The Shambles Kitchen in York is located as you may have already surmised on the Shambles. It is pretty near to all those Harry Potter themed shops so you may have to side step a few Potter nerds as you meander your way along the narrow streets to find this place. It’s worth it though as they really are a bit of a ‘wizard’ when it comes to conjuring up a decent bit of food to scoff.

There is a proper menu outside attached to the wall, but I kind of like much better the way that they have handwritten menus draped up and hanging down above the counter listing the daily offerings.

DELI BEEF SANDWICH

I picked out the Deli Beef from the Shambles Kitchen Deli Sandwiches menu, this was described as “Medium Rare Smoked Topside, Creamed Feta, Rocket, Tomato & Chilli Chutney, Fire Roasted Red Pepper” for £6.50. it didn’t mention the type of bread but it turned out to be a focaccia

This was one of those sandwiches where reading the list of ingredients I was uncertain that it all would work together but as almost always I would have been wrong as it was all blended together perfectly.

The thinly sliced beef was awesome, perfectly pink and plentiful too. The fire roasted red pepper was so juicy and packed with a burst of sweetness as I ate.

The creamed feta and the tomato & chilli chutney had both worried me when I read them on the menu as I had feared that they may both overpower other flavors in the sandwich. I was so wrong they had been added in just the right amounts so that there was harmony in between the slices of bread and a gentle symphony playing out inside my mouth and on my taste buds.

This was the best deli sandwich that I have eaten this year with no doubt, and it reminded me so much of the deli sandwiches I eat in the states. Today the stars were the fillings inside the sandwich, just as it should be. all too often in England it is all about the bread, but here at the Shambles kitchen? no sir, not today 🙂

PULLED PORK

From the Hot Sandwich menu at the Shambles Kitchen we had The Pulled Pork for £6.50 which was House Smoked Pork Collar, Zingy Slaw, Apple BBQ sauce in Foccacia.

This was also a really great sandwich, as with the deli beef we had concerns that the zingy slaw and the apple BBQ sauce would all get in the way, but once again there was a perfect balance of flavours.

The only downside was that this sandwich was a bit of a messy beast to tackle and there was plenty of meat juice fighting to make itself known as you chomped down for a bite. That was all part of the fun though!

On their website they tell us that the meats are cooked ‘low and slow over burning oak behind our shop on the historic shambles’ and that the ‘Pork Collar is smoked for 8 hrs’ . Yeh that will be why it tasted so goddam good then 🙂

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The Shambles Kitchen is located at 28 The Shambles, York, Y01 7LX. You can check them out on their website, and also on the usual social channels, their Facebook page, their Twitter feed, and their Instagram profile

If I still lived in York I would be scoffing these sandwiches down on a regular basis, for now though I will just crave them from afar and gently drool as I recall fondly how good they were that day we visited