Sandwichist - Home Grown Tomato, Basil And Mozzarella Sandwich From Look Mum No Hands!

By Browners Last edited 163 months ago
Sandwichist - Home Grown Tomato, Basil And Mozzarella Sandwich From Look Mum No Hands!
Look Mum No Hands sign
Look Mum No Hands sign
Mini cyclist amid the tomato plants
Mini cyclist amid the tomato plants
Tomato, basil and mozzarella baguette
Tomato, basil and mozzarella baguette

In search of London's best sandwich since sliced bread

London’s gone cycle crazy recently. Blue lanes are somewhat bizarrely flanking our roads and heavyweight public bikes have been wheeled out as part of Boris’s “gigantic communist experiment”. It’s no coincidence perhaps that it’s now perfectly normal to walk around in Lycra, revealing every last physiological detail that would have given our grandmother’s a collective heart attack.And if this move from four wheels to two wasn’t enough of a good thing, London is also becoming increasingly keen on growing gardens and vegetables in public and urban spaces. Recently people have even suggested constructing buildings with vertical gardens and roofs turned over to horticulture.With cycle and eco-mania in mind, we went back to Look Mum No Hands on Old Street who not only fix bikes but also grow some of their own produce, to have lunch with keen cyclist and ethical food fanatic, Thomasina Miers. After some delicious Suki tea we shunned the tasty looking pies and instead moved on to a tomato, mozzarella and basil baguette that came with a side salad that was so complex it might well become the subject matter for Christopher Nolan’s next film. Fennel, carrot, onions, radishes, peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, seeds and a baffling number of other minor characters completed the paradox.The sandwich itself, in contrast, was beautifully simple. The tomatoes, which are grown on site along with the basil, were sweet and juicy, whilst the mozzarella was well textured and a fine foil for the other ingredients. The only way it could have been improved would be for the pedestrian baguette to be switched for something artisanal and Italian.We dallied over more tea, drinking in the atmosphere and admiring the bike paraphernalia and eclectic clientele. And as we perused one particular girl’s trendy tattoo of a stocking seam up the back of her legs we pondered whether any other cafes and sandwich shops in London grow their own ingredients. If you know of any in our fine capital, please let us know.Look Mum No Hands, 49 Old Street London EC1V 9HX

Read our London Blend review of Look Mum No Hands!

Last Updated 02 August 2010