After some light-hearted 'banter' with the marketing team behind the Sainsbury's twitter account following my review of their Taste The Difference Ham Hock sandwich (or 'TTD', as I believe it is referred to by these tech whizz-kidds), I was keen to today try their TTD Herb and Chicken offering. One must at this point give a shout out to my worthy twittersphere adversaries - Chris and Bobby. It is however a greek tragedy that this blogger, despite being located in Central London during the working week, has no easily-accessible Sainsbury's from the office. It would literally be easier for me to buy diamonds than to get my hands on a TTD Herb and Chicken sandwich come lunch hour. It is for these reasons that today I review my first EAT sandwich, the EAT store I reference being conveniently located on Piccadilly.
The EAT experience cannot help but feel somewhat bargain-basement; the decor and general atmosphere being somewhat cheap and cheerful. The sandwiches are disappointingly displayed in a poor manner; the sparse survivors of the lunch-hour rush spread across a joyless counter, all with somewhat bare and unappealing packaging. Perhaps this is my misinterpretation, and in fact the minimalistic, almost Scandinavian approach they are going for is just lost on me. Ten points for the entirely friendly staff however. I selected their 'Chicken Bacon & Avocado' baguette, which was mine for the cost of £3.65. It can be something of a heartache to be invoiced this much excluding a beverage or snack of some form, once one has become accustomed to a £3.00 meal deal from those most sincere of grocers, Sainsbury's and Tesco. We must be aware however, that EAT is a coffee shop, and as such is not at liberty to offer these deals - a coffee shop is not afforded the same enviable economies of scale as a superstore.
SO, onto the 'Chicken Bacon & Avocado' baguette. One point of immediate note is that the aroma from this particular bread-based ally has been tantalisingly wafting under my nose whilst writing these words, despite still being packaged. Hats off to the ingredients, for being able to offer such a bold scent whilst still captive inside their plastic prison. The design loses a point for having a piece of chicken immediately escape and flop on the floor as I unwrap - clearly this sandwich is a renegade, the scent and content of which cannot be chained.
Now onto the good stuff - and 'good stuff' would be an apt description of my first hit of taste. Decent baguette with a fair crunch, avocado which tastes exactly like avocado does, and bacon which is perfectly bacon-esque. The chicken hits a score slightly above average for having a nice amount of juciness to it - there is nothing worse than dry, dehydrated meat in a sandwich. Overall, there is nothing distinct about the flavour to this lunchtime friend, all the components of the baguette hit 'satisfactory' to 'above average' marks for their individual contributions. The mayonnaise, which can be the perfect accomplice to any crafter of a sandwich seeking to achieve a flavoursome twist, tasted not unlike a mayonnaise one would purchase from a supermarket - Iceland's own brand, perhaps.
A few more bites in and I reflected on the poignancy of this conclusion. The ingredients - satisfactory alone. YET, there was an above-satisfaction sensation stirring in my soul once I had consumed the majority of the baguette - that can only point to the strength of the baguette lying in the overall impact of its individual components coming together with each bite. Perhaps, as it is Wednesday and I am fresh from our weekly team meeting, it was inevitable I would draw an analogy to a business. But I was overwhelmed by thoughts of how this baguette was like a well-functioning team within a business - perhaps just average together, yet undoubtedly strong when working as part of a team. This baguette reminded me of my reliance, and indeed all of our reliances, on others from which we draw strength, foster innovation, succeed, fall, rise once more and find our purpose. As a side note, towards the end of the baguette, the chicken seemed marginally dryer.
Realisations on the crucial nature on teamwork within businesses aside, I was impressed by how full I was after a baguette which seemed the wrong side of modest upon purchase. There can be no faults given to any of the ingredients, aside from being somewhat plain and uninspiring. All in all, however, the culinary team at EAT have here put together a 'Chicken Bacon & Avocado' baguette which delivers exactly that, the fill of which providing enough calorific content to fuel a day at work assisting with our country's economic recovery. For these reasons, I award the EAT 'Chicken, Avocado & Bacon' baguette a Sanwich Experience Score of 59.375%. For a full data breakdown, please see below.
Experience: 11/17
Branding: 1/3
Content: 2/4
Ingredients: 2/3
Appearance: 3/5
NOTE: If you too have consumed an EAT 'Chicken Bacon & Avocado' baguette, and wish to contest any of the above scores, comments are grateully recieved to sandwichgenius32@hotmail.com
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