Bombay Sandwich Co

One year ago today, we visited a new (at the time) addition to the NYC eating landscape (and started a post that took us a year to finish...). Bombay Sandwich Co started out as a stand at the famous Smorgasburg, but they opened a storefront in Flatiron which was much easier for us to get to. For anyone that thinks vegetarian or vegan food can't taste good, they need to come here. There are so many delicious vegetarian options that there is something for everyone to like.

Snowy Storefront

The store itself has many doors, but on this cold and snowy day only the entryway off the street (not pictured, off to the left) was open. The restaurant itself was not extremely large. It was essentially a long hallway with counter seating leading up the register. We would imagine that during nicer days the line would stream out the door of the narrow shop. Such as it was, the cold winter day kept most people away.

We tried two sandwiches - the chana masala sandwich and the Bombay club (both $8.50 at the time).

Chana Masala Sandwich

The chana masala sandwich was described on the menu as "Mom's slow cooked chickpeas topped with mixed greens, pickled onions, homemade date chutney and green chutney on a Tasca ciabatta roll." (The current menu no longer lists green chutney.) This was really tasty. It was like eating a slightly drier version of chana masala (you wouldn't want it to be too full of sauce or it would be even messier than it already was) with some greens, with the bread soaking up all the flavors of the sauce. It was nice and light, but very full of flavor.

The Bombay club sandwich (which is no longer on their online menu) was described as a "street food classic, with potato, cucumber, tomato and red onion, in between three layers of 7 grain bread slapped with homemade green chutney." Already cut in half and neatly arranged, this was definitely the less messy and easier to eat of the two sandwiches.

Bombay Club

When you think of a club sandwich, normally the first thought is going to be a slather of mayo to go with the crunch and saltiness of bacon. Obviously since this is vegetarian, you won't be getting that exact feeling and flavor profile, but the sandwich offers almost the same experience. The cucumber adds that distinct crispness, and the spices on the potato and the bite of the red onion make up for any flavor missed from bacon. The homemade green chutney offered a slight tartness that worked much better than mayo ever would on a sandwich like this. The bread isn't as toasted as most normal club sandwiches either, but it works because everything else outside of the cucumber is nice and soft.

We spoke with the person running the register for a bit, and we guessed he was one of the owners. He asked us how we heard about them and after discussing Smorgasburg for a bit he offered us a free cup of their masala chai tea. It was freezing outside, and we both love chai tea so how could we resist? The menu called it "proper brewed milk tea with our own blend of spices (clove, cinnamon, fennel, black pepper), fresh ginger and lightly sweetened." It definitely was properly brewed and very lightly sweetened. It was spiced beautifully as you might expect from a good chai tea and we really enjoyed it.

Chai Tea

In addition to the sandwiches we got, there are many other sandwich options, as well as wraps, salads, bowls, platters and smoothies and other drinks. Although it's a little pricey, the prices are largely explained by the excellent quality of the ingredients that we encountered in our 2 sandwiches. We would definitely return to Bombay Sandwich for another sandwich sometime, as they are pretty unique and quite tasty!