Vegan Meatball Marinara (Subway) By @Cinabar

My first disclaimer is that I’m not vegan, but as it is Veganuary I thought it would be good to try out one of the options at Subway, this Vegan Meatball Marinara. I had with it toasted vegan cheese and squirt of vegan aioli and my usual salad choices, I do love olives on everything subway. The bread was the paprika and chilli to give it warmth.
The sub itself isn’t that pretty on the inside, there were four vegan meatballs hiding in this sandwich but the combination of multiple sauces and salads meant they weren't easy to spot, it was a full but messy sandwich. This translated to the eating too, the sauce was keen to escape, and they only gave me one serviette! Oh well.

I have had the meat version of this sandwich many times before and have to say this was very similar, the meatballs felt very much like meat in texture. In flavour there was a little less beefiness, but they still tasted amazing, and it was a very enjoyable sandwich. I like the vegan garlic aioli sauce this went very well with the tasty Marina sauce all over the meatballs, the salad giving a nice crunch. The vegan cheese was a little bit lost but there was a lot going on with the contents. This was a filling and tasty sandwich and one that you could easily mistake for being meaty. I’m not sure if I would have noticed if I hadn’t been the one ordering it. I thoroughly enjoyed it and am impressed with Subway bringing out such a good vegan alternative without upping the price (it was priced the same as the meat version).
Seriously though Subway when you sell subs full of sauce like this give us an extra serviette, I can’t be the only one who’s fingers were coated. Dangerous to eat but oh so tasty.

Turkey, Bacon & Guacamole Signature Wrap (Subway) By @Cinabar

Well it is Friday lunch time and as I’m at work and that means I have my semi-regular visit to Subway. When I arrived I spotted a poster in the window showing off Subways’ new range of Signature Wraps, and I opted to try out the Turkey, Bacon and Guacamole variant. I chose this one as it sounded quite healthy, and also because avocado and guacamole are really in at the minute, they are seen as being a bit hipster. The lady making it started out with a round wrap, which was flavoured with tomato and basil and it was a slight orange in colour. She spread guacamole and then stacked up on it turkey, bacon, cheese and then asked the usual requirements over salad, where I added lettuce, tomato, cucumber and olives. She said the recommend sauce for this wrap was Ranch, so I went with that. She folded it all over and confessed that when she had sliced some before and they had a habit of falling apart and she would have to start again. Perhaps this justifies the £5 price for a single wrap, which is quite pricey for Subway.
Oh well, I started by trying a little bit of the wrap on its own and found it to be lovely and flavoursome the tomato and herbs did stand out and made an excellent base for this wrap. The guacamole was mild, but had a nice avocado flavour; I’d have just liked a bit more seasoning in it. As a whole though the wrap really came together, the turkey and bacon were filling and the ranch dressing made this a tasty wrap. Each mouthful was different with varied texture from the meats and salad. I was pleased that the wrap held together and it was surprisingly easy to eat, and I didn’t lose any filling. The flavours were lovely together, there was lots of flavours and meatiness and the wrap did make it fun to eat. It is something I would have again, even at the higher price (for a non-toasted take out) lunch.

BBQ Beef Burnt Ends Sub (Subway) By @Cinabar

My local branch of Subway has had this particular new Sub advertised with a "coming soon" sign for some time. It has now finally arrived so it was the obvious choice for my lunch. I ordered the BBQ Beef Burnt Ends Sub with salad, (lettuce, tomato and cucumber) and olives (I have these on every Sub, whether they sound like they would go or not) and I just had some mayo as the dressing, as I wanted to pick up as much of the main flavour from the meat as I could.
The name of this Subway is a bit weird, but I have to say I did Google it and it made a bit more sense. Normally the idea of the "burnt ends" of anything sounds like the part you wouldn't want to eat, but apparently in the slow cooking and smoking process the Burnt Ends are a delicacy.
If beef has been slow cooked a long time you would imagine that it would be ultra soft and would just fall apart. This beef didn't, if anything it was a bit chewy, which is rather unusual in a Subway sandwich. Further Googling showed that Beef Burnt Ends are often chewy... I am learning things tonight.
The flavour was great though, the barbecues taste was spot on, not to strong, but a good mix of spice, and a lovely sweet and smoky flavour. I got used to the texture being a bit firmer, and enjoyed the rich meaty taste and salad. I have to admit to not knowing much about Beef Burnt Ends, but by the end of my Sub was left wanting to have it again, so it was a success.
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Festive Feast Sub Sandwich (Subway) By @Cinabar

