May 24, 2019 Food
Every week, Metro showcases an unsung hero in Auckland’s ever-evolving food landscape: a dish, a morsel, a bite, a drink, a sweet or savoury treat which we think deserves to be celebrated. We tell you why we love it, and why you might too.
Upon starting my job at Metro at the end of February earlier this year, I learned I would sadly not be joining the Restaurant of the Year judging panel as they were “nearly finished” and apparently “you’re not allowed to just come along for a free lunch”.
READ MORE: Six of the best sandwiches in Auckland
In the alternate universe where I was not thwarted in achieving my dreams by rigid institutions and haters determined to keep me down, the Metro Peugeot Restaurant of the Year 2019 winner’s list would look quite different. Best Dish? No longer Pasture ’s Aged New Zealand Wagyu & AC/DC. Instead, The Fed’s chicken sandwich. Best Chef? Al Brown, for creating The Fed’s chicken sandwich. Best All Day Restaurant? The Fed, for making the chicken sandwich available to me from 7am to midnight. Best Drinks – The Fed’s chicken sandwich (gravy).
READ MORE: Metro’s Star of the Week: L’atelier du fromage’s blueberry tart
Officially, this delightful treat is called the chicken salad sandwich, purchased from Federal Delicatessen. But when I want a chicky sam from The Fed I don’t have time to waste using all those syllables, I need it NOW. I would estimate I eat a chicky sam from The Fed at least once a week. It is quite simply a perfect item of food. Two slices of custom-made white bread stuffed so very generously with a paste-like filling of roast chicken mixed with mayo, juicy little bites of carefully chopped onion and capers, crunchy ribbons of iceberg lettuce and salty, spiky, indulgent triangles of crispy chicken skin crackling. Add to this a little ramekin of hot gravy for dipping and you’ve found yourself Auckland’s best sandwich. Accept no substitutes.
