In the guise of overly curious members of the public, we recently paid a visit to brand new sandwich joint Simply Bread in Black Prince Road. Simply Bread is a few doors down and run by the folks who operate the Jolly Gardeners Pub. The manager explained that all of the sandwich fillings are created in the Gardeners kitchen by the same trained chefs who make the meals, and contain the same quality of sourced ingredients that you find in their meals. So, your coronation chicken is the same chicken found in their Sunday roast. And their bread is purchased at Alby Bakery in Vauxhall. Looking good so far…
The sandwiches at Simply Bread are the same day on day but the specials change, and our intern Kate had the aforementioned coronation chicken. It was very generously filed with juicy and moist chicken in an authentic tasting coronation dressing, and appetisingly sunny in colour. Of course it also featured a wealth of raisins, so if they’re not your thing you’ve been warned. Your scribe had the tuna loin sandwich in a sub roll which was well filled with large pink tuna chunks and a waist expanding amount of mayo just this side of decadent. And the bread was slightly sweet and very fresh. With all sandwiches a range of toppings (onion, salad, tomatoes etc) can be added.
We give Simply Bread our stamp of approval as a solid, independent lunch spot. In the morning they also serve coffee, tea, pastries and sausage/bacon rolls. (or vegan). When I pointed out to the manager that the name of the shop rhymes with a certain washed up band from the 80’s with a lead singer who nowadays resembles Little Orphan Annie, he responded with a puzzled and somewhat worried expression. But don’t fret, he’s much more adept at sandwich making.