A late-night Islington sandwich restaurant has shot to success, landing an Observer Food Monthly Award after just 11 months in business.
Max’s Sandwich Shop on Crouch Hill only opened last November, but on 15 October its owner, Max Halley, picked up the award for Best Cheap Eats at the annual reader-voted awards.
Rather than a lunchtime pit stop, Max’s is a sit-down affair that serves alcohol and stays open late most nights. It has transformed a midday staple into a proper evening meal.
“This is a serious restaurant masquerading as a sandwich shop,” Halley said.
“Our sandwiches are restaurant main courses that happen to come between two bits of bread.”
There are just four sandwiches on the menu: ‘What’s Neil Gill’s Beef All About’, which includes braised beef and sauerkraut; ‘Honza The Hero’s OGC’, a vegetarian option with spiced aubergine and a tomato and borlotti bean pattie; ‘Chris’ Infamous Robocoq’ with confit guinea fowl; and the ‘Ham, Egg ‘n’ Chips’, which comes as advertised, but with shoestring fries, piccalilli and malt vinegar mayo.
The first sandwich is named after a good friend of Halley’s – the owner of nearby restaurant Season Kitchen on Stroud Green Road – while the second pays homage to the sandwich shop’s chef, Honza.
They all cost £8.50 and are “bloody huge,” in Halley’s words.
But there’s more to the sandwiches than sheer size – they have been carefully thought through.
Having worked at a host of highly rated London restaurants, including LeCoq, Salt Yard and Arbutus, Halley knows what he’s doing.
To make it onto Halley’s menu, a sandwich must tick six boxes. It has to be hot (in temperature), cold, sweet, sour, crunchy and soft.
Get this right and, according to the 33-year-old, “you’re probably onto a winner!”
Owen, a 23-year-old customer and Stroud Green resident, agrees. “It’s the best sandwich I’ve ever had,” he said.
“It’s a fun place to come to,” added Halley, who works front-of-house at the restaurant. “It’s jolly. It doesn’t take itself too seriously.”
And Max doesn’t either. Follow his lively tweets @lunchluncheon.
For more on where to eat in the borough, see: Food, Vintage and more at Islington’s best markets
Photo: Fred Searle
@fsearle91
Best sandwiches on the planet! Fuck Pret.