Blogs
It’s one week till Christmas and that means that if you haven’t yet ditched your regular lunch time snack for a Christmas sarnie, now is the time to indulge while you have the chance. We aren’t talking turkey and stuffing though. We are talking vegan sandwiches as tasted and tested by HGEM team members.
We tested vegan sarnies from 4 different shops and 1 independent cafe. The items were rated on bread, texture, filling, how Christmassy they were with of course an overall NPS rating. So, let’s look at the results…
Joint 1st place
Pret: Very Merry Christmas Lunch. Pret scored a whopping 5/5 in every category! Better than last year, this sandwich consisted of grilled carrots, crispy onions and spinach, vegan stuffing, port & orange cranberry sauce and caramelised pecans. It got top marks for incorporating several traditional Christmas spices and not tasting weird.
Cascara (Bath indie): Christmas Toastie. Roasted parsnip, sprouts, red cabbage and homemade cranberry sauce. Not even the sprouts could dissuade our team from this toastie, scoring again 5/5 on all category’s. One team member loved this so much that they would eat in instead of a Christmas dinner as it was so Christmassy!
2nd place
Marks & Spencer: The Nutcracker. Sweet potato, cranberry & nut roast with almond butter dressing. The first nut-roast sandwich we’ve seen – surprising with nut roast being a veggie classic alternative. The nuts provided a lovely texture and extra points were given for the perfect balance of moist but not soggy. This sandwich scored 4/5 overall and has already been recommended to friends. The bread is the only thing that let this down very slightly with comments that it was a little stale.
3rd place
Waitrose: Smoked Carrot & Dill. Scoring 3/5 this was a good sandwich overall but not Christmassy enough. There were also some construction issues with all the filling sitting in the centre leaving some boring corner bites! The carrot was however wonderfully smoky, and the overall flavour was nice.
4th place
Waitrose: No Turkey Feast. An average score of 2/5 with comments that “soya protein” just isn’t a phrase that inspires Christmassy feelings. A bit bland and the port and orange chutney had nothing on Pret’s sauce. The bread was nice because it was wholegrain, but slightly stale again.
5th place
Sainsburys: Vegan Christmas New Yorker. 1.5/5 – not Christmassy in the slightest. There were no Christmas flavours and the single slice of vegan cheese was disappointing. The texture was the best bit with a good mix of soft and crunch – just not a Christmas sandwich!
So, whether you’re a meat eater or not, we hope we’ve inspired you to see what vegan options your high street has to offer. Do you agree with our taste test? Let us know!
