Restaurant Review: Meat & Bread
MEAT & BREAD
370 Cambie Street ~ meatandbread.com Twitter: @1meatandbread ~ Instagram: @meatandbread Co-Diner: Tim Golem
If you’re looking for the ultimate hip artisan sandwich shop, Meat & Bread is for you. Think fresh-baked breads and beautiful ingredients... All delivered to you in sandwich form at their original location in Gastown. I heard about them in enRoute magazine’s 2016 Dining Guide and have been looking forward to checking them out for myself. They now boast four locations; two in Vancouver, one in Calgary, and one in Seattle.
M&B’s hours can be a little bit tricky. They aren’t really open for dinner and are more of a lunch spot. (The latest that this location is ever open is 7pm, Thursday-Saturday.) And besides, getting there near the end of the day is a bad idea because they will likely be sold out of many of their items. My recommendation is to get there early and beat the lunch rush. I first visited late in the afternoon on a Saturday and learned this very lesson; two of the sandwiches were already sold out. All four of the locations serve their signature porchetta sandwich along with their own location-specific sandwiches. Plus a daily special. Before we get ahead of ourselves, let me just say that the restaurant itself is very cool. It’s the definition of hipster chic. It’s old-timey and the music is good. It’s all impossibly high ceilings and white-painted exposed brick. There are antique meat hooks hanging in the front window and a vintage punching bag with boxing gloves hanging at the back. You’ll find some taxidermy as well, of course. They went for a look and achieved it perfectly. You’ll feel very “part of it” as you eat your sandwich at their massive communal table. The people working are ultra friendly with just a hint of pretension, you know, for good measure.
As this was my inaugural visit, I intended to try their “signature sandwich!” Unfortunately it was already sold out. Although I wasn’t all that upset because this particular location also carries a different sandwich that piqued my interest. We also grabbed Soup ($4.00) and a Soda Bottle ($3.00).
Their soda is pretty fun, from a company called Phillips Soda Works in Victoria. They have great labels! I tried their Craft Cola and liked it a lot. It tasted a lot more “real,” if that’s possible. The soup changes every day and was Potato Cheddar on this particular day. It was excellent! Extremely flavourful with pancetta on top. The soup was sharp and tasted as if it had been made with an ale base. I really enjoyed the bright, assertive flavours.
For my sandwich, I got the Buffalo Chicken ($9.50) to eat.
Carrot celery slaw, buttermilk ranch.
They serve it with a blast of their housemade sriracha sauce, which is very good. I liked this sandwich, because as a person who enjoys a good buffalo chicken sandy, this one was the freshest that I’ve had by far. The quality of the ingredients were very evident. The vegetables were all crisp and crunchy, I noted how the dill stood out in their housemade ranch, and the chicken was the best of all; plump and juicy, well bathed in spicy sauce. I appreciated the nice mix of both white and (more flavourful) dark meat. The bread was also very nice, warm and freshly baked, with just the right amount of crust. This truly was a great sandwich. I couldn’t allow myself to write this without having tried the Porchetta ($9.50), so I returned on the following Monday, nice and early to get it!
Salsa verde, crackling.
Porchetta is a savoury, fatty, and moist boneless pork roast of Italian culinary tradition. This one is served with their mustard. I was excited to finally have my hands on this elusive beast! The meat was extremely juicy and tender, but maybe a bit too fatty for my taste. I loved the crackling but felt that there could have been more. I once ate a porchetta sandwich in Rome, and this one was good, but not Rome good. I did like it though, and felt that the salsa verde added a beautifully light earthy flavour.
Meat & Bread is an excellent restaurant with a cool vibe and REAL sandwiches. You can get into the game by following their social media and tracking them down whenever they post about a daily special that speaks your language. The second Vancouver location has a Corned Beef sandwich that is calling my name. A perfect place for lunch!