I am always up for a good sandwich. Especially after all that coffee I drank at Tribe Coffee. After my little coffee adventure at Tribe, I drove to Namiki in Tsukuba and decided to grab some lunch. I had heard a sandwich shop had recently opened at the Namiki shopping center. That is how I found myself in front of Sando Specialty Sandwich Shop.
Sando Specialty Sandwich Shop
Just in case you aren't sure what this place sells, it is all in the name. Sando is across the supermarket in the Namiki shopping center. It is a charming little hole in the wall on the first floor. I walked in ready and hungry to buy some sandwiches.
Inside
When I walked into Sando, the place felt even smaller. Sando is a take out place only. There are no chairs or tables for people to sit in. The left side of the store has all the sandwiches pre-made and ready for you to buy. The right side is the register and menu. There is a microwave in Sando to heat up your sandwich, but no place to eat it.
The Menu
You have a lot of sandwiches to choose from at Sando. All the sandwiches are cut in half, and you are only buying one half of the sandwich. I was a bit taken aback by that, especially after seeing the prices. But I wanted a sandwich that day and by god I was going to have one.
There is a regular sandwich section and a fruits sandwich section. The regular sandwich section is as follows: Egg Sandwich, Shrimp Avocado Genovese, Salmon Tartar, Korean Style Honey Butter Chicken, Roast Beef, BLT, Potato Sandwich, and Lemon Chicken Avocado. There are also some hot specialty sandwiches.
The fruit sandwich section is as follows:
Strawberry, Oreo Strawberry, Banana, Chocolate Banana, Mixed Fruit, Pineapple, Mikan, and a Vitamin Fruit Sandwich (whatever that means).
Sando also serves drinks and soup. One soup they serve is clam chowder. Sorry, not sure what the other one is. The drinks are regular coffee and different fruit juices.
Finally, the menu has rusks. I will get to what that is at the end of the post.
I bought two sandwiches and some rusk for my lunch. I drove back home and got ready to try my sandwiches.
Croque Monsieur Sando
I popped this sandwich in the microwave for a minute and was ready to chow down. I took a bite out of my sandwich and realized it was a lot thicker than I thought. There was way more ham in it which was great. That being said, I didn't like this particular sandwich too much. For one thing, there was like twenty slices of ham and one tiny slice of cheese in the middle of all that. Secondly, I wasn't sure what the sauce was but I wasn't a fan. It over powered everything and made my sandwich contents slide around as if it was ice skating. The bread was OK. Not bad, but nothing to write home about.
Roast Beef Sando
This sandwich was a vast improvement over my other sandwich. Look at that picture. Look at how much roast beef is in there. All packed in there, enticing you into their world of meaty deliciousness. When I bit into this sandwich, it was an endless joy ride of roast beef and fresh lettuce. The wasabi mayo in the sandwich went perfect with all that meat. You got all that meaty deliciousness with a small kick from the wasabi. The bread was once again OK. I loved this sandwich and vowed to get another whenever I went back to Sando.
Rusk
What was for dessert? Fried cubed pieces of bread covered in sugar. I wasn't familiar with rusk the first time I tried it. I popped one of these cubes in my mouth and found them to be delightful. They weren't as hard as I thought they were going to be. It was sweet with a nice crunch to it. I couldn't stop eating these sweet cubed treats.
My adventure to Sando was interesting and satisfying. I found Sando to be a convenient stop for lunch time and a great way to try different varieties of sandwiches. Sando is a bit pricey but you are not getting a small sandwich.
So if you are in Namiki and are in the mood for a sandwich, why not give Sando a chance. Who knows, you might see me there, with a tray full of different sandwiches to try.
Enjoy!
For more information on Sando, check out their Instagram page:
Japanese sure love their white bread! I don’t know anyone in the US who still eats that. (Granted, the white bread here in Japan is really tasty)