In search of a sandwich that satisfies

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's capital offers foods from all over the archipelago and beyond, with dishes varying from the sublime to the more acquired tastes. Amid all this culinary variety, however, perhaps some of the more banal foods are overlooked. Some restaurateurs, trying to provide exotic and expensive foreign fare, may have unwittingly deprived Indonesians of the more simple pleasures of overseas eateries. Sometimes also it is the more familiar foods that a foreigner living in this city craves most of all.

The sandwich, for instance, is a humble but respected meal in many parts of the world, but does not have a large following here. The world's first sandwich is credited to John Montagu of England, in the 18th century. Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, was a corrupt politician and a gambling freak, and it was so he did not have to rest from this latter passion to eat that he had his kitchen serve meals between two slices of bread at the card table.

From these practical beginnings, the sandwich has risen in popularity, so there are now as many variations as there are names for what is essentially the result of the efforts of two pieces of bread to contain other food items. It is a meal quick to make, easy to eat and endlessly versatile.

With little of this in mind, I set out in search of someone to make me a sandwich in the Kuningan area of South Jakarta.

An outlet of the great Subway chain is on the second floor of the Pasar Festival building on Jl. Rasuna Said, opposite the entrance to Continent. A poster boasts there are more than 13,000 of these shops throughout the world, however, my coffee cup disagreed, estimating a mere 10,000.

Whichever piece of decor is believed, though, Subway has been hugely successful in MacDonaldizing the sandwich. A measure some may say was unnecessary, considering its above-mentioned simplicity.

The menu lists a range of fillings, although not all of these are always available, among them butter. I watched as the Subway girl routed a groove in my bread and filled it with scoops of gelatinous BBQ chicken chunks, which are named for the sauce, not the cooking method. Added to this was lettuce, tomatoes, green peppers, onions and, in a admiral attempt to create something appealing, black olives!

Multinational franchises do not get mega rich by serving up quality, and the ingredients here are not the best money can buy: limp lettuce, dry olives, tasteless tomatoes. They try to make up for this by applying large amounts of mustard and sauces squeezed from a row of bottles. The result is disappointing and expensive.

Sandwiches are available in 6-inch and foot-long sizes. For the large sandwich I paid about Rp 25,000. Plus instant coffee for Rp 3,500.

Anyway, just like a lot of travelers from New York, Subway seems to attract enough attention to itself as it is. My search had only just begun.

Further north along Jl. Rasuna Said, in the foyer of the Setiabudi building in front of the Perbanas university campus, I found, with difficulty, Daily Bread. Most of its customers are presumably office workers from the same building, as it is well hidden. It is a relatively classy, but dim, little cafe with real wood on the seats and a couple of pairs of armchairs in one corner.

However, why the designers chose to tint the only external windows and build the kitchen up against them is a troubling question that goes well beyond the scope of this short column.

The counter displays racks of all sorts of amazing varieties of shiny pastries, muffins and croissants, while one end is devoted to making sandwiches.

They bake their own bread, along with all the other creations, in a little oven at the back. Bread can be bought in loaves and it is crusty and fresh and magnificently free of sugar.

The bread rolls for sandwiches are either brown or white. You can have them filled with tuna, processed roast beef, chicken salad, cheese slices and lettuce and tomato. A sandwich is small, but good value at about Rp 11,000, depending on what you have in it.

The croissants and some of the other pastries are nice. You can also get slices of cheesecake and rich chocolate cake, both delicious, for about Rp 10,000.

At the other end of the Setiabudi complex, also tucked away from hungry prying eyes, is another little shop called Au Bon Pain. It is one of a chain of stores originating from Boston, and there are seven of these shops scattered around the shopping malls and office blocks of Jakarta. This one pokes its glass walls and yellow awnings out into the high atrium next to Bank Universal.

They make sandwiches, cakes and coffee -- all to high standards. The staff are genuinely friendly, and have been trained to know what they are doing. Although one girl admitted she had never eaten one, she seemed to know what a sandwich should look like.

Several kinds of bread are available, including bagels and authentic sliced multigrain.

The fillings include real roast beef, tuna, chicken and even mozzarella cheese. The salad is a bit limited, with only lettuce, tomato and onion, and cucumber if you push a little, but all ingredients are of excellent quality.

The one drawback to this place is the cost.

The ABP steak and cheese sandwich is delicious, but it will set you back about Rp 20,000, plus another 4,000 if you want mozzarella cheese. The orange juice, which is actually made from mandarins, is fantastically freshly squeezed, but the price tag of almost Rp 9,500 seems a bit ridiculous for the tiny glass.

Carrot muffins are great for Rp 5,500. They also make reasonable coffee here using beans from East Timor.

This cafe definitely makes the best food of the three I visited, although the prices seem a little exorbitant. Perhaps it goes to show that you get what you pay for, unless of course you go to Subway.

-- Epicurus