15 August 2008
Baggot Street Sandwiches
I have a new job. And while it’s ten minutes walk from the old one, I’ve gone from the not-very-well-off Pearse Street area to the upmarket business center that is Baggot Street. This means I have to renegotiate my lunchtime routines, and one of these is finding optimal places in which to buy sandwiches. Ideally, of course, I’d make my own sandwiches at home, with exactly the fillings I want, and for half the price.
However, it’s actually harder than that. First, you’ve got to account for the fact that the sandwich shops can buy in bulk. By the time you have, say, a demi-baguette, some ham, some cheese, and some butter, you may be out of pocket by as much as 7 euros. If you want rocket, tomatoes, or other bits, it goes up from there. Sure, the cheese will do two or more sandwiches, but then you need to buy more of the demi-baguettes, and you’re stuck with eating the same thing a few days in a row. And then there’s the fact that what you make the previous evening is not necessarily what you want at lunchtime - picky, I know, but sometimes getting the lunch you want makes the difference between a workday being ordinary and a workday being awful. And then, who buys pastrami, pickles, and mustard to make sandwiches at home? I might set out intending to do it, but the price-per-slice of retail pastrami will put me off every time.
So, I often end up buying sandwiches. Baggot Street - particularly the bit south of the Canal, where I am - offers a wealth of options. There’s Insomnia (two branches), Donnybrook Fair, O’Briens, The Bagel Factory, Starbucks and the Swedish Food Company, as well as a Spar, and various others. And a few fancier, sit-down style cafés, if you don’t want to do the takeaway thing. So far, I’ve tried the Bench Café’s brunch panini, which is good, but expensive. I’ve had several rolls from Donnybrook Fair, which turn out to surprisingly economic, and pretty good quality. I’ve had one sandwich from the Swedish Food Company, which was excellent, if a bit plain - but that’s due to them asking what I want in it, rather than having preset formulae. However, the Swedes come in higher than Donnybrook Fair on prices.
Today’s experiment is Insomnia, who are offering any sandwich and any coffee for 5 euros. That’s well ahead of anyone else on Baggot Street. Now, among the chain coffee shops in Dublin, my experience has been that you can’t beat Café Sol for sandwiches - particularly the density of the fillings, and the fact that they don’t overstuff with lettuce the way O’Briens do. This Insomnia sandwich - crayfish and rocket - is lightish on fillings, but very tasty, and the bread is as fresh as you could ask for. And there’s the large coffee included, which is a very nice bonus, considering the total price is under the Swedish Food Company’s charge for a sandwich alone. So Insomnia are currently rating highly - I’ll give them a few more tries, possibly attempting to get there a little before one o’clock, so that there’s a chance of a larger selection of sandwiches.
I won’t be trying O’Briens, but I might see what the local Spar can do - I’ve had some good experiences with Spar, particularly in breakfast rolls. Next on the list for trying, however, is the Bagel Factory. Smoked salmon and cream cheese, I reckon. No pepper, no lemon.