London’s Best Festive Sandwiches, From the Traditional to the Inventive

Christmas sandwiches are big business in London – and this year’s crop might be the most inventive yet. Across the city, chefs, bakeries and sandwich shops are turning out everything from light, crisp toasties to densely packed baguettes and chewy-crusted subs. Of the many, many contenders, here are 11 that rise above the rest, from the faintly festive to the aggressively traditional.

Designed to raise money for homelessness charity Street Smart, Quo Vadis chef-proprietor Jeremy Lee’s take on the festive sandwich is a mightily more-ish one. Inspired by the famed ham-and-cheese toasties served at Harry’s Bar in Venice, Lee’s simple but effective creation brings together molten mozzarella, delicate prosciutto and aromatic sage within two slices of crisp, toasted white bread.

Chatsworth Bakehouse’s tightly balanced behemoth is worth queuing for. A tender, tangy, deli-style stack built on soft, squishy focaccia (made with Wildfarmed’s regeneratively produced flour), it’s packed with thin slices of brined, smoked turkey pastrami, mustard mayo, provolone, pickles, radicchio, and a final flourish of house-made blueberry and cranberry jam.

Dom’s Subs has gone maximal this year with not one but two hefty limited-edition subs. The – excuse our language – All the Trimmings, F*ck the Turkey swaps poultry for roast celeriac and brussels sprouts layered with a silken vegan mayo-gravy hybrid, as well as cranberry sauce and plenty of deliciously stodgy veggie stuffing. The Santa 2.0, meanwhile, is its fuller, messier sibling, with turkey, molten brie, stuffing and (non-vegan) “gravinaise”, lifted with cranberry, chunky slices of tomato, and crisp shredded iceberg lettuce for much-needed crunch.

This year, the team at Earl’s is taking Christmas off-road with a tribute to Australia’s iconic “Bunnings snag” – beef sausage on cheap white bread with ketchup – found every weekend at charity fundraisers hosted by the country’s equivalent of B&Q. It’s leaned in hard to the Aussie vibes: the star is a sweet, smoky, slightly sticky Tim Tam-glazed beef sausage accented by vivid avocado chilli sauce, a lustrous slathering of slow-cooked tomato sauce and a pickled red onion and rocket slaw – all held between two chewy slices of sourdough.

The Audley’s “festive dip” sandwich is back for another year. Made for enjoying with a cold, crisp pint, the pub’s no-frills crusty French baguette simply features thick-cut slabs of turkey, ample stuffing and sibling venue Farm Shop’s own cranberry sauce, and arrives with a generous bowl of thick beef gravy for dipping.

Purists look away, because you will be converted by The George chef John Sparks’s turkey keema toastie (which is also Broadsheet columnist Jimi Famurewa’s favourite of the season). As with all the best hot-pressed sandwiches, it’s made with bog-standard sliced white bread, which is then brushed with ghee and layered with a lightly spiced cumin, coriander, turmeric and ginger-packed South Asian curry and grated cheddar. The outside is then slathered with more ghee, plus mayonnaise and parmesan, before being fried on a hotplate until crisp and deliciously gooey, and served with fresh mint yoghurt and masala ketchup.

Mondo Sando’s Kringle Club is a fuller, juicier, spicier spin on the classic. Thick-cut slabs of succulent, skin-on chicken thigh with zingy sprout-kimchi slaw, sweet and salty bacon-and-apricot stuffing, and gochujang cranberry hot sauce are layered between two thick slices of sourdough, crammed so generously that the sarnie threatens to burst from its blue chequered wrapping. Try to save room in your second stomach for the deep-fried mince pie, too.

Less a sandwich, more an all-out roast in a big crusty bap, The Black Pig’s Sleigher and its accompanying pot of gravy may require a bib. Starring slow-roast free-range pork, smoked streaky bacon, sweet confit-leek mayo, and bright, braised spiced red cabbage, as well as bread sauce, cranberry sauce and a pecan, sage and onion crumble, one sandwich between two will most certainly do.

Available at the Fink’s Mountgrove branch, and only from Friday to Sunday, the creative Christmukah puts latkes front and centre. Golden brown and soft in the middle, the latkes are matched with crispy fried serrano ham, cool chive sour cream and tangerine segments between slices of soft, aromatic caraway loaf. Not into carb on carb? There are classic turkey and vegan nut-roast sandwiches, too.

Built around mounds of sausage, chestnut, marsala and herb stuffing, Dusty Knuckle’s soft, slightly boozy meat option promises maximum festive flavour. Cooked in a wine and anchovy sauce, the plump, tender balls of stuffing are piled into fresh, chewy focaccia with creamy celeriac remoulade, and pickled apple, celery and red cabbage for a bright, vinegary snap.

For those who prefer to keep the classic combination of meat, stuffing and cranberry sauce for enjoyment on the big day, swing for Toklas Bakery’s light and zesty sandwich. A combination of Swaledale Butchers porchetta paired with lemon aioli, a crunchy shaved sprout and fennel salad, and pickled clementines between a pillowy sage-butter brioche bun, it’s only ever so slightly Christmassy, but very, very good.