Finally, the deli sandwich we’ve been searching for in Brisbane

Deli sandwiches are hard.

In some ways, they’re naturally restrained, meaning they can easily slip into boring. On the other hand, stack them with too many ingredients and the flavour signal gets lost in the noise.

But we might have just found Brisbane’s – or the CBD’s, at least – best deli sandwich. Read on for instructions.

Seek out Anytime Coffee

Anytime is hidden up a laneway near the intersection of Mary and Edward streets.

Little more than a timber-and-brick counter operation wedged beneath a fire escape, it was opened in early 2020 by Tom Cooney and Jack Wakefield (who have starred on Sandwich Watch with their exceptional work at Riser Bread). Now it’s operated by Marcus Allison and Matthew Burt.

Allison and Burt also own John Mills Himself in the CBD, and Allison owns Bunker and Bessa in Milton. In short, these blokes have the specialty coffee covered.

But while Anytime’s sandwiches have always been at least pretty good, two have registered with this column recently. We love the chicken sandwich with tarragon mayo, but then there are a lot of very good chicken sangers around town at the moment. With that in mind, it’s perhaps Anytime’s deli sandwich that’s the true standout.

Anytime Coffee’s deli sandwich

Deli sandwiches require precision. Get the ratio wrong between the meats and the rest of the ingredients (or even within the meats themselves) and you throw off the balance. Use too much in the way of condiments and you’ll end up with soggy bread.

But Anytime’s take is about as precise as it gets – which is impressive when you discover how much is going on under the bonnet. Allison credits former Anytime chef Shane Neilson as the sandwich’s creator, although he says there have been minor tweaks since.

“To my understanding at least, the deli sandwich was driven by Shane, predominantly,” Allison says. “Pretty much everything lived in Shane’s head, historically, and once we took over, I spent a lot of time with him, systemising it back of house.”

For meats, Anytime uses leg ham, salami cotto, and capocollo sourced from Rayner’s Meats in New Farm. That’s then layered with rocket, pickled red onion, and a green olive and guindilla mix that’s arguably the sandwich’s secret weapon.

“It’s really important, for sure,” Allison says. “It brings that tang, that acid, and that heat helps offset the richness of the meats.

“The sandwich also has a green dressing that has apple cider vinegar, dijon and parsley. That does a lot of heavy lifting.”

Sealing it all off is some provolone dolce. It’s there for its creamy texture and to protect the bread, which is why the Anytime crew has opted for a milder take on the semi-hard Italian cheese.

Talking bread, all this is squeezed between two slices of a light-rye sourdough tin loaf that’s produced by NYC Bagel for Anytime from a Riser Bread recipe (because Riser’s opening hours don’t align with Anytime’s).

“We get that bread in every day, obviously, and it’s the right mix to soak up any residual juiciness but hold it together,” Allison says. “I love how it works. It’s such a good bread across a bunch of our sandwiches and toasties.”

The perfect deli sandwich?

If not perfect, this thing comes pretty close.

There’s so much good stuff here – the crunch of the rocket, the sweetness of the pickle, and the creamy texture of the cheese – but, really, what makes this thing so special is the interplay of the olive-guindilla mix and green dressing with the meats – particularly the rich umami of the salami cotto and capocollo. It’s all a bit sensational.

And the perfectly weighted bread makes it a cinch to eat, when a lot of deli sandwiches are served on a harder roll-like bread that can encourage the ingredients to slip out the side.

“It’s that classic combo of heat and sweet and salty and acid and fat and texture and colour. I think that’s what [Neilson] nailed, and that’s what we’ve really tried to dial in slightly with a few more systems back-of-house.

“Deli sandwiches are often an extreme sandwich, but that’s OK … the tarragon is more of an everyday sandwich; but this has that sense of adventure to it that balances out the menu.”