I decided today to make a specialist visit to Subway Sandwiches. I was hoping to prove what I said earlier in the thread regarding it to be the devil's work, and that I can make a better sandwich by myself at home. I also wanted to compare price between what I would spend making one myself and a Subway sandwich.
I came down the escalator and instead of stopping at the sushi restaurant, the HK restaurant or the Vietnamese restaurant I headed straight towards the sandwich shop.
As the shop came into view what immediately struck me was the western yuppie with an oversize computer on the tables outside the shop. Clearly the man couldn't go anywhere without his computer, not even to buy a sandwich. Another potential customer sizing up the menu shut himself off from the outside world with a ridiculous set of headphones which would have doubled as ear warmers had it been winter, two huge pieces of music blasting plastic were separated by his small head dressed with the tattiest hat you had ever seen on anyone not begging for money.
As I joined the reasonably shaped queue forming along the counter, my suspicions regarding the clientele of these establishments were confirmed when 3 young girls queuing behind me went on and on with 'I was like, then he was like, then everyone was literally just like,,,' without actually using any adjectives to decorate their conversation.
I also noticed I was the only person in the queue wearing socks. All of the other trendy young things with me in the queue may find themselves battling with the ever untrendy athletes foot in months to come.
After listening to their drivel for a few minutes I found myself at the front of the queue. I was given a selection of 2 or 3 kinds of bread, I don't remember any of them being brown bread, but could be mistaken and I much prefer white anyway. I can't remember which one I chose.
I often make sandwiches myself, usually to act as a dinner over the course of a working day. I wanted to compare what I could make with what Subway could throw together, therefore instead of choosing the Chicken Tepeyaki or Steak and Cheese (I would have preferred these two, but don't make these kinds of sandwiches myself) I went with traditional ham.
The choice of sandwiches was pretty basic. I was passed down a line of workers, each having a specialist job to perform, meat, vegetables and sauce. The sauce guy was very generous with his portion, to the point of me nearly having a mayonnaise sandwich with the odd bit of filling, Lettuce was very crisp and fresh looking, had olives and dill, very impressed. I cant be sure but thinking back they may not have put butter on their sandwiches, very odd indeed.
Just as I was coming to pay I saw some very nice biscuits and asked for a couple. Being an American establishment I was then asked if I wanted anything else, despite having bought a sandwich and a biscuit and to my knowledge them not selling anything else bar sandwiches and biscuits. Passed this off as just American hard selling and said No. Bill for sandwich was 20 odd I think. Sandwich was nicely wrapped and given to me in a Subway plastic bag, so that when I throw it away the binman can be subjected to Subway Sandwich shops advertising.
Ate the sandwich later that night, the proof being in the eating and that, surpassed expectations. Also, and maybe this is down to the ham I buy, it was much cheaper than any sandwich I can make myself given the ingredients, maybe a full 10 yuan or so cheaper. The biscuits I got were even better and I finished feeling fully amiable towards my Subway Sandwich experience.
Would I go again? I wouldn't make a habit of it but I may buy 2 or 3 sandwiches and see how long they last, then do a bulk buy, not living near the city centre,
Subway has been vindicated in my opinion. Some of it's customers not so much.