Meat and bread. A great combination, yes. Also the name of my new favourite lunch place. No surprise there. If you know me well then you know I love a good sandwich. My absolute favourite is an old family recipe: a honey piecey. (piecey: [noun] piece of bread folded to create a sandwich).
After significant research I can tell you where to find the best salad sanga in Burnie. The answer is Bakers Dozen for taste and Trio for price. And I admit a sultana or raisin sandwich (just bread, butter and raisins) is weird, but it’s damn tasty.
So when I heard about a place that apparently sells Vancouver’s best sandwiches, I was more than intrigued. It took a little while to get down there, but I made it a few weeks ago.
Meat and Bread only has four sandwiches on its menu. The famed porchetta, with crackling (pictured); meatball; grilled cheese; and a daily special which has included braised veal, and hoisin beef (not together…two separate sandwiches). Both times I’ve stuck with the porchetta. The first time because it was all anybody had talked about. The second time because it was so darn good the first time. The sandwich is made on the spot. There’s a guy charged with carving up a huge roast pork. The next guy plops it straight on the bun when you order and adds a drizzle of salsa verde. All the other sandwiches are made to order too. There’s usually a line, but it’s worth the wait. There are a couple of other things on the menu – a daily soup and salad, and maple and bacon ice cream sandwich. Ok, don’t pull that face. The ice cream sandwich is actually pretty tasty. At the end of the day, it’s ice cream. How bad could it get?
But there’s more to my love of Meat and Bread than just food. While the cafe has about three two-seater tables, the masses feed at one long, wooden table running almost the length of the cafe. The other alternative is the end of the counter. Either way you end up squished up next to, or seated across from strangers. I can’t help but adore the conventional and social nature of it all.
