The Simply Bread Revisit

We recently paid an overdue revisit to takeaway sandwich joint Simply Bread in Black Prince Road in Vauxhall. It’s run by the team from the excellent Jolly Gardeners pub a few doors down. Sandwiched between the two was Ginger Provisions, their noble but doomed foray into the retail supermarket world which itself deserves huge plaudits.

For this meal we were once again joined by our gastronomic collaborator Karen from the Finance team. Still resplendent in her post GLP appearance, she ordered the falafel and hummus sandwich, citing that it was vegan and therefore, in her own parlance, ‘totally healthy’. When we pointed out that falafel is deep fried, Karen replied ‘whatever, its vegan’. Karen observed that the falafels were not made on site, and had probably spent much of their brief life in a very cold place (ie a freezer). What offset this was a delicious hummus and well roasted peppers and courgettes. Overall Karen proclaimed it to be a flavourful and substantial addition to her day. If not quite as virtuous as she cares to admit.

Your scribe had the spicy tuna sandwich served on granary bread. The spice kick was furnished by Korean chili flakes augmented by those tuna bad boys peppers and sweetcorn, mixed with a guilt laden level of mayonnaise. With both sandwiches the portions were huge, and could easily have been nibbled on for the rest of the working day but of course were devoured quickly. In addition to lunchtime sandwiches, Simply Bread opens at 8am and offers the usual amenities of teas, coffees, flat whites, and pastries before you travel to work. Even if that travel is only to a laptop in the corner of your bedroom.

If you’re a restaurateur reading this, please be aware that we get loads of offers of free food from establishments wanting us to darken their door. We praise you, but this rather defeats the spirit of this website. So if you see a gaggle of overworked yet glamorous people lurking at your corner table, it might just be us but you’ll never know.

Simply Bread

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.