The salad sandwich is the most deceptive of the hand-held bread creations. It’s seemingly simple, but as many of us have discovered the hard way, it can lead to Sog Town and regrets and wishing for more exciting fillings. That’s where Sandwich watch comes in – a column dedicated to the essential Sydney sandwiches you need to know about. We’ve highlighted many outstanding sangers filled with a plethora of meats, but since it’s January, we thought it was time to champion what is arguably the ultimate summer lunch option: the mighty salad sandwich.

Enter Good Ways Deli

There are salad sandwiches, and then there’s a Good Ways Deli salad sandwich – a refreshing celebration of crunch, freshness and good-time lunch vibes, complete with a clever umami inclusion.

“It’s the only sandwich that has been pretty much unchanged since we opened back in 2021,” says Good Ways owner Tom Pye. “It was on our opening menu as a nod to the nostalgic salad sandwiches you’d find at country bakeries in the ’90s.”

That is, if the country bakery made its bread in-house, thought deeply about sandwich architecture and ingredient ratios, and masterminded a way to stop its ingredients from leaching into the bread.

Here’s how they do it

Good Ways bakes its sourdough ciabatta rolls each day at their quaint corner Redfern shop (they also have an Alexandria outlet). They cut the fresh roll in half and slather the bottom slice with the king of butters, Pepe Saya, then add a thin slice of Tilsit, a semi-hard cow’s milk cheese from Tasmania’s Heidi Farm. “This provides an excellent barrier between the bread and wetter ingredients,” says Pye.

On top, they arrange an almost-perfect layer of salted carrot and a mild pickled beetroot that have both been painstakingly julienned and cut into matchsticks. Both add crunch and a hint of vinegar, but not too much, while the alfalfa sprouts and mayo add a lick of moisture, and the broadleaf rocket gives it a peppery hit. Importantly, it’s perfectly seasoned.

“It’s by far our most labour-intensive sanger on the menu,” says Pye. “But it’s about getting the right mix of crunch, salt and moisture so it’s not soggy, but also not dry.”

The ingredient that takes it from great to excellent

A nod to Vietnam’s king of sandwiches, the banh mi, the lid of this sanger is smeared with a layer of house-made mushroom pâté. It’s not overpowering or particularly mushroom-y, but it gives it a pleasing umami kick.

But the best bit

This is a sandwich you can eat daily and won’t require a post-eating power nap to get through the rest of the day (as many of the Sandwich watch sangers do). It’ll fill you up but not weigh you down, which is perfect when the weather is hot and draining.

Where to get one

The salad sandwich is $15 and available at 1/20 Cooper Street, Redfern and 81 Buckland Street, Alexandria, Monday to Friday, 7am-3pm, and Saturday and Sunday, 8am-2pm. goodwaysdeli.com.au

This is the latest instalment of Sandwich watch, a column dedicated to the Sydney sandwiches you need to know about.