open sandwich Archives - Time for a coffee

March 26, 2026

Roast Beef Smørrebrød

Visiting Copenhagen I was looking for somewhere for a snack. There are lots of choices of places to eat. I had gone to the fifth floor of Magasin du Nord where I planned to get some coffee. They had a wonderful food department in the basement, which reminded me of Selfridges in London. While I was up there I noticed Hallernes Smørrebrød which sold some amazing looking Smørrebrød (open faced sandwiches). They had a lovely looking variety, egg and prawn, beef tartare, chicken, roast beef, potato and roasted pork. I chose one enjoyed the roast pork version. I thought to myself, if I am hungry later, I am coming back for another sandwich. Later I did just that.

I was going to have the beef tartare sandwich, but they had sold out. Instead I had the Roast Beef Smørrebrød. This was rare roast beef with mustard, pickles and crispy onions.

You do need to use a knife and fork to eat this kind of sandwich and it was delicious. The beef was full of flavour and I enjoyed it. It was nice to sit down and eat the sandwich with some lovely views from the fifth floor windows.

March 18, 2026

Roast Pork Smørrebrød

They had a lovely looking variety, egg and prawn, beef tartare, chicken, roast beef, potato and roasted pork.

I was tempted by virtually all of them, but I chose the roast pork version. This was roast pork, crackling, pickles, on traditional rye bread.

You do need to use a knife and fork to eat this kind of sandwich and it was delicious. I really liked the flavour, the pickles offsetting the richness of the pork. I also enjoyed the rye bread as well.

I thought to myself, if I am hungry later, I am coming back for another sandwich.

December 14, 2023

Open Turkey Sandwich

A few weeks ago I had a delicious open sandwich from the Portwall Tavern.

This was a substantial open sandwich. There was a slice of ciabatta with salad and a good sized portion of the slow cooked (pulled) lamb. The lamb was garnished with some mint yoghurt.

When it comes to lunch, I generally don’t do sandwiches. I understand why people like eating sandwiches. I actually do like eating sandwiches, when I say I don’t do sandwiches, what I really mean is that I am not a fan of retail sandwich packs.

The sandwich I had at Portwall Tavern was so much more than a sandwich. So it wasn’t much surprise when deciding what to have for lunch, I headed back to Portwall Tavern.

Having had the lamb, I chose to have the second sandwich on the menu, which was described as slow cooked turkey, stuffing, pigs in blankets, roasted potatoes, cranberry sauce and a jug of gravy.

I didn’t get the roasted potatoes or the jug of gravy. I did though get potato wedges and the whole dish was covered in gravy.

This was a nice piece of turkey and I liked the pigs in blankets. The gravy obviously made the bread soggy. I think it needed some greenery, some sprouts perhaps, or some coleslaw. Despite that I enjoyed the sandwich and generally I don’t do sandwiches.

November 21, 2023November 20, 2023

Time for a sandwich, well a nice sandwich

Went out for a walk at lunchtime. I did consider Low N Slow at St Nick’s market, but the brisket wasn’t looking that good today, it looked excellent last week. I then went to the Finzel Reach street food market. I did consider getting lunch from She Sells Sushi, but I’ve had that quite a lot recently, so thought no.

I had a look at La Panza next to the office, which has a £10 lunch deal. I was very tempted, but disappointed to find out that the deal had only one choice of pasta, which was a cheesy broccoli bucatini pasta, which I didn’t really fancy. I had hoped they would have a choice of pasta, but they only had a pasta of the day.

I then remembered I had enjoyed a sandwich dish from the Portwall Tavern, so went there and had the pulled lamb ciabatta with potato wedges.

The last time I visited the Tavern I had swapped the wedges for skin-on fries, this time I didn’t. That was because last time the wedges had looked so good.

This was a substantial open sandwich. There was a slice of ciabatta with salad and a good sized portion of the slow cooked (pulled) lamb. The lamb was garnished with some mint yoghurt.

I don’t normally do sandwiches, but this wasn’t a sandwich, this was quite a substantial meal. The lamb was full of flavour, very tender, and tasty.

I enjoyed the sandwich. Generally I don’t do sandwiches.

August 31, 2023September 2, 2023

Open Steak Sandwich

Joined some colleagues for lunch. Went to the Portwall Tavern. Though close to the office, I had never actually been there before. We ordered at the bar and took a table outside. I went with the open steak sandwich.

This was a slice of toasted ciabatta, sliced grilled steak, served with field mushroom, roasted red peppers, Stilton, Dijon mustard sauce and wedges. I asked for the wedges to be replaced with fries. Not sure if that was the best decision once the plates of food arrived, the wedges did look good.

The steak was cooked well, and the sauce was quite intense, the Stilton and mustard sauce was strong in flavour (and a little salty). However I did enjoy the food

A colleague of mine went with the California Veggie. This was (in her case) a gluten free ciabatta with avocado, goat’s cheese and vegetable pickles, served with potato wedges.

She said it was excellent.