Interesting Toasties

We have covered all the standard toastie combinations these days, so our quest is now to find better, more interesting toasties to beguile the Midlands with. On Saturday night we had our most recent tasting.


Here are the results.

Green and Black Olives, Creamed Feta and Roasted Med Veg

This one started life as a suggestion on Facebook, and we took it from there. Notice how we managed this one without even putting meat in it? I’ll warrant it isn’t even better with bacon (but maybe chicken). Suggestion of the night was that we make this one a double-decker and call it the Club Med, which I think is just deliciously classy. Also great with houmous instead of the feta, which makes it vegan-friendly. Neat.

Warwickshire Spiced Lamb Koftas with Roasted Sweet Peppers, Raita and Manchego Cheese

Manchego is a Spanish ewe’s milk cheese, so doubling up on the sheep seemed like a sensible choice. The raita is a tough sell here, because although mint and cheese actually work in beautiful interesting toastie harmony, they are not normal companions. It also didn’t help that I wrote aioli on the menu, which actually scored higher for first impressions. Then again it’s garlic, which is nearly as good as bacon. We should probably try that too.

North Atlantic Mussels with Cream Cheese, Sun Dried Tomatoes and Watercress

This one divides people into those that like mussels (Barny), and those that don’t (me). I have tried these salty little abominations on many occasions, and they continue to be vile, mushy pests with no redeeming features. Hence sharing them at a tasting, rather than just between the two of us, because left to my own devices I’ll just spend hours thinking up descriptive adjectives to voice my displeasure in them. On the other hand, this is a genuinely interesting toastie, and in this form the wretched molluscs  are at their most palatable. Based on the feedback though, people find it hard to trust seafood in street food, so we may have to accept that this will always be a slow burner.

Corned Beef with Roasted Shallots, Warwickshire Cheddar and Salad Cream

There is a certain retro goodness about corned beef, but this is another food that divides people. It’s a re-imagining of one of Barny’s childhood classics, so nostalgia it a pretty strong flavour here. Feedback requested both more and less of every ingredient, which means that the balance isn’t right, although the scores seemed to suggest the taste was good. It can still happen.

The Squerger. 6oz Warwickshire beef patty in a triple decker of Monterey Jack cheese, gherkins, bacon, home made relish, fried onions and cheddar

Oh frabjous day, I’ve been looking forward to this one.

The worst part of any burger is clearly the bun. So instead the bun is made of toasties, filled with everything that makes a burger great, and 6oz square of local beef to fill it corner to corner. This one has enjoyed the same level of development as the Manwich, because these triple decker toasties have inadvertently become our speciality. Our tasters were uncertain about gherkins, which gave us pause for thought, because gherkins are magnificent, but we can work with that. This was the hands-down high-scorer of the night, even though we served it after everyone should have reasonably already been totally stuffed.

A tough one to get out at most events, because it is dangerously similar to a burger, but next time the meat in a bun is absent, this may have to make an appearance.

The Millionaires Toastie: Carnation caramel sauce with dark Belgian Chocolate

This one has been a really lovely one to test. There is such a thing as too much chocolate, but now that we have tweaked the balance it scored well, and it seems to appeal more than the more delicious but less appealing Rocky road. I even have statistics. God I love statistics. So expect this on a menu near you (first outing Friday) soon.

Thanks very much to our lovely, patient tasting crew who have consistently provided the most excellent, honest and useful feedback as well as being great friends. You rock.