the best
is Plan B’s Cheese Toastie (RMB 46) which makes for a bomb combo with
their tomato soup.
Others to try include the Truffle Grilled
Cheese from The Bake Shop (RMB 68), and the legendary Oxtail Grilled
Cheese from Commune (RMB 78), which sees white cheddar and brie combined
with braised oxtail, jalapeno and balsamic onions between marbled
sourdough-rye bread.
READ MORE
Daily Delivery Tour: Japan Edition
Images: Unsplash, the Beijingers, Dianping
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