Open until 11pm three nights a week, the Night Shift pop-up by Nico’s sandwich deli is a quick, affordable, surprisingly decent new option for the drinkers of Brunswick Street. Plus, five other spots for late-night sangas.
Vending machines hawking fancy, locally made food and drinks aren’t novel in Melbourne. But what is? The late-night sandwich “automat” that’s landed in Fitzroy.
It’s next door to sandwich deli Nico’s, which has teamed up with Big Ketchup – aka global condiment giant Heinz – on the six-month pop-up that channels the Dutch fast-food vending-machine chain Febo.
Opening after dark, you enter the blue-lit room via Kerr Street; choose between three vertical vending machines, each dedicated to a hot, bespoke sandwich not on the regular Nico’s menu; tap the corresponding card reader; open the compartment; and seize your sanga. It’s dead easy, though there’s a hotline to call if anything goes wrong.
But, importantly, is it delicious? Sandwich Watch joined a gaggle of tipsy, giggly Gen Z-ers to find out.
“Mozzarella in carrozza” sets alarm bells ringing. Surely, the Italian fried mozzarella sandwich needs to go straight from the fryer to your face? Apparently not.
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I accidentally decapitate my sandwich while yanking it from its heated carriage, but once it’s reassembled, expectations are exceeded. Getting it right “felt like a science experiment”, says Nico’s co-owner Leo Thompson of the tireless trial and error for this “Night Shift” activation.
Panko-crumbed and deep-fried, the shell still has bite. Thick shokupan holds its form – and the heat within. And a no-more-gaps approach to the mozzarella all but guarantees a cheese pull (“no matter after five or 35 minutes”, Thompson says). At just $10, with a sriracha-laced Heinz mayo dipper, it’s decent, non-budget-blowing drunk food.
A little more expensive and a little less impressive, the $12 patty melt could be saucier given the Heinz collab, with minced beef smashed perhaps so thoroughly that it’s more dry than juicy.
The menu also includes a $14 chicken sandwich, and a $10 box of fries and onion rings.
Nico’s Night Shift runs until mid-September.
100 Kerr Street, Fitzroy, nicos-the-original.square.site. Open Thu-Sat, 7pm-11pm
Five other sanga shops open after dark
- Sangaweech, Carlton
Until as late as 10pm, Italian comedy trio Sooshi Mango’s panini bar offers Italian-style sandwiches on Lygon Street, which are so substantially sized they’ll do you for dinner.
300 Lygon Street, Carlton, instagram.com/sangaweech - Butchers Diner, CBD
Delicious things between bread make up most of the menu at this late-night CBD institution. What’ll it be: grilled cheese, pastrami on rye, house-made blood sausage and devilled egg roll?
10 Bourke Street, Melbourne, butchersdiner.com - For Heaven’s Steaks, Clayton
Arguably the best (and biggest) steak sandwiches in the south-east can be found behind a humble shopfront on Centre Road, which is open until 9.30pm, Monday to Saturday.
1465 Centre Road, Clayton, instagram.com/forheavenssteaks - Luke’s Banh Mi, Moonee Ponds
You can now join the queue at one of Melbourne’s busiest banh mi joints, Luke’s, after sunset, with the Moonee Ponds store trading until 8pm. See what all the hype is about.
11 Puckle Street, Moonee Ponds, lukesbanhmi.au - Two Chiles, Windsor
Have you ever tried a Chilean sandwich? They’re the specialty at this south-side spot, open as late as 9pm, filled with everything from sizzling steak to beer-braised pork loin.
84 Punt Road, Windsor, twochiles.com.au
This is the latest instalment of Sandwich Watch, a column dedicated to the Melbourne sandwiches you need to know about.
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