A sandwich slow-cooked with L&P — the lemony Kiwi soft drink — and another layered with potato chips and onion dip have made the shortlist in the search for New Zealand's best homemade sandwich.
Chef and restaurateur Al Brown, who runs the much-loved Federal Delicatessen in central Auckland, has picked five finalists in Freya's Great Kiwi Sandwich Search. Public voting is now open at freyas.co.nz, and the winner takes home $5000 in cash plus a year's supply of Freya's bread. Better still, the winning creation gets a month on the menu at Federal Delicatessen — meaning travellers in Auckland could taste a genuine home-kitchen legend served up in a deli.
Brown said narrowing the field to five was tough, and his judging philosophy is refreshingly simple: good ingredients, great bread, attention to texture as well as flavour, and don't hold back on the condiments.
The finalists read like a tour of Kiwi food culture. Keeva Ross's 'The Regal Luxe' reimagines high-tea finger sandwiches with hot-smoked salmon, avocado, cream cheese and quick-pickled cucumber ribbons on dark rye. Mark Porter's 'Kiwi As Kitchen' stars corned beef slow-cooked in L&P — a swap he made after his family's ginger-ale version — layered with mustard mayo, homemade beetroot relish, aged cheddar, crispy fried shallots and rocket on soya linseed bread.
Louise Pilkington's 'Summer in a Sandwich' is a tribute to family summers at the bach, built on Christmas ham and curried egg from her late mother-in-law's tradition, plus iceberg lettuce, tomato chutney, Kewpie mayo, Swiss cheese and pickles. And Kaiden Ross's 'Relish the Crunch Triple-Decker' is a towering three-slice affair mixing American deli pastrami with a classic Kiwi picnic: slaw, beetroot chutney, salty potato chips and onion dip, all held together with a pickle-topped skewer.
Why should a traveller care? Because this is a snapshot of what New Zealanders actually eat — salty, sweet, nostalgic and unapologetically unfussy. If you're visiting, the five recipes are all published online, so you could work your way through them at home, or time a trip to Auckland while the winning sandwich is on at Federal Delicatessen. Even if you miss it, the deli remains one of the city's best bets for a proper Reuben or a slice of retro Kiwi Americana.
Story via NZ Herald Travel.
