Sandwich Kid much more than just bread 'n' butter

Sandwich Kid much more than just bread 'n' butter

JAKARTA (JP): When is a sandwich more than just a sandwich?
When it is made at four degrees Celsius, sealed in imported
packaging and remains fresh for two days.

Or so says Philip Hatch-Barnwell, owner of Sandwich Kid which
opened this week in the Bapindo Plaza food court.

Claiming to be a new concept in healthy fast food served
hygienically, Hatch-Barnwell's outlet is the first public face of
what began two years ago as a delivery service.

"We are unique in Jakarta in what we are doing," he said. "No
one else makes a decent sandwich for the working bule or
Indonesian who has traveled and does not want nasi (rice) all the
time.

"Yes other places sell sandwiches but they are not up to the
same standards of hygiene and are not as easy to eat. Our
sandwiches are healthy, practical and hygienic."

Sandwich Kid offers 20 different sandwiches or baguettes, a
variety of hot dishes, croissants, drinks and cakes. The dishes
are not out of the ordinary -- fresh prawns, mayonnaise and salad
or lemon chicken with salad and mayonnaise are two typical
examples -- but they are not trying to push back the boundaries
of gastronomic creativity.

Hatch-Barnwell said: "We are not in the business of offering
fancy food. We are copying a City of London sandwich bar where
people can get good food quickly and then get back to work."

And for those people chained to their desks who cannot trek
down to the bowels of the Bapindo food court, Sandwich Kid will
deliver, provided the order is large enough and the distance is
within reason.

The drawback is the price. Rp 6,000 for two slices of bread, a
bit of chicken and salad is not cheap by any stretch of the
imagination but Hatch-Barnwell says it is a case of you get what
you pay for.

"Importing high-quality packaging costs a fortune, as do the
smart labels. And our sandwiches stay fresh for longer. I'd
challenge anyone to tell the difference between one of our
sandwiches made today or yesterday.

"Next door sells five frogs legs for Rp 5,000 which is
comparable."

My roast beef and Dijon mustard with salad baguette was just
that. It was perfectly satisfactory, it stopped the stomach
rumbles but was nothing to write home about. The fruit cake, on
the other hand, advertised as rich and moist, was more than
tasty; it was truly scrumptious.

The Sandwich Kid staff are not your average convenience food
workers. Indeed none had seen a sandwich before they started
working for Hatch-Barnwell.

"All our staff are from East Java and are either orphans or
people who were too poor to finish their education," he said.
"Hopefully we'll be able to give them some training and skills
that they wouldn't have learned otherwise."

-- John Aglionby