I love sandwiches. To me, they are the perfect food. An endless combination of breads, meats, vegetables, cheeses, and sauces. But Korea doesn't know jack about making a sandwich.
Take for example the time I went to "Joe's Sandwich" and ordered a "hot salami" sandwich. The lady took out a salami and cut off two thin slices, heated them in a frying pan for a minute, then put them on what would otherwise be known as a vegetable sandwich. That said, it was an acceptable veggie sandwich with a slight salami flavor.
Other sandwiches I've attempted usually fall to a sea of mayonnaise, processed cheese "singles", or bread with less flavor than air. And I haven't even mentioned the complete lack of sandwich meats. Pastrami? Nope. Turkey? Don't bet on it. Roast beef? Saw that once in a display case but didn't try it because it was drenched with a mayo tsunami.
One exception is Sand Cafino, I'm not sure about their other shops, but my neighborhood one makes a pretty decent chicken bulgogi sandwich. I've also recently read that there's a new deli run by some Austrians behind Gecko's Terrace in Itaewon. I haven't checked it out yet but my anticipations are high.
Then there's the sandwich you can make yourself: The B.L.T.
Start off with two toasted pieces of Samlip white bread. Great stuff, good flavor, dense, fresh, and chewy. Koreans do know white bread--look out Wonder. Then make 1000 Island dressing using the Heinz chili sauce and Heinz pickle relish available at HomePlus (or mince up all those pickles sitting in your fridge from home pizza delivery, because you dear reader likely don't eat pickles with your pizza), along with either nasty mayonnaise or preferably Miracle Whip procured by questionable means from your local U.S. military base. Add on some fresh lettuce, easily enough purchased by the leaf at your local grocery store along with a sliced tomato. Finally add the bacon. The Lotte Ham brand tastes quite nice.
It's a delicious sandwich that always quells my sandwich cravings. But I still dream of The High Street Deli which was a one minute walk from where I lived in my college town of San Luis Obispo, CA. Home of the "420 Special", the High Street Deli will always give you more than two slices of salami on your salami sandwich.
Very fun article! I can imagine your great love for sandwich. :)
If I happen to find Sandcafino, I'll try chicken bulgogi sandwich.
I have two favorite sandwiches:
The Real High Street Sandwich: Roast beef with leaves of Maui Wowie for garnish. Back in the day it made for a real high streeting sand.
Second, potato chips and sweet pickles. When there's no lunchmeat in the house, what else is a guy supposed to do?
I love sandwiches.
I made a Donkass on a bun once. Made it like a veal parmigiano sandwich. i'm partial to meatball sandwiches which is easy enoguh to make here in KOrea as well. I can't stand the white bread though. I feel like it's been bleached to be even WHITER than normal. Espcially since I'm a lover of brown multigrain breads with all the seeds and stuff. Can barely ever find it here except in tiny loaves at Paris Baguette.
anyways, i've been meanign to mention, I've been reading ur' site occasionally through my RSS reader and after awhiel the images started being replaced with a photo of a guy doing a funny dance, with a maxwatson watermark. But the sandwich post made me want to investigate further only to find ti happens on u'r pages as well. I'm not sure what's happeneing. As a some-time web designer it boggles me too.
I fully agree with you about sandwiches - and not finding enough sandwich love in Korea. A sandwich is truly perfect. Sigh.
You prefer Miracle Whip to mayo?!?! Are you nuts?!
I agree on Koreans not having perfected the art of sandwich making. There are a few places like Isaacs where you can get a yummy toasted egg and bacon sandwich but as far as MEAT sandwiches go..they are off the mark pretty much everytime. I do love the pitas in Itaewon though. I will have to try that deli in Itae but it sounds too good to be true.