You Say Sandwich, We Say Yeah!

On the first day of snow in Montreal, and stressed out in getting to the train station just barely on time to catch the train, I emotionally ate this Mother Hen sandwich along with these bagged snacks back to Toronto. I seemed to remember this sandwich being quite good, and the VIA staff quite rude, but nothing new there.

Eyeing this Vie & Nam place in Halles de la Gare since my last visit through, I grabbed a grilled pork banh mi to go this time, which I will say, was a mistake. Making it hot and fresh, the bread does not fare so well once wrapped in its own heat bubble. This is a sandwich that you need to eat immediately, but rushing to do a bunch of other things before hopping on the train, the sandwich grease soaked through half the paper bag by the time I unwrapped it onto the train, and the bread unfortunately went soggy and then dried out. Still, I am willing to give it another shot though. Next time.   MB says: Way too dry.

Brazil Bakery and Pastry remains my go to sandwich spot for sandwiches on the go. A small basket near the back has prewrapped sandwiches ready to go, and there's a real assortment of cold deli cuts, vegetarian options, and the occasional fried meat/fish option.  Thinking the panado was fried fish, as past options would lead me to believe, panado in fact a breaded chicken cutlet, very similar in texture and taste to a chicken fried steak. In a hearty sesame roll with lettuce and tomato (the former I could have done without), it was a great 3+ hour train snack.

I had this exact same sandwich 2 years ago at Marco Polo airport in Venice. It's from the gift shop which is basically an over priced Italian deli, but that doesn't stop me from getting dry pasta and oils and a sandwich every time. Even if it's an airport sandwich, it's my last bites of a great Italian sandwich filled with young mozzarella and delicate prosciutto on a fresh crusty roll before I land somewhere in North America where the ingredients will just fall short. This is somewhere in Amsterdam en route to Germany en route to what became the longest train ride of my life. What should have been a simple 2 hour train ride became a hellish 6 + hour journey that led us to the border of Germany and back and then south and then over and then through the German city line where I had to follow a young student who kindly made small talk with me on her way home for a summer break who found America fascinating. Thank goodness I ate this weird tuna melt from Starbucks (w...

    Pret A Manger , or just Pret, are everywhere. It is because of their ubiquitous presence that I avoided them for so long. However, I caved upon boarding a nine hour flight and picked up a cheese and pickles baguette, a combination I knew I would not find on the other side.  Fairly affordable and fresh, Pret has really cornered a market on sandwiches on the go. I watched somebody bee line it for a Pret, and then mange it while walking through the busy Tube station. While I protested that she sit down and eat, she refused, but saved a last bite for when we switched trains, savouring at least a bit of that sandwich away from that windy tunnel.  I myself ate the sandwich a quarter of the way into the flight while watching Toy Story 3. Only then was I slightly road weary.  I have mixed feelings about Pret, after all, as maybe they are just too convenient.

I ended up frequenting four pubs on my last day in Edinburgh before getting on the sleeper train down to London. I bunked in and waited until we pulled into Euston. I arrived with no confirmed plans on where I was going, if I was going to be picked up, where I was to head to, and I didn't even know if my phone would ever work in these United Kingdoms. It turns out when you need it to, and I settled down for this grease mess before the next leg of city trains to the very South West of the city. This sad looking breakfast sandwich would be my first meal in London and my worst meal. So, it did get better. For the curious, that slab of pink on the left is suppose to be bacon and that bit on the right is sliced up sausage links with some scrambled egg sitting on a bed of catsup. Travel food takes advantage of those too tired and hungry to care, but c'mon people, standards must be set somewhere.

I've ordered this all across Canada, and my data from at least 20 samples confirms that every Tim Horton's outlet makes their veggie bagel sandwich differently. Some places have it on the menu, and some places are veggie bagel deniers, so you have to walk them thru it. In that case, it may take five minutes to order one, because apparently no-one ever does and it's confusing to hear the words “veggie bagel” out of the blue like that. Maybe they are trying to tell me something, and yet I persist in ordering this non-remarkable sandwich at rest stops and airports because it is only $3.50 and often surrounded by equally uninspiring choices.  I tend to opt for a multigrain bagel, toasted, with swiss cheese, mayo, honey mustard, tomato, lettuce and cucumber. When these are fresh, it's quite good. A cautionary note that some locations will give only 1 slice of  tomato, so if that is not acceptable to you, be sure to specify that you want lots of tomatoes. One person...

The avocado and tomato in this chicken sandwich are extraordinarily fresh, and the whole works was free because of a VIA Rail train delay, yet something doesn’t add up. Part of the issue is the rubbery flatbread, which looks and seems satisfying at first but is actually disappointing and tasteless. The chicken has a pallid reheated flavour. Two hours from my destination still, I want to believe in finishing this courtesy sandwich, but I simply cannot. And that makes me feel like a picky jerk. 

