Fruit & Nut Sandwich Bar

Fed me for 3 years, something about the cheese salad sandwich was so addictive. Same friendly guy was there all three years too, although this was 15 years ago so he might not still be there. Last time I was in town it was at night, so this place was unfortunately closed, otherwise I would have definitely had a cheese salad sarnie…

Oh my God lunch heaven. Seriously. You want a BLT, a veggie samosa, a cream cheese bagel? Get yourself up to the Precinct centre and chow down. My God there is a mighty selection of lunchables to munch on — from hot toasties and soup to cold pork pies and fresh slices of carrot cake.
The prices are great and reflect the style of dining — fresh, no frills — so don’t go expecting an pretty Pret a Manger sandwich boxes or soy lattes, but if you want no-​nonsense sandwiches made to order, moist and juicy flapjacks and a great selection of cold savoury snacks, get yourself to Fruit and Nut. I’m always confused why people make such a big deal out of Happiness’s sandwiches. There’s nothing wrong with them whatsoever, but I don’t see what is so special about their sandwiches. The guy at Fruit and Nut is so friendly and so kind, and you always have to queue for ages at Happiness for a pretty standard sandwich.
Get yourself to Fruit and Nut and have a lovely, no frills lunch served with a smile.

Bless this guy behind the Sandwich bar. He’s lovely. I’m not sure if it’s him himself who makes the sandwiches but they’re pretty damn tasty for something that comes in a non-​fussy real sandwich bag from the supermarket or a plain old bit of clingfilm.
Sandwich bar is not fussy, it’s just sandwiches and the best fillings at that. That’s how you know when a guy’s doing well when he’s dishing up the chicken tikka, the blt and the breakfast sandwich. After all in University Precinct Centre, who needs wholemeal fancies, ciabatta, sundried tomatoes or foccaccia.
The sandwich bar does dead cheap homemade sandwiches for the average student who just wants their stomach filling on a tight budget. I’ve always found the sandwiches here nice but there’s just something about the Precinct I’m not a big fan of overall.

I’m not a massive sandwich fan. There’s always too much mayo on there, or soggy iceberg (it is NOT proper lettuce!) and though I adore tomatoes, and will happily eat them wwhole, they make sandwiches soggy and gross. No, to me, a sandwich really should be about the meat and the dressing, with over-​soggy salad kept to a minimum.
It could be said, I suppose, that I am fussy when it comes to sandwiches. Well, perhaps. But that doesn’t bother the lovely (yet slightly grumpy) people that run this sandwich bar. They will make you an sanwich you like. That’s right… any sandwich. They got the ingredients, you got the sandwich. And they have tres decent ingredients. The pastrami here is perhaps one step down from the pastrami I bought last week at Katsouris, and considering that is the king of pastramis, this place has the prince, or Lord Duke or something. Of pastramis, I mean. Not a real Lord Duke. Anyway, the pastrami is good, as is the salami, the roast beef and those lovely Polish kabanos that they do. Like a very upmarket, cosmopolitan Pepperami.
I’ve never been clear on the pricing here, as it all goes so fast (the service is super speedy) but today’s lunch of pastrami baguette, Hula Hoops and a tasty chocolate traybake came to £2.65. In a world where Pret a Manger will literally charge you the best part of a tenner for a similar spread, you’ll be laughing all the way to your piggy bank.

If you thought this place sold cars, or decking, or porcelain cats you would be dead wrong, You would also be an idiot. This is a sandwich bar, pure and simple. It sells sandwiches, but it does a damn fine job of this.
You wouldn’t think it would be hard to actually run a sandwich bar, as all you’d have to do would be to get a load of fresh ingredients and then competently put them in bread when people asked, but it seems to be a strangely rare skill. Sandwich bar possesses this skill in buckets, and is only too keen to show you.
Good food, good price, good choice.

Categorically the best Sandwich Bar none. If you love sandwiches then this place is literally perfect. The home of bespoke sandwiches.
For those less interested in creating the Sandwich Par Excellence, they serve a huge array of sandwiches in baguettes and boring bread, anything from a cheese salad to a pastrami and salami. These start from an alarming £1.35. They also serve a great selection of home made savouries including a great spicy sausage and a perfectly crafted large scotch egg, all for less than a pound. I don’t like cakes, but they also serve a load of cakes that look like the kind of thing somebody who likes cakes would like.
But the main event is the create your own barm counter, the build-​a-​bear of the sandwich world. Bespoke sandwiches, made-​to-​order, custom-​built, individually tailored, personalized, get it? And no limitations, literally every ingredient you can think of to squidge between a large white or brown barm.
Here’s my recommendation: instruct the chappy to open the large brown barm and insert mustard and pickle. Then include some cheese. Then interpose with some salami. Then inject some coleslaw, before introducing some stuffing. Now interpolate this with some sweetcorn. Consider intruding with some lettuce, and instilling some tomato. Finally, infuse some black pepper and then imbed your face in the sandwich.
Part with £2.50 and you can have it all: happiness, ecstasy, elation, and a sprinkling of bliss.

Sandwich’s got their name from Lord Sandwich (no joke) who had the genius idea to put his ham in between two slices of bread to stop him getting his fingers mucky. This stall plays homage to this fine gent. Big variety, a sort of open market place dedicated to all things sandwich. Make a special request and they’ll sort it out for you, unlike most open plan sandwich stalls you expect to come lunch time have to hurry up pick your sandwich then move along.
But here it’s easy there is plenty of staff so you can bide your time and truly consider what it will be. A huge selection may keep you going for some time and you can have it in brown, white, bap you name it. My personal choice sits with the glorious coronation chicken in a baguette. I could so go for one of those right now.

If you like sandwiches, you’ll love this place. Bespoke sandwich bars are often stressful places. In the run up to lunchtime they’re invariably crowded and there’s pressure on the customer to make their decision, pay, collect, and move along. You might expect somewhere with such a vast choice as this place to exacerbate this pressure but somehow it’s just so easy. White or Brown? Big bap or small bap? then you don’t need to worry about formulating a good combination or whether it will fit in and still be manageable — it’s all tasty and their titanic baps have the structural integrity of a ocean liner well most ocean liners.
My personal recommendation is a large brown bap containing: butter, hummus, egg, betroot, bacon, smoked chicken, tomato, lettuce, ham, cucumber, pasta salad, pickles, salt, pepper, and an onion bhaji. For £2.50 that should keep any land mammal going for about 3 days.
They also do nice little snacky things and cakes. as well as the odd bit of fruit which i’m sure they will peel and put in the sandwich for you on request.