LOCATION: Quo Vadis, 26 Dean Street, London, W1D 3LL [map]
PRICE: £6.50
BREAD: Sourdough (I think), toasted
FILLING: Smoked eel and creamed horseradish
PROS: Two little squares of charred sourdough sported just the right amount of bitter char. A peek inside revealed a generous slice of rich, oily, delicately smoked eel, smothered with freshly grated, properly nostril-searing creamed horseradish. Is there a more perfect flavour combination than that pungent horseradish and luscious, creamy-fleshed eel? Not when you’re eating this sandwich there isn’t. The overall richness was countered admirably by a dainty wee pile of pink, lightly picked onions and it took every ounce of my strength not to shove them in the sandwich too, pick the whole thing up and make a right old mess. Quo Vadis is a proper restaurant though, and it’s such a glorious and smart little ‘wich that I didn’t mind eating it with a knife and fork, thus saving my companions the embarrassment of dining with a woman sporting a fishy face mask. The sandwich is small but to be honest, due to the richness I wouldn’t want it any bigger (lies, lies).
CONS: The splendour of the sandwich was offset by a couple of mistakes with the meal. It’s perhaps a little unfair of me to mention it considering this is a review of a sandwich and not the restaurant in general but it left a slightly bad taste in the mouth and so I’m knocking a point off.
SCORE: 9/10
The London Review of Sandwiches 
Despite the fact that I detest eels, it does look like a lovely sandwich stack.
Oh no! That’s such a shame. Would work with smoked mackerel too if you fancied giving it a go but then if you don’t like smoked eel…
Drooooool. I actually did open it up and put the onions inside but then I’m terribly uncouth.
9 / 10 is a glorious score for a glorious sandwich.
Ha! We’d already attracted some negative attention. Ahem.
Totally agree. This is a stellar sandwich.
If I worked in town I’d be eating this on a regular basis. Quo Vadis Camberwell, perhaps? Hmm.
Great reading and fantastic pics! Have you tried the Otolenghi chicken/pesto sandwich? And the egg mayo one? Delish! The way I eat brass rails Rubens is to take the top off and do the open sandwich thing otherwise too much bread. Have you seen my brothers blog? http://eddybabysfoodparadise.blogspot.com/?m=1
p.s. Mishkins does a Rubens – Ed went there and said they don’t serve them till after 6pm!!!
Tony
Hey Tony, yep, had the reuben at Mishkins. Not tried the ottolenghi ones though! Will check them out.
Ooh how timely, I’m going to be tucking in to one of these bad boys this eve! x
ooh what did you think? x