Train travel food is sometimes better than airport food, and this is an example. Zabo's bread basket lured us in one early weekday morning in the hell hole that is Penn Station, and they certainly had an array to choose from. This classic egg sandwich on an everything bagel took the edge off, but I wish I had been more awake as I would have ordered it with bacon. Word of advice: when traveling with vegetarians, specify that you are not them.

Advertised as the "Specialty Sandwich" on board the Oakland to Los Angeles Amtrak train, this $9.75 grilled cheese seems a safe vegetarian bet, just as a bagel and cream cheese does when faced with weird processed meat choices aboard the VIA Rail in Canada. The specialty allegedly features gruyere and smoked cheddar, however each cheese was tasteless, plastic, and greasy, cooling to reveal six slices of highly processed cheese product. The crisp, somewhat grainy bread absorbed cheese sweat from inside, completely obliterating any relief that the mustard or tomato could have provided, and was thoroughly saturated in a meaty residue from the grill on the outside. This sandwich leaves the kind of mouthfeel that a glass of water cannot wash away. Note: pack toothbrush in carry-on.

Yikes. Presentation was never their strong suit, but these clear plastic AND paper bags kept the sandwich visible while it started to sog up as I raced for the train. Those days are now over, but I will never forget that tin foil is still the best sandwich wrapper invented. I believe this was a bacon and brie with cranberry sauce panini.

This is more about memory and nostalgia than the savoury quality of this meatball panini from Costa. My first bite in Scotland was sitting at a Costa, in Glasgow at Queen Street eating a breakfast sandwich. I really had no clue where I was or where I was heading, just that I had ten minutes to eat this thing, be surrounded by my luggage I've carried across all of North America, Iceland, and now the UK, and enjoy the bit of heat in this meal as I did not know when or where my next one would be. Every time I passed a Costa, I remembered it as my first tangible experience in Scotland, and I had actually not returned until this past weekend, four months later, when I played host for the first time. It's not that Costa is amazing, it's not bad, especially for transit food, for food you eat while you're waiting in the inbetween, as another homogenous coffee shop in another anywhere space . . . but it's your personal associations and the value you give to ordinary things ...

I grew up with Marks and Spencer as an exclusively high end clothing store, so it was to my great surprise that you can get all sorts of sandwiches and jaffa cakes en masse at any M&S store along with cheap tees and anything else you would need. This selection of bite size rolls including British ham salad, British chicken salad, and egg salad, was a nice little treat on a busy travel day, and their other snacks and wraps have been not so bad. The packaging is simple, though not ideal for travel. (A side note: A Glaswegian told me that she finds it comforting when she sees a M&S, to know one is nearby, and I can only possibly relay the same affection for Shopper's Drug Mar ts, though their sandwich selection is nowhere sufficient.) There are boxed sandwiches everywhere you go, especially in Edinburgh, and this lemon chicken salad concoction was from the cafe at the Royal Botanical Gardens , which paired with their homemade soup, was a bit of a disappointment. I've had ...

I am a full convert to the breakfast roll, starting with the classic bacon roll, which can be altered with an egg (see above), or with additional meats from black budding to lorne sausage to treats like cranberry and brie. The Hyndland Cafe in the west end of Glasgow serves up a fantastic breakfast and I mauwed down several different breakfast rolls while I stayed a weekend nearby. I wanted to stay a full week just to eat here every morning, which a sunny little street side patio and a solid americano. This is the most civilized of the experiences, but I do enjoy the feel of the greasy paper bag. The west end is considerably quite posh compared to the rest of Glasgow, and for a more local flavour, I smelled Crumbs from around the corner of Glasgow Central Station, where for less than the price of one roll at Hyndland, you got two sausage rolls. The bread wasn't as good, and they slathered butter inside each roll, which wasn't necessary as it was already quite salty, but I co...

A Scottish chain cafe that is a bit of a deli meets speciality gift and wine store, Peckhams has got locations all over the place, but the one I stopped in was the Union Square Mall in Aberdeen. With about 30 minutes in between transit changes, my travel companion and I stopped for a tea, and I ordered a roasted vegetable sandwich, asking if it'll be ready fast, while she ordered a bag of wasabi peas. The peas were all but eaten by the time I went up to see if the sandwich was ready, and I had to get it wrapped to go by then. In the short time span it took from wrapping to eating it en route, the heat of the roasted mushy vegetables had sogged up the underside of the bread. The vegetables, which mostly tasted of eggplant more than anything else, was rather bland, which always disappoints me in a hot sandwich. A poor panini appears popular in this country as I have yet to taste a good one. I may just have to have another go at the toastie , as at least my expectations are...

My third meal in transit in 10 hours and I settled on something hot, but still, a sandwich, because it is the most convenient and perfect meal to eat on the go when you don't want to be bogged down by utensils or greasy fingers. A breakfast sandwich with sausage, ham and eggs (I am in Scotland now, no doubt), the heat of the sandwich was a warm welcome from the cold sandwiches I've been inhaling at every stop. A pretty good breakfast sandwich, if a bit on the heavy side, I savoured every bite of this hot griddle sammie and appreciated how the sausages were split horizontally down its side to accommodate the sandwich form.