Kathmandu:

I remember the time I took my granddaughter Heyshe to The Roadhouse Café. She was eight-years-old then and ordered a pizza, and I went for my favourite Club Sandwich with its many layers and colours. Half way through her pizza she asked me if she could sample my sandwich and one bite later she said, “You have my pizza and I’ll have your sandwich.”

Such is the lure of a Club Sandwich.

Besides The Roadhouse, luscious sandwiches are served at Cibo, near The Ambassador Hotel, Himalayan Java, The Bakery Café chain, all coffee shops in five star hotels and Chez Caroline, which besides juicy Club Sandwiches serves a Sandwich Mediterranean of French beans, tomatoes, onions, olives, salad, egg and tuna in foccacia bread and a delightful range of French sandwiches while Cibo has a whole range of toasted sandwiches.

About Club Sandwich, food writer Craig Claiborne in the New York Times says, “In 1894 Richard Canfield (1865-1914) debonair patron of art, purchased the Saratoga Club to make it a casino. Canfield Solitaire was originated in the casino’s gambling rooms and the club sandwich in its kitchen.

The perfect club sandwich is made with a slice of bread, freshly toasted and spread lightly with home made mayonnaise, a layer of crisp lettuce (in this case iceberg because of the texture), and thin slices of freshly cooked chicken or turkey breast, another slice of toast with mayonnaise, crisp strips of bacon, if your diet allows, thin slices of ripe tomato, and final slice of toast with mayonnaise. I trim the edges of the sandwich before serving.”

Says James Villas, food editor and restaurant

critic, “I consider this sandwich one of the most delicious of American creations. I agree with writers who note that the original was not a triple-decker.

“Second, a genuine club sandwich must be made only with chicken, never turkey. Third, I’m convinc-ed the name stems not from a bar, restaurant or country club, but from elegant old club cars on the streamliner trains. Lucius Bee-be once agreed with me ab-out the great clubs on the 20th Century- two-deckers, mind you. I could eat a club for lunch and every single day”.

The Club Sandwich gave way to people creating their own large sandwiches which Lawrence Sanders’ fictional detective Francis X Delaney used to make and then eat over the kitchen sink. Since it used to spill over and create a mess in his New York apartment. Such was Delaney’s passion he used to stop at Delicatessens on the way home dream up an

almost Club Sandwich and carry his pleasure home and then, like the artist he was, create.

But of course the Club Sandwich owes its beginning to John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich, who in his desire not to leave the gambling table requested his man servant to bring him meat between two slices of bread. What is not known about him is that Montagu was rather a horrible man, who was at one time or another postmaster general of the British Isles, secretary of State and the fist lord of Admiralty.

Says the Encyclopedia Britannica, “For corruption and incapacity, Sandwich’s administration is unique in the history of the British Navy. Offices were bought, stores were stolen, and worst of all, ships, unseaworthy and inadequately equipped, were sent to fight battles of their country.”

But the Sandwich flourishes along with the Club. For sandwiches, call Cibo at 016910079, The Roadhouse Café (Thamel) 4260187, Himalayan Java 4422519, The Bakery Cafes (go to one near you), Chez Caroline 4263070, and all star hotels.