Usually I plump for one of Waitrose's veggie sandwiches, or occasionally treat myself to a 'Pick Me' veggie microwave meal, fun times. There are a few cafes in the area but none really offer that much variety in the way of vegetarian munchings, I'll blog about them later, as I like to have the taste of whatever I'm writing about reasonably fresh on my lips (and stuck between my teeth).
Today I went to the Pickle & Rye, which I think is a recent addition to Sheen Lane's cafes. I'd eyeballed it curiously as I walked to and from the train station in the morning/evening, and so never got a glimpse of its menu until lunchtime today. It turns out the place is an 'American Sandwich Shop' and its range mainly comprises of meat-centric choices, perhaps if I was a bolder patron I'd try the ol' "What I want is..." and construct a sandwich of my own imaginings from the available ingriedients, but that's just not my style.
So, at the end of the list I find the two veggie options, one is egg, which usually falls into my 'if nothing else takes my fancy and I have no alternative source of food' camp, the other is called a Californian Club and comprises avocado, red peppers, carrots, mayo, feta, basil, olive oil on wheat bread. It comes with a pickle too! Unfortunately they were out of avocado, so I got extra pickle and a bit more veg chucked in for good measure.
The shop has only been open a short while and the staff are friendly, and the man sat outside eating his sandwich had nothing but compliments for the taste of his grub.
I took my triple-decked sandwich, gigantic home-pickled pickle and latte (£6.90 all told) back to the office and had a chomp.
Of the cafe sandwiches I've had in the East Sheen area this is the best, it knocks Mani's goat cheese and caramelised onion panini off its long-held perch at the local number one spot, so good going there folks. But, like Mani's the limited veggie options (especially of the take-back-to-the-office variety) are going to prove wearisome, so maybe some veggie specials in the future to keep things interesting?
However, it's a fine start for this nice new little shop, and if you're reading this and you eat meat then you'll have a wide variety of sandwiches to choose from, if you're me then one visit and you've experienced it all (except the egg one, which I'm not too keen to sample, but we'll see...)
O.x
Pickle & Rye
30 Sheen Lane
East Sheen
London SW14 8LW
0208 878 8982
pickleandrye@gmail.com
