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2009-08-05
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When I walked past Kaiser’s Deli with my brother, it immediately brought back memories of my many lunches consisted of sandwiches at corner deli shops in Manhattan. I couldn’t help but to grab him with me for a peek, then further persuaded him for a try. The menu features mostly familiar American choices such as Americana (roast beef with melted cheese, $42), Italian (Salami, Mortadella, and Gammon Ham, $35), Tuna Melt (tuna salad with Swiss cheese, $38), or Turkey Delight (smoked turkey, $35
When I walked past Kaiser’s Deli with my brother, it immediately brought back memories of my many lunches consisted of sandwiches at corner deli shops in Manhattan. I couldn’t help but to grab him with me for a peek, then further persuaded him for a try.
The menu features mostly familiar American choices such as Americana (roast beef with melted cheese, $42), Italian (Salami, Mortadella, and Gammon Ham, $35), Tuna Melt (tuna salad with Swiss cheese, $38), or Turkey Delight (smoked turkey, $35). Others have some Asian twists, such as the Chicken Mango, and there are two vegetarian options, namely Italian Veggies (assorted grilled vegetables, $35) and Rocket Feta (rocket leaves and feta cheese, $38)). Once you have decided what types of sandwich meat you want, you can move on to the kaiser roll.
Kaiser rolls are very common in Manhattan delis, but they don’t seem to be popular in Hong Kong. In general, kaiser roll has a slightly crusty exterior with toppings like poppy seeds roasted onion bits, or cheese. The texture is a little dryer and coarser than our normal Asian rolls, but it acts as a great absorbent for soaking up the juice of the deli meat without getting too soggy like white Pullman bread. Achieving the right texture of kaiser roll is relatively easy when compared to other breads like baguettes or bagels of which Hong Kong stores just can’t seem to master. At Kaiser’s Deli, 3 types of homemade kaiser rolls are available: Poppy Seeds, Whole Wheat, and Seed and Cheese, all of which come in long shape or round shape.
I am never interested in any chicken strips in delis as they are almost always dry white chicken breast meat, so I opted for Smoke Salmon with capers and guacamole ($45) on a poppy seed kaiser roll. While capers and smoked salmon are best friends forever, this combination is definitely not typical for smoked salmon sandwich in New York, as guacamole and smoked salmon rarely appear together. The selection of condiments is almost as extensive as in Manhattan’s delis, with the presence of shredded lettuce, tomato slices, cucumber slices, red onion juliennes, pickles, etc. I picked the classic lox sandwich’s companions: red onion and cucumber slices. With the final touch of mayonnaise (optional, with Dijon mustard and pesto mayo also available), my sandwich is done and wrapped in paper.
Since the store is new, there is a promotion with “Sandwich of the day” priced at $22. Today is Roast Beef Sandwich ($22 on Tuesdays) which became my brother’s choice. I was excited to see that the roast beef was rosy and sliced ultra-thin as it should be, but we didn’t anticipate that the sandwich was popped into the microwave for melting the yellow American cheese. When it came out, the meat was obviously not as rare as before, but we left it that way and picked the condiments to finish it off.
Kaiser's Deli is mainly a takeout store with no tables, but we grabbed a table at the adjacent Burger Box (also owned by the same group) and shared our sandwiches. My salmon sandwich was surprisingly good, with all the ingredients incredibly fresh - the smoked salmon was moist and luscious, and the cucumbers and red onion tasted very clean without any brown spots. The kaiser roll was also quite fine, and with my favorite poppy seeds it was definitely the right choice for me. The “guacamole” couldn’t be qualified as true guacamole as it lacked the limey and onion-y flavor, but considered it an avocado sauce it actually matched well with the smoked salmon. The tartness of the crunchy capers gave a great foil to the rich sandwich. It was overall a very tasty sandwich.
My brother’s roast beef sandwich was also quite scrumptious. Although the shaved roast beef was heated, it still came out delicious and not dry or tough at all. I could only imagine the beef to be even more flavorful and soft when served cold. Unfortunately the kaiser roll which was delicious on its own became chewy after the microwave treatment, and it would have been much better if the sandwich was heated in a toaster oven to achieve a crusty top. So lesson learnt: next time we will skip the cheese and have the roast beef as is without heating. The sizes of the sandwiches were quite hefty and we were fully stuffed when done.
Making a sandwich isn’t rocket science, and with fresh bread and ingredients you have 80% of the battle won. However, it is frustrating that so many restaurants or stores fail to make a good sandwich because they either skimp on the fillings or use low quality ingredients like lettuces with brown edges, dried out cucumbers, or ham made with “stuff” to scary to know. I am happy that Kaiser’s Deli is able to offer quality ingredients at a very reasonable price. I much prefer this deli fast food than the junk food at Subway nearby even the price is lower. I hope that Kaiser’s Deli can keep up with the freshness of the ingredients and the portion size, as we know too often that in Hong Kong, food quality drops significantly when a new store is no longer new…
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