Having ‘a passion for sandwiches’ sounds like the sort of blurb you’d read on a pretty average café’s website. But the second you talk to Max Halley, you realise it’s a thing that actually does exist beyond the realms of PR hyperbole.
Perhaps it’s his chef background – Max learnt how to cook in the kitchens of London restaurants such as Arbutus, LeCoq and Brindisa before deciding to open Max’s Sandwich Shop in Crouch Hill, London back in 2014. Three years later, he’s won awards from the likes of Observer Food Monthly for his quirky – borderline obsessive – mission to take the sandwich from a quick, easy and boring lunch option to a gourmet dish that just happens to be between two slices of bread. Max and his small team in an even smaller kitchen now serve around 1,000 sandwiches a week, with up to 400 people visiting the shop on Saturdays.
But why sandwiches? Max has obviously got the skills needed to create a tasty plate of food, and most of us still see a sandwich as a glorified snack or the path of least resistance when we’re hungry and busy. ‘I only had enough money when I started out to pay for myself, one front of house and another person in the kitchen,’ he says. ‘So I needed something we could spend all day cooking, and then during service just put together. Sandwiches fit the bill, plus you don’t need cutlery or plates to serve them, so there’s no need for loads of washing up. Also, I felt like no one else owned the sandwich – it kinda maxed out at Pret a Manger, which did a great job of putting a genuinely decent sandwich on the high street, but it still had all those convenience food, supermarket packet vibes.’
Max’s sandwiches are as far as you can get from a fridge-cold deep fill chicken and bacon. Take his signature Ham, Egg ‘n’ Chips, for example – stuffed with slow-cooked ham hock, a fried egg, shoestring fries, piccalilli and malt vinegar mayo, served hot and about the size of a house brick. Or his current vegetarian option, The Bhaji Smuggler, comprised of carrot bhajis, a coriander, green chilli and peanut salsa, yoghurt, sweet herbs, pickles, spinach and Bombay Mix. There are always four on the menu and cost £8.50 a pop but, unlike cheaper sandwiches that can be wolfed down for an uninspired work lunch, these behemoths leave you stuffed and satisfied – just like a decent meal at a restaurant.