A decadent late-night snack, the club sandwich has long been a staple room service order for many a tired traveller. When in a new, unknown city, the temptation to stay in and dig into a crunchy club sandwich is sometimes too hard to resist. On paper, it's ridiculously simple: three slices of bread with tomato, chicken, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato and bacon. How wrong can one go? I'll say this: when it's good, it's very very good, but when it's bad, well, it's pretty horrid.
Many believe that the sandwich's moniker is a nod to its origin. Often a ‘fortress' from the outside world, clubs and gymkhanas were built by the elite to create tightly knit structures of power and influence, inaccessible to anyone on the outside. While memberships to these closed groups have been and still are a tricky affair to navigate, thankfully, there's one club for which there are no waiting lists, invites or QR codes needed. Long before apps like Clubhouse existed, it was the club sandwich that brought meat, veggies, bread and people together.
Where did the club sandwich come from?
Theories of where the sandwich came from abound. Some accounts mention the Saratoga Club House, an exclusive gambling joint in Saratoga Springs, New York. Others mention The Pennsylvania Railroad—apparently, the sandwich's double-decker design emulated the passenger club cars. The Oxford Companion to Food lists the 1903 novel Conversations of a Chorus Girl as the first instance of its mention, but really, no one can be sure. Before the other classic sandwiches were born, the club sandwich enticed diners, with all its functional, comforting glory, that retained a wisp of glamour.
The club sandwich has been reimagined for American (and later, European) diners through the years—great chefs have used it as a vehicle for their creativity, turning the humble sandwich into a high society offering. The club sandwich appeared on the dining menu of the steamship Rhode Island on 17 October 1899, with mock turtle soup and clams à la Newburg. The dish is also believed to have been a favourite of Edward VIII, and his wife Wallis Simpson, who reportedly, took great pride in whipping it up herself.
The von Essen Platinum Club Sandwich at Waldo's Restaurant at Cliveden in Berkshire made news in 2007 as the world's most expensive sandwich. With Ibérico ham, roast poulet de Bress, white truffles, quail eggs, semi-dried tomatoes and sourdough, it weighed half a kg. A spokesman for Guinness World Records even confirmed it was "the most expensive sandwich commercially available". The grilled-lobster club at Spago in Beverly Hills and the foie gras club at Restaurant Guy Savoy in Las Vegas are some of the other OTT iterations of the beloved sandwich.
Over the years, as American culture travelled across the seas, the club sandwich showed up on gymkhana menus across India, introducing a generation of Indians to the most perfect post-swim snack at a club. Veggie, egg versions and meat versions were introduced to cater to India's varied palate.