Bristol's best Christmas sandwiches
Warning: do not read on an empty stomach
A warm welcome to the newest Sauce writer on the block; Melo. When Melo got in touch to pitch a piece on Christmas sarnies — I was sceptical. I thought she was going to send me a rundown of Sainsbury’s saddest, but how wrong I was. I now consider the Christmas sandwich review an underrated medium. Perhaps we’ll make it an annual tradition. Melo has taken a very thorough approach, so I suggest grabbing yourself a mince pie, putting on some Christmas tunes and sitting down to enjoy this one.
Christmas sandwiches stand in a league of their own. Done right, they’re a heady mix of excess and nostalgia; turkey drowned in proper, thick gravy, stuffing that actually tastes of something, cranberry sauce applied with considered restraint. A proper Christmas sandwich should feel indulgent, like sneaking cold pigs in blankets straight from the fridge on Boxing Day morning.
But every year I am met with crippling disappointment. Stodgy supermarket offerings that taste like stale fridges and regret — sandwiches designed to survive distribution centres rather than bring anyone joy. Last Christmas, I convinced myself this might be the year they cracked it. I gave them my heart, but it wasn’t to be. Christmas was ruined. Or at least lunch was.
This year, to save me from tears, I’m changing tack. Bristol might be a city better known for rinsing drum and bass beats, back-breaking hills and dangerously potent cider, but it has recently become home to the UK’s most famed Christmas sarnie.
I’m talking, of course, about Sandwich Sandwich. Their gargantuan festive offering has been declared the best, and the biggest, Christmas sandwich in the UK by a familiar rotation of food influencers and internet-fillers. Such a title deserves proper scrutiny. So, I set myself the challenge of investigating. This is your definitive guide to Bristol’s best festive sandwiches — after this, you’ll never find yourself seeking out a supermarket solution.
Sandwich Sandwich, Baldwin Street
Sandwich Sandwich has three festive options. The headline act is the Christmas sandwich (£13.95 to take away, a pricey £16.75 to eat in). Inside: overnight-roasted turkey, smoked bacon, sticky pulled turkey thigh, sage and onion stuffing, crispy shallots, a Parma ham crumble, cranberry sauce, festive Heinz mayo and a takeaway pot of “rich” gravy on the side.
There’s also a vegan option (£9.95 to take away, £11.95 to eat in), plus a hot Christmas sandwich in a bun for those wanting something marginally more manageable.
I opt for the original. Watching it being assembled is oddly mesmerising. Nearly 30 minutes later, I’m handed what can only be described as a half kilo brick of bread and meat.
Visually, it’s impressive, as if it’s been designed with social media in mind (ahem). I try it without the gravy: no airs or graces. I can barely get my mouth around it. Flavour-wise, it’s… okay.
The pulled turkey thigh is rich, the cranberry brings a welcome sweetness, and the mayo adds a decent level of creaminess. But it’s a stodge-fest. The sage and onion stuffing is dense and uniform, offering little in the way of texture. The scuzzy white bread has very little flavour and brings nothing to the party except for structure.
With the gravy? Instantly better. It’s rich as promised, with a comforting, Bisto-style nostalgia to it, and it works well with the pulled turkey and bacon, alleviating the dryness.
But is it the best Christmas sandwich I’ve ever eaten? Absolutely not.
Score: 5/10
JAWS, often found at the Harbourside Market
If you haven’t heard of JAWS yet, you’re missing out. It’s a phenomenal film, very Christmassy.
JAWS is also a regular fixture at Bristol’s food markets; a relatively new operation that’s built a lot of well-deserved hype in a short space of time.
Their festive special, Santa Jaws (£11), can be ordered with or without meat. The carnivorous option comes packed with festive roast ham, sage and onion stuffing, Welsh rarebit, pickled red cabbage and cranberry sauce. The veggie swaps the ham for caramelised miso leeks.
I watch as a freshly baked ciabatta is sliced open and placed into a pizza oven so the rarebit can melt properly. Already, things feel promising.
The sandwich arrives hot and steamy, smelling strongly of sharp cheddar. The ciabatta is excellent; crusty on the outside, pillowy inside and full of flavour. Then comes the tangy Welsh rarebit and salty, thick-cut ham, plus the sharpness from the pickled cabbage. This is a Christmas sandwich done properly.
If I’m being picky (and I am), I’d ask for a bit more cranberry sauce. You need the sweetness to properly cut through all that rich melted cheese. It skips turkey entirely and I don’t miss it. This is the kind of festive twist I’m fully on board with. I’m told, very confidently, that the veggie version is even better. I’ll be back to test that claim.
