Less Bread (Benjy's)

Name: beckstrous

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Product:	Benjy's
Date:	17/10/02 (493 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap , Big Portions, Fresh

Disadvantages: Service isn't great

You know what?

Deep in the bowels of the overpriced and besuited Square Mile, where a pint of beer can cost £3.60 and smoked salmon is served with champagne at breakfast, you can still get a cheap lunch. As unlikely as it may seem, there is still somewhere that sells jacket potatoes for a quid, sandwiches for under £1.50 and soup for 70p: welcome to the world of Benjys.

"Cheap" does not necessarily mean "nasty", you know. I've just eaten a deep-filled tuna sandwich on premium malted bread with no mayo (counting calories, you see), lemon, lettuce and cracked pepper. I expect you'd pay upwards of £2.75 for something like this at a trendy sandwich bar like Pret, but it only cost me £1.75 from Benjys. Everything was fresh - no limp lettuce here (hello, Tesco!) - and the filling was generous and tasty. Benjys prides itself on food like this, and you can get a variety of different lunches, breakfasts and snacks at very good prices.

So what's the menu like? Well...

Breakfasts
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The breakfast menu is much, much better than that of McDonalds - and a damn sight cheaper than smoked salmon and champagne. Mind you - you can actually get a smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel for £1.50, as well as croissants, cereals, yoghurts and toast from 40p. And I defy anyone not to feel satisfied after the enormous breakfast torpedo (sausge, egg, bacon, mushroom...).


Sandwiches
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My lunch today was the Just Tuna sandwich, which is part of the Lite Bites range. This also includes Salad Crunch (£1.30), tuna and lemon with light mayo (£1.55) and roasted vegetables with reduced-fat cream cheese (£1.60).

There are lots of other sandwiches to choose from if you're not bothered about your calorie count, including trusted staples like tuna & ordinary mayo (£1.30), cheese, tomato & cucumber (£1.20), pork sausage & pickle (£1.30) or the all-day breakfast doorstep
on extra-thick bread (£1.65). Or if you fancy something a bit more elaborate you can get lemon pepper chicken or thai red chicken (both £1.95), smoked salmon & black pepper (£1.85) or humous and mixed peppers (£1.55).

As well as regular sandwiches they also do "torpedoes" - large, long white or brown rolls - ciabatta (hot or cold), wraps, baguettes, toasted panini, foccacia and chollah rolls. I love the tuna melt ciabatta (£2.25), and the duck, spring onion and cucumber wrap (£2.25) is popular in our office as well. Prices are excellent, and the duck is probably the most expensive I've seen at £2.25 - which is still pretty cheap, especially for London.


Hot Meals
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A plain jacket with butter is only £1 at Benjys. At the other end of the scale is a jacket with chilli, which is £1.75. The range of fillings isn't as good as that of the sandwiches (think cheddar, cottage cheese, tuna, sausage, coleslaw, sour cream, beans or chilli and that's about it) but the portions are pretty generous and they're cheaper than any other jacket potatoes I've seen. If a potato is on the small side they'll give you one and a half potatoes in your portion as well.

Benjys also do hot meals - pasta, rice and noodles mainly, most of them around the £2 mark - which they'll heat up for you before you buy, so they're always hot (or if you prefer, you can microwave them yourself). You can also get Heinz soup from 70p.


Puddings
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Benjys is big on fruit. You can get fruit salad, melon, grapefruit, grapes and fruit with yoghurt as well as individual pieces of fruit. They also do cakes (which vary in quality: I'd steer clear of the chocolate brownies, which taste of mud), donuts, pastries and confectionery for reasonable prices.

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There are 22 Benjys stores in the City, a welcome respite from some of the more poncey (er, sorry - pri
cey) outlets. They also have stores in the West End, and a few scattered around Greater London (Redhill, Ealing, Croydon, Hammersmith, Slough and Uxbridge). Service can be a bit ropey - don't expect a smile - and you'll be herded in and out before you realise your lunch break is over. But the prices are excellent and the food is usually pretty good - gourmet cuisine it isn't, but it's fresh, filling, cheap and fast. Benjys gets a definite thumbs-up from me.

Website: http://www.benjys-sandwiches.com/

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