Cheese, pickle and salad sandwich
EAT, West Country cheddar ploughmans, £3.29
Generous with good strong cheddar. The chutney has body and flavour. A little spinach gives freshness.
★★★★
Pret A Manger mature cheddar and Pret pickle £2.49
The raw onion brings sharpness. The mayonnaise - I’m not usually a fan - is balanced with great chutney. Nice cheddar tang.
★★★★
Marks & Spencer cheddar cheese ploughmans, £2.30
Quite moist. A lot of cheese, but not all that much else … a little bit of chutney. As a whole though it’s pretty good.
★★★
Waitrose Cheddar ploughmans sandwich £2.30 Not much flavour overall. Three slices of thin and not very crumbly cheese. Not a lot of chutney coming through. Lots of salad.
★★
Egg sandwich
Benugo egg and semi-dried tomato bloomer, £3.25
The bread’s got body and flavour. There’s a lightness to the mayonnaise in the filling - it’s not pastey. The best to my palate.
★★★★
Aldi Just Tasty egg and cress sandwich, 85p
A classic afternoon tea sandwich. Good if you like things simple and plain, or if you’ve lost your teeth.
★★★
The Co-operative Loved By Us low-fat egg, spinach and tomato sandwich £2.25
There’s a lovely layer of fresh spinach. I’m not a fan of sliced tomato in a sandwich: it reminds me of my school lunchbox.
★★★
Greggs egg sandwich from £1.40
There’s not much to this one - it’s just egg. No colour, no texture. There’s not a lot of love in that sandwich. The loser.
★★
Salmon salad
Pret A Manger Roast salmon and avo superbowl approx 240g, £5.25
Lovely piece of salmon. The avo is a bit woody. By far the best dressing. Perfect lunch on the run.
★★★★
Sainsbury’s hot smoked salmon salad 200g, £3
Packed full of bouncy fresh greens. Classic Scandinavian flavours. A point is lost for the salmon, it looks like it’s tinned.
★★★
Marks & Spencer hot smoked salmon and new potato salad 340g, £4.50
The salmon is delicious. Everything looks crunchy. The dressing could be a bit sharper.
★★★
Waitrose Good to Go hot smoked salmon and quinoa salad 230g, £3.95
The salad looks a bit old. It tastes like leftovers - not necessarily bad but nothing very exciting.
★★
Hoisin duck wrap
Pret A Manger hoisin duck wrap £3.50
Great presentation: lots of green, fresh onion. And a good level of seasoning. My favourite, it tastes fresher.
★★★★
Marks & Spencer hoisin duck wrap £3.30
Classic. Nice big chunks of cucumber. A rich sticky sauce, quite a unique strong taste of orange or tangerine …
★★★
Morrisons aromatic duck wrap £2.30
It doesn’t look appealing at all. The duck is shredded rather than in pieces, it doesn’t feel meaty. It’s all a bit soggy and limp and soft.
★★
Waitrose hoisin duck wrap £3.10,
Doesn’t taste like much at all. Really, really mean on the filling. Mostly bread, a tiny bit of duck and a bit of lettuce.
No stars
Falafel salad
Benugo Gorgeous Greek salad 250g, £3.50
Nice mixture of grains and lettuce. Very simple. The hummus tastes fresh and homemade. It’s cheeky only having two baby falafels.
★★★★
Tesco falafel, red pepper and tabbouleh salad 260g, £2.80
Lots of crunchy greens - it’s light - less grain, more veggies. The falafels are a bit rubbery and cold.
★★★
Marks & Spencer Falafel and bulgar wheat salad with a houmous dip 300g, £3
The smallest falafels I’ve ever seen. Nice bite to the grain. Not a lively lunch bowl.
★★
Caffè Nero Falafel and tabbouleh salad 269g, £3.95
It doesn’t taste wonderfully fresh. Generous with the falafels but they’re sweet. It feels a bit 1970s vegetarian.
★
Hot chicken and rice
BEST BUY: Leon chicken and chorizo club hot box, approx 437g, £6.95
The rice is really nicely cooked, lots of fresh vegetables and the rich chorizo makes it a treat. It tastes homemade.
★★★★★
Itsu Thai chicken brown rice potsu 534g, £6.39,
Quite a few vegetables. Not too rich. Not a knock-your-socks-off curry, it’s a bit too smooth for a Thai curry. It could be a bit punchier.
★★★
Pret A Manger Red Thai chicken curry quinoa rice pot approx 330g, £5.50
Good having the different grains. The sliced raw red pepper doesn’t really go.
★★★
Wasabi Chicken katsu curry bento approx 720g, £6.29
It’s fast food - a really big portion of soft bland white rice and fried chicken. If you’re hungover, desperate and need to get through the afternoon.
★★
Bill Granger is a restaurateur and food writer