Score: 9/10
Little Bagel Company, Clifton Triangle
I have a soft spot for Little Bagel, so a certain lack of objectivity was inevitable.
Their Christmas bagel (£9.75) comes in both meat and vegan versions. The meat includes turkey, bacon, rosti, pickled cabbage, chestnut mayo, cranberry and orange chutney and crispy onions. The vegan swaps the meat for cauliflower cheese.
I go for the meat version on an everything bagel (obvs). My first reaction is how impressive the cross-section is.
First bite — wow. Juicy, thinly sliced turkey and bacon that’s crisp and fatty in all the right places. A cranberry and orange chutney adds a much-needed sweetness with the orange injecting a truly festive punch.
The everything bagel is chewy, garlicky, and sturdy enough to hold everything together without becoming hard work to eat. This is very much Little Bagel’s strength.
But, if I’m being picky, a few of the elements get slightly lost. The rosti and the chestnut mayo are there, but they don’t quite announce themselves in the way I’d like. I need a bit more oomph.
Still, it’s a genuinely good Christmas bagel and one I’d happily eat again.
Score: 8/10
Dio’s Deli, North Street
Dio’s Deli is a local staple. I’ve been in plenty of times for a strong coffee, but somehow never crossed into ciabatta territory until now. Dio’s is from the team behind one of Bristol’s best greengrocers, Hugo’s, so expectations were high.
They are keeping things simple with one festive option: the sage and onion Christmas chicken (£8.70). Inside are sage and onion marinated chicken thighs, parsnip and sprout remoulade, spiced orange and cranberry sauce, and crispy chicken crumble — served in their signature ciabatta.
It’s packed to the brim and spilling proudly from the sides. Flavour wise, this is the most authentic Boxing Day sandwich so far. The sage and onion marinade is a super smart move, delivering instant Sunday roast vibes. The chicken skin is salty, crunchy and moreish. The cranberry and orange sauce really comes through, with big, juicy cooked cranberries smothered on the base of the ciabatta. The orange gives it an almost hot cross bun adjacent flavour.
But there are issues. I’m a big fan of chicken thigh, but the pieces here are just a bit too chunky — you hit too many those fatty connective bits. And while I was promised a parsnip and sprout remoulade, what I got was large, rustic chunks of parsnip. Some finely shredded Brussels sprouts would’ve brought a welcome bitterness to this.
With a few tweaks, this could be a serious contender. As it stands, it feels slightly under refined and rustic — something I’d happily demolish hungover on Boxing Day, but it’s not going to make the podium.
Score: 7/10
Milk Bun Deli, Bath
Milk Bun are icons in their own right (if you haven’t had one of their burgers — go), so expectations were high when I heard their deli next door was doing a festive sandwich. Their newly opened Bristol deli in Clifton Village was closed due to staff sickness during the week I was writing this (now back open), so I made the trip to Bath, where they currently have two festive offerings.
I go for the pigs in blankets sandwich (£9.95), adding brie for an extra £1.50 because it’s Christmas. I have no regrets. Inside there’s pigs in blankets, mulled cranberry jam, vegetable crisps and a celeriac remoulade, all stacked into soft white bread.
There’s also a veggie option that keeps everything except the sausages (£8.50).
Despite being generously filled, this sandwich has a surprising lightness to it. The pigs in blankets are well sized, salty and crisp at the edges, while the brie is creamy, adding a tangy richness without hogging centre stage.
The dollop of mulled cranberry jam brings proper festive sweetness, the celeriac remoulade adds freshness, and the vegetable crisps (the star of the show) deliver crunch and salt.
Everything is doing exactly what it should be doing. The balance here is completely right. My only gripe is that I’d have liked the sausages to be a tad juicier.
Honestly though, I could happily eat this 365 days a year.
It feels nostalgic without being stodgy. Though hard to compare directly to JAWS, it’s playing in the same league. If their Bath sarnie is anything to go by, I’ve got very high hopes for the Bristol version.
Score: 9/10
If there’s one takeaway here, it’s this: Bristol is doing Christmas sandwiches proper. Sack off the supermarket horrors, back independents and get out there this festive season. All Christmas sandwiches are available until the end of December, so you’ve still got time to conduct your own research.
All words and photos by Melo Meacher-Jones, edited by Meg Houghton-Gilmour
The Bristol Sauce is an AI free publication — all our work is written and edited by humans.
The fee for this article will be donated to both South & East Bristol and North Bristol Foodbanks at the request of Melo Meacher-Jones.
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The warning was not adhered to. I have some regrets.