ALDI is a most impressive shop. You go in for the prices- and city centre convenience- and you come away marvelling at the superior quality of much of their stock.
Today I bought a Triple sandwich from the store's Deliciously Gourmet range, and for the first time in a while I was left a little bit disappointed.
No complaints about the price. For £1.65 you get 3 triangular half-sandwiches; a BLT, a Chicken & Bacon sandwich, and a Ham, Cheese & Pickle, all on malted brown bread. That's pretty good value given that something similar from one of Aldi's sharper-toothed competitors is likely to set you back somewhere in the region of £2.50.
Sadly, the ingredients let the sandwich down. The smokey ham is of the reconstituted, reformed variety, made with added water. It is, to put it bluntly, the horrid 'wet' ham that your mum used to buy when packing lunchboxes for several dozen of you, the unnaturally square, pink and shimmery stuff that fits beautifully on a slice of bread but sits uncomfortably on your palette. It is not great.
The pickled relish - to which I am an admittedly recent convert - was too cloying and acetic for my taste, overwhelming the cheap cheese and ham.
As with all three varieties the malted brown bread was delicious; the best bit of the whole affair. It was cut savagely thin though, perhaps to squeeze the three sandwiches into the (plastic!) packaging. I would have liked more bread, obviously.
I cannot understand those people who would deny themselves the pleasure and comfort of good bread- unless you're blighted by one of modern life's bizarre food allergies, bread is patently and obviously fine for humans to eat.
The BLT was just ok. The bacon was crispy and cured, but actually blackened in places. The lettuce and tomato were typically fresh- Aldi rarely miss with such details.
The chicken and bacon was the thickest of the three sandwiches. It was probably also the best. A thin streak of unimposing (and unbilled) mayonnaise sweetened and moistened, while the generous helping of chicken and bacon did what those two familiar bedfollows do best.
It wasn't a bad old box of sandwiches, it just didn't quite live up to it's gourmet billing. Quantity over quality then, ideal for when you've missed breakfast and, stomach screaming and hands shaking, cut straight to a hearty, traditional lunch.
Our Rating: 
