Okay, my most un-bookish post of the year 🙂
If you follow me on Insta, you’ll notice that the main thing I post there is my weekly ‘swim-and-sandwich’ outing. The swim is usually in one of a handful of local pools (occasionally it’s more exotic if I’m on holiday!), but the sandwiches are another story. I love a good sandwich, and it’s also a way of locking in lunch with a friend each week.
I have a few favourite sandwich places (Saul’s, Jolly Good, Hugo’s Deli and Stefanino Panino) but this year I have branched out (full list of all the places I visited in 2025 below). Reliables aside, there were standouts, so here are my top sandwiches for 2025:
01. I accept that the lamb, labneh, roasted carrot, onion and rocket ciabatta from Wild Life Bakery doesn’t look that exciting but it was thrilling. So, so tasty.
02. Crumbed fish, lettuce, nori tartare, and lime sandwich from Alba Thermal Springs (pictured at the top).
03. The cauliflower, kasundi, cheddar, pickles, dill & mint mayo focaccia from Juniper was a summer winner.
04. There are a couple of Saluministi Paninoteca sandwich bars in the CBD and you have to get in early for the full selection. Still thinking about our choices – prosciutto, straciatella, roast pumpkin and rocket focaccia AND calamari, gremolata, lemon tartare and rocket on a crusty roll.
05. Amazing roast beef roll with herby-horseradish mayo, pickles, fresh radish, Swiss, and rocket from Tyler’s Milkbar.
06. Hugo’s Deli usually does a special, and this winter their toasted sourdough with spanakopita, Swiss cheese, and a hint of honey was outstanding.
07. I’ve had the turkey club at Bowery to Williamsburg a few times and there’s good reason to keep returning to it.
08. It was as messy as hell to eat but the pulled beef (cooked in Dr Pepper BBQ sauce), jalapeño hot honey mayo, rocket, and cheddar toasted sandwich from Tim’s Toasties was immensely satisfying.
09. Perfect cotelleta at Paninoteca.
10. The club sandwich we had at Baguette Studios was delicious but it was the ‘dessert sandwich’ – a baguette with vanilla cream, pistachio crumb and honey – that had us talking.
The complete list of places visited in 2025:
- Levriero Italiano (Heidelberg)
- Open House (Clifton Hill)
- Rough Diamond (Warrnambool)
- Noto Panino (Mount Gambier, SA)
- Elka Bakery (Ivanhoe)
- Tim’s Toasties (Ballarat)
- Baguette Studios (North Melbourne)
- Ivy Lane (Camberwell)
- Tora Tora (Richmond)
- Tyler’s Milkbar (Preston)
- Hector’s Deli (Richmond)
- Ray’s (Hawthorn)
- Wild Life Bakery (Brunswick)
- Paninoteca (Coburg)
- Mile End Bagels (Richmond)
- Arthur’s Milkbar (Hawthorn)
- Shooter McGavin’s (Carlton)
- The Danish Club (Melbourne CBD)
- Kelso’s (Abbotsford)
- Egg Lab (Fitzroy)
- Toastface Grillah (Perth, WA)
- Alba (Rye)
- Barry’s Garage (Hawthorn)
- Matheson Cafe (Lake Matheson, NZ)
- Mr T Deli (Croydon)
- Standing Room (Fitzroy)
- Maker & Monger (Prahran)
- Bowery to Williamsburg (Melbourne CBD)
- Juniper (South Melbourne)
- Saluministi Paninoteca (Melbourne CBD)
- Marché Cafe (Hawthorn)
- Pigeon Whole Bakers (Hobart, TAS)
- Wursthaus Kitchen (Hobart, TAS)
- Warkop (Richmond)
- Miller’s Bread Kitchen (Dromana)
- Saul’s (Hawthorn)
- Jolly Good (Collingwood)
- Hugo’s Deli (Richmond)
- Stefanino Panino (Collingwood)
- Akimbo Bread (Northcote)
I love a good sandwich too, but I am too lazy to go out and find them, so I shall be referring to your photos to guide me when I’m making my own. I always have some spanakopita mix left over and I have some lovely honeys so now I know what to do with it!
I’m too lazy to make something exotic at home! I actually don’t eat much bread other than my weekly sandwich outing, so making at home would involve getting specific things… at which point I decide, ‘I may as well go out!’
When you make your spanakopita toastie, don’t forget the Swiss cheese – it kept it all together 🙂
Yes, it would be runny otherwise, I guess.
We love bread. The Spouse used to make it, but when we couldn’t get yeast during Covid our local Bromleys started home deliveries and we’ve stuck with them now that we can buy from their shop.
There’s also an artisan breadshop in Moorabbin which does the Best Ever Sourdough (and probably delivers to half the sandwich shops you go to). It’s not so handy so that’s more a case of buying up big when I go past it, and hope there’s room in the freezer.
And then there’s the airfryer, which delivers the perfect toastie, yum!
Brilliant post! Might you consider doing one on pastries?
Thank you!
I’ll have to leave pastries to someone else 🙁 There are many good bakeries to try but I rarely buy sweet pastries (maybe because I’m full after my sandwich?!). Actually, I suspect it’s because I’m one of those incredibly anti-social people who doesn’t drink tea or coffee – as a result, I don’t do coffee catch-ups with friends. Melbourne has a HUGE cafe culture and going out for coffee (and pastry) is a big thing, which is also why I compensate by trying to drag someone along for my post-swim sandwich.
When I do buy pastries, it’s usually for my kids, especially my daughter who is a pretty skilled baker (unlike me – I like to cook but rarely bake).
The irony of my long reply – we (my daughter and I) were planning on visiting a particular bakery today that is only open weekends!
Oooh your post really opened my appetite. By the description + look of it, I would go for #8 first, if I could
It was truly delicious (but not a very graceful one to eat!)
Man. Now I’m so hungry!
😀
I’m not a big one for sandwiches, but I still remember the one we had up a mountain in Tuscany in 2014, mostly because it was foggy and drizzly, we had a hair-raising drive up and nearly got lost finding the tiny hole-in-the-wall neighbourhood cafe we’d seen recommended, and the proprietor spoke no English, so I had to request “due panini con prosciutto e formaggio” (the very extent of my Italian!) and they were the freshest, most delicious ham and cheese focaccia sandwiches you could imagine.
So often with the things we eat it’s about the company, time, and place as much as the actual food. I have similar strong and wonderful memories of eating a lobster roll in Maine (I’d never had one, and at that time you wouldn’t have seen them in Australia – that’s since changed).
They all sound pretty awesome, but my favourite is vegemite, lettuce and cheese 🙂
I don’t know whether to thank you or chastise you for introducing me to Saul’s. But as I had their pastrami sandwich again just yesterday I guess I am going to have to thank you and potentially start working my way through this list. Happy 2026 and all the new sandwiches you will find.
I’m an enabler 🙂
Pingback: The Happiest Things from Things That Are Making Me Happy | booksaremyfavouriteandbest