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.
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, especially if you get gravy for dunking on the side.
Vibe | Meaty
Structure | Huuuuuge
Christmassy-ness | Sizeable sleigh
Cost | Double digits
Available from 20th November 2023
Borough Market
@theblackpig_ldn
The Camembert Sandwich | PAUL
This year’s PAUL’s best Christmas sarnie is veggie and it’s all about the cheese. It’s got wedges of camembert along with walnuts, honey, cranberry and lettuce stuffed inside a sesame baguette. Big up for the interesting bread too.
Vibe | Veggie
Structure | Solid bread foundation
Christmassy-ness | Cheeseboard adjacent
Cost | TBC
paul-uk.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.
Vibe | Classic
Structure | Perfectly proportioned
Christmassy-ness | Santa would be pleased
Cost | Affordable, with a charity bonus
pret.co.uk
Naughty and Spice Wrap | Marks & Spencer
M&S is trying something a little different this year with one of its new festive offerings, the Naughty and Spice wrap. Think Christmas dinner vibesbuInstead of turkey there’s piri-piri chicken and instead of regular stuffing there’s chorizo-style stuffing, finished with red cabbage slaw and hot cranberry sauce.
Vibe | Spice up your life
Structure | Controversial – is a wrap a sandwich?
Christmassy-ness | Santa’s on holiday
Cost | Reasonable
marksandspencer.com
Turkey, Bacon & Stuffing | Benugo
Benugo has gone classic this Christmas with its turkey, bacon and pork & sage stuffing combo with cranberry sauce, horseradish mayo and spinach as the token green. The sourdough ciabatta does look a little flat but at least you can get your mouth round it.
Vibe | Basic turkey
Structure | Thin
Christmassy-ness | Stocking filler
Cost | Mysterious
benugo.com
