My favorite sandwich shop near The Beehive

For your typical Italian, a sandwich looks something like this:  a dry roll (called a rosetta) with one thing in it – like mortadella.

For variety, it might be prosciutto or salami instead of mortadella.  Maybe it could have a second filler – like a piece of cheese.  Or it might be in a focaccia or ciabatta instead of the rosetta.  But the defining characteristic about sandwiches here is that they are so simple that it can be hard to consider it a sandwich as I know them.  There’s no choice of mustard or mayo (which for the record, I am anti-mayo so this is not a hardship for me), and you won’t find cucumber or sprouts or hummus or any other delicious spreads either.  To sum up, sandwiches can be a big disappointment if you’re not Italian.

However, near The Beehive, about a 5 minute walk away, there’s a large, daily outdoor market and on the corner before the market is an old-school alimentari (deli) called Fratelli Ghezzi.  Around lunchtime, they get packed with suited Italians from nearby offices who are in the know about this place.  Because here at Fratelli Ghezzi, they have a variety of bread (rolls with green olives, or sesame seeds, or dark crusty slices), and they will make your sandwich to order.  They have rucola, fresh mozzarella from the Campania region, sun dried tomatoes, a great selection of cheeses and I’ve seen Italians here go “totally crazy” and put as many as 3 ingredients in their sandwich – like salmon, rucola and pecorino, or mozzarella, sun dried tomatoes and prosciutto crude.

Every ingredient you get is weighed out and added to the cost, so there’s no way to know what your sandwich will cost, but mine are usually around €3.50, maybe even €4.  Not bad for a sandwich freshly made and with top notch ingredients.  The staff is friendly, the service is quick and they will even suggest different combinations for you.