LDNFeature
July 13th, 2020
Hello. Are you hungry? Good. Because this is a new series called Yeah, That’s Buff where Infatuation London Staff Writers Jake Missing and Heidi Lauth Beasley talk about things they’ve eaten recently that taste, as they say, ‘buff’.
What is it?
A £7.80 focaccia sandwich from The Dusty Knuckle. There’s honey roast beetroots and carrots with orange and fennel seeds, whipped feta, dukka, and mixed herbs. This isn’t just a sandwich, in the same way that football isn’t just a game.
How does it make you feel?
Euphoric, and completely incapable of speech. A little like you’ve just eaten the headdress out of Midsommar. It’s a truly kaleidoscopic sandwich: purple and orange from the beets and carrots, whipped feta dyed fluorescent by the vegetables, crunchy from dukkah and various seeds. Sometimes between oily focaccia, sometimes between a sturdier sourdough. A truly sensory experience. Dolby Surround Sound for your mouth. Also, call me old fashioned, call me archaic, or call me a boomer - but a vegetable sandwich this delicious? Good gracious, sandwich bodacious.
What’s the technique?
The first thing you have to accept is that to try and eat this sandwich gracefully is to try and waltz with a goat. It’s not happening. But that mess is part of the unbridled, er, buffness. I tend to channel a vegan vampire when eating this, beetroot juice running down my chin, using a napkin as a front-facing cape. Another thing to know about is the bread. The focaccia is a breathless affair. It’ll be over before you know it, and you’ll just be there panting, messy, with orange and fennel seeds in your hair. The sourdough on the other hand is a more stable - if less invigorating - long-term option. It may not have the filthy charm of the focaccia, but you can come back to it. And there’s merit in that stability. At least that’s what my parents tell me.
How buff is it?
Buffy Summers.
photo credit: Jake Missing
Suggested Reading
A list of popular London restaurants reopening this summer.
Want to have an excellent outdoor brunch? Want to find out what folded eggs are? Then head to Brunswick East.
On the day that London restaurants reopened, one of our Staff Writers headed for a surreal but seriously excellent brunch in Tooting.
We headed to Rochelle Canteen on the day restaurants reopened and it was, as ever, calm and carafe-heavy.