Meat & Bread

Posted by Degan on November 25th, 2010

“Meat & Bread” sounds like the kind of minimalistic man dinner that bachelors and boyfriends left on their own for the weekend would resort to: bread, meat. bread, plate. Maybe the plate. The newly opened sandwich shop of the same name at Victory Square, is no less masculine but dresses it up with decadent sandwiches filled with porchetta, brisket and BBQ chicken.

Served on ciabatta bread with a drop each of spicy sambal and mustard, the sandwiches aren’t large but they sure are tasty. Soft, chewy bread filled with flavoured meat (unless of course you go for the grilled cheese) are available with sides of carrot ginger or tomato soup or orzo and artichoke salad. Alternatively, the maple bacon ice cream sandwich seems well worth getting back in line for, even in this cold.

And there is a line. Go early to avoid it but even in the thick of it, these boys are organized. The menu is wall-sized and visible even from outside – should you have the misfortune of a line that long – and once in the door a greeter ushers you to the meat desk where porchetta is sliced in front of you or pre-made meatballs and BBQ are kept warm.

Presumably the grilled cheese would take longer but I didn’t see anyone order it while I was there.

Where the menu philosophy is dead simple, the decor steps it up a notch with a punching bag, meat-hooks and various taxidermy against the exposed Gastown brick. If you’re eating in you’ll sit at the 20-seat metal communal table, elbow-to-elbow with locals – angel-headed hipsters – trying to fit in a quick, gourmet bite.

Meat and Bread is at 370 Cambie Street, across from Victory Square in Gastown.