This is the first year in which Subway have brought out a Christmas special sub. It is described as a Festive Feast, and consists of turkey (which I guess we could see coming), sausage, bacon and cranberry sauce. Of course when you order this sub you still get the usual offerings of salad, and I added lettuce, tomato, cucumber and olives… yes I know olives don’t sound like they’d go, but I was thrown by the already strange combination. This sub needed gravy, not salad! The cranberry sauce looked very runny when it strewn across the filling, it also looked like a very bright shade of dark pink and not so appetising.
I tucked into the large Festive Feast Sub and realised it was not for me. There is too much meat, and the mix of flavours just meant it felt heavy and mixed up. I know people have mini sausages wrapped in bacon with their turkey dinner, but pig pieces of bacon, a full sausage and turkey sandwich was jut too much in each mouthful. The salad seemed really out of place, although all the parts were fresh and crisp. As already stated I didn’t do myself any favours with the olives, but heck I have them on their chicken tikka!
Now the major problem I had with the Festive Feast Sub was not just the overload of meat, it was the cranberry sauce. It wasn’t very sweet and seemed more acidic and vinegary. Not a flavour I wanted in an already over complex sandwich. Did I mention it was runny, it was running down my fingers, by the end of the sub I wanted to take a bath, but had to suffice with washing my bright pink fingers in the sink at work. Next ones a Big Beef Melt.

New Barbecue Pulled Pork Subway (@SUBWAYUKIreland) [By @Cinabar]

We quite like to have a Friday lunch time treat and Subway is becoming a popular habit. I’ve tried quite a few things off the menu, and invariably load up the sub with salad and olives to finish it. Spectre likes to add chillies, but that is the magic of Subway, you get to choose every detail. This week I noticed that here was a new variety available, both of us went for it. New Barbecue Pulled Pork, very on trend and pulled pork is becoming very popular. I’ve seen kits to try to make it yourself at home, but so far my experiences of it has always been shop bought.
The first thing to note is that there doesn’t seem to be as much filling visually in our subs as there was compared to the picture on the wall. However all was not lost, because the minute we tried the sub you could tell there was plenty of meat, even if was hidden by the top layer of salad.

The pork was soft, but had enough texture to feel nice, but the flavour was outstanding. The meaty mix was sweet, smokey, and lightly spiced. The barbecue base taste was just spot on. Spectre had been saying that he fancied pork ribs for lunch but that it isn’t so easy in a short lunch break. However he said the flavour from the Subway pretty much matched his expectations and totally fulfilled the craving.The key thing here is that both of us went away thinking we’d have the same sub next week, as we enjoyed them so much!

By Cinabar

Steak and Chorizo Melt and Raspberry Cheesecake Cookie (@SubwayUKIreland) [By @Cinabar]

Steak and Chorizo Melt
We have recently moved office, and now the nearest lunch time eatery is a branch of Subway just across the road. I sense this is not going to be good for my waist line (I love their cookies), but obviously I was keen to check out the full menu as it has been a while since my last visit. On the “New” sign were two new subs, both with chorizo as the new ingredient. There was a Chicken and Chorizo sub and a Steak and Chorizo melt, which is what I opted for.
I had it toasted to ensure the cheese was melted nicely, and I chose the Italian style bread. For additions I had tomato, lettuce, cucumber, olives and light mayo. I do love how you can build your sandwich how you like it at Sub, which means it is always perfect. They seem to deal with the queue quite quickly too despite this.
I thought the Sub was lovely, the flavours I’d chosen were all quite European, and worked well together. The chorizo was just lovely, it had a surprisingly good heat to the meaty flavour, and gave my lunch a good warm spicy glow. With the steak and cheese on top the chorizo made the Sub taste like a spicy meat feast. They will add the chorizo as an extra on any Sub, so I think some experimenting is in order next time I go.

Raspberry Cheesecake Cookie
Now did I mention I love Subway cookies? They are lovely American style soft in the middle ones. Obviously I picked the “New” flavour, I am predictable after all, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the flavour Raspberry Cheesecake before?
I thought it tasted rather like raspberry and white chocolate. It was rather nice though, sweet, with plenty of berry bits which were fresh and zesty. The white chocolate bits were creamy, and it was a nice treat after my sub. I can never resist a cookie in Subway!

By Cinabar