Buttylicious | Street Kitchen, Kiosk 2 – 4 Broadgate Circle, London EC2M 1QS

We liked coming here – it’s crate Photograph: Street Kitchen

Ever wished you could buy your lunchtime sandwich by the inch? Not that size is important of course but sometimes you just fancy a little nibble rather than stuffing your face.

Street Kitchen was founded by chefs Mark Jankel and Jun Tanaka’s and this is their first permanent site situated at Broadgate Circle (right next to their airstream truck) and underneath Yauatcha.

Mine’s bigger than yours. Photograph: Street Kitchen

They offer freshly baked 24-inch long loaves cut down to your desired amount of inches. You don’t get that in Subway, not that I’d know as I’ve never set foot in one. The smell that wafts out of their shops is enough to make me gag.

The concept? Every new restaurant has a concept these days, often they just make us cringe but Street Kitchen‘s is ‘Restaurant know-how lovingly crammed between two slices of bread’. Sounds good to us.

Plaits the way to make a sandwich…

If you’re not very good with measurements, you can have a whole sandwich to yourself. I tried one of their most popular items – the Roasted chicken with baby gem and tarragon mayo (£5.75).

Now I don’t usually get that excited about sandwiches but this was so bloody good – served warm with heaps of succulent chicken (thumbs up for using thigh). A little kick provided by the onion and all packed inside some very tasty bread. I can still remember the taste five days later, always a good sign.

Ade could only take two inches

Ade surprised us both by going for a vegetarian sandwich – the smokey Roasted broccoli sandwich with free range egg, smokey mustard mayo and pickles on focaccia (£1.50 per inch). An even bigger surprise was that he loved it. I thought he’d be sulking as he ate it back at his desk, wishing it was packed with meat or something a little more unhealthy.

A beefed up salad…

The salads we tried at home later that day were equally as good as the sandwiches – especially my Rare roast beef salad (£5.50) with pickled carrots, radish, baby gem, Chinese cabbage and a soy and kimchee dressing. Despite them enduring a hot and sweaty train journey home to Kent with just a couple of cans of drink acting as a DIY cool bag box.

My salad still looked and tasted so fresh with wonderful robust flavours from the dressing and great quality produce, the beef is grass-fed dry aged pure Hereford cattle from Farmer Tom Jones (yes, that’s really his name – it’s not unusual).

Dad joke alert: Why don’t you ever get hungry at the beach? Because of all the sand which is there…

Ade loved his Butternut squash salad with goats cheese, sweet red onion, watercress and rosemary dressing (£5) just as much as his broccoli sandwich. I certainly never thought I’d type those words.

This really is restaurant quality lunch fodder (although they are open for breakfast and early dinner too). Usually this kind of office-worker food is a little half-hearted and lacking in flavour, freshness and thought.

We were so rushed we totally forgot to try the Allpress coffee, instead grabbing a couple of chilled drinks – Cawston Press Rhubarb and Apple and Breckland Orchard Plum and Cherry juice, love that they stock the smaller, lesser known brands. If Street Kitchen wasn’t over in Liverpool Street, we’d hand on heart be back as regular customers, but it took our entire lunch break just getting there and back from the day job in Southwark.

streetkitchen.co.uk
Kiosk 2 – 4 Broadgate Circle, London EC2M 1QS

Opening hours: Monday – Friday 7am-9pm.

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Nearest station: Liverpool Street Station (3 mins walk) Moorgate (7 mins walk)

We ate as guests of Street Kitchen, this does not affect our review in any way.
We always write with complete honesty.