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