sandwiches
The humble sandwich has evolved from soggy crusts to rustic bread packed with artisan produce. Including a sandwich option on the menu balances cost with consumer trends — just ask Palisa Anderson from Boon Café and Joe Pagliaro from Joe’s Sandwich Bar. By Annabelle Cloros.
Between two slices
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andwiches were once big business during a time where spongy bread was equivalent to sourdough. After taking a backseat to poké bowls and pancakes for a number of years, the sandwich has returned with a new shine thanks to a contemporary take on the lunchtime staple.
STARTING FROM SCRATCH Anderson’s childhood memories of stuffing Asian flavours between bread and Pagliaro’s vision to serve vegan food he wanted to eat formed the basis of Boon Café and Joe’s Sandwich Bar respectively — it’s that simple. “We based the menu on the sandwiches and all the other things came as a sideshow,” says Anderson. “When I came up with the sandwiches, I was thinking about how I could make it appeal to young people while going back to the old-school tradition of eating nam phrik chili relish with a protein and vegetables. “I wanted to base the sandwiches on 22 Hospitality February 2018
a lot of the Chat Thai classics and make it accessible to people in a handheld way. You can recognise the flavours, but the delivery system is different.” At Joe’s, the only prerequisites were premium sourdough and vegan ingredients. “We wanted to eat vegan with Iggy’s bread, but we might not have done it if there was already an offering,” says Pagliaro. “It’s a passion project for us.”
POINT OF DIFFERENCE Both Boon Café and Joe’s offer sandwiches that stray far from the norm, with unique ingredient variations piquing the interests of customers who are after more than just a ham and cheese option. Boon prides itself creating on Thai classics, but instead of being served on a plate, they’re found between two slices of Brickfields bread. Anderson has designed a vast menu that stretches from a pad prik khing sandwich
to a crab omelet burger, but the common denominator is that they’re all jam-packed with carefully selected ingredients inspired by nostalgia. “My favourite chili relish is nam prik noom (smoked green chili), and when you eat the green chili, you have to have the sai ua (pork sausage) with lots of vegetables and the boiled egg,” says Anderson. “I’m using all the herbs we can get our hands on and then just a few pickles — which are great for sandwiches. You don’t ever feel like you’ve had too much because it’s perfectly rounded out and I’ve tried to apply that concept to all the sandwiches we do.” Pagliaro teamed up with Alfie’s Kitchen chef Joey Astorga to create a six-sandwich menu that’s been a sellout ever since the venue opened its doors. The miso eggplant option is teamed with furikake, pickled ginger and Japanese slaw and there’s also a BLAT with the bacon swapped out for smoked tempeh. “It’s a high-quality product at the end of the