Coffee house Ole & Steen and Open Rye Danish bakery have launched their midsummer menu across its 26 outlets in London.
On offer is a fresh and flavourful sandwich range, created in collaboration with Danish chef and cookbook author Trine Hahnemann.
I went down to the Haymarket store – the first to open in the UK nine years ago – to give them a try with a colleague and I was not disappointed.
Hahnemann was there on the evening I went, and I learnt a thing or two as she gave a demo of how to build a sandwich.
For instance, all fast foods, such as artery-busting burgers and hotdogs, contain five flavours – umami, salt, bitter, sweet and sour – that keeps us going back to them because it’s so satisfying.
The sandwiches at Ole & Steen tick all those boxes and are healthy as well.
The carrot rye bread, which contains a lot of fibre, is sliced incredibly thinly, but is nonetheless a strong base – and because of the length of the cooking process the gluten in minimised, so it is not a bad choice for those with minor gut issues.
The smoked salmon was probably my favourite. It was a taste explosion and so fresh. Layered on the rye slice was a herb and lemon cream cheese, with fennel, fresh dill and micro herbs on top of the salmon. Bye bye bagel.
In hot pursuit was the roast beef with horseradish mayonnaise, spinach, pickled red onions, cucumber and herbs.
A fiery mouthful, the slice of cucumber cut through and took some of the heat off. Very nice.
After these two, the chicken salad with green pea and asparagus tasted safe and inoffensive to even the most sensitive of mouths.
And last was the bright yellow boiled egg on smashed avocado and peas, with mixed seeds and pea shoots as well as the rye bread giving it a little texture.
You can’t visit a Danish bakery and not try a pastry. The cinnamon swirl with its vanilla custard surpassed my expectations.
This is definitely a spot to grab your lunch on the go, or your loaf to take home and build your own.
Will it revolutionise the world? Who knows but it has revolutionised me.
