It's good to be back in London but I'm going to miss being able to grab a quick bratwurst for lunch. The options back home are a little different..
America has hot dogs, here in Britain we have sausage sandwiches. These are not sold on the street, though, but in small cafes you find just about everywhere and the quality is - by and large - awful. Cheapness is the common factor here; the very cheapest sausages, the cheapest bread and the cheapest condiments.
I work in Soho and there's an abundance of cafes and sandwich shops so there's going to be no shortage of places to sample and review. The challenge is going to be finding somewhere good. First up is Cafe Lena on the corner of Berwick Street and Noel Street. I picked this one at random and it was the first sausage sandwich I had after returning to the UK.
In a word: Disappointing! The sausge was a typical cafe variety: bland, texturless and cheap. Processed to such a degree that the inside was perfecly smooth, like paste. To the cafe's credit though, they did at least put some effort into making the sandwich. I asked for it on a baguette, which they buttered and toasted panini-style. The sausage was cut into slices and griddled. It was the fresh baguette that stopped this from becoming a total disaster. The mustard was ok but had to be asked for (in British cafes it's considered a slightly more special condiment and isn't automatically provided) whereas the tomato sauce was again typical cafe quality i.e. poor - too vinegary and pale.
1 out of 5 (for the bread!).
The search for a decent sausage sarnie is on!
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