Big Bite for Lunch

By TP Little bro

A new entry to the Twin Palates world is the highly competitive lunchtime menu.

Jumping on board the sandwich/burger trend, I decided to try a sandwich bar called “Big Bite on Pitt” which has received some serious street cred in the lunchtime yuppie crowd. Hearing of it's popularity, we pre empt the lunch time rush and head over early. We arrive around 12.15pm to a line at least 20 people deep.

Fifteen minutes later, we make it to the inner sanctum, a tiny hole in the wall venue which strangely felt reminiscent of the soup kitchen from Seinfield (not sure why given the staff here are warm and friendly).

I heard from fellow connoisseurs that the Chicken Schnitzel and the Grilled Chicken varieties are popular choices but because I love lamb and because it was a ‘special of the day’, I chose to go with the Grilled Lamb Sandwich.

By simply looking around, I knew I was in for something BIG. People were walking out with giant packages of foil and when my order came out, it was so big I felt like cradling it in my arms back to the office (due to limited seating, the small tables out front are pretty much it).

Staff working hard in a sea of giant bread slices and countless kilometres of aluminium foil.


In an attempt to portray just how big it was, I took off my size 40 Oxford shoes (roughly 31cms long) to use as a benchmark.


Grilled chicken sandwich depicted below. I was just too excited and devoured the lamb before remembering to take a picture.

At $9 a pop, Big Bite definitely delivers on both quantity and quality. The sheer size of the bread slices made me a little worried that would be all I would taste. But I was very wrong. It was the exact opposite of a stereotypical bad lunchtime sandwich. It wasn’t too salty, it wasn’t overcooked and the salads didn’t look or taste like anything that would make Gordon Ramsay start cursing profusely. The lamb was delicious – seasoned well, cut into small and manageable bite size pieces with just the right amount of chilli to give it a kick. And the bread added a nice texture, especially when you got to the crunchy crusts. My lunch buddies agreed and judging from the silence when eating followed by a wave of mmmm's and ahhh’s, it was definitely a winner.

Portion wise, half a sandwich should be enough to fill the average Joe. And if you want to line up a quick dinner or afternoon snack, save the other half for later.

Will definitely be returning for more soon.

Big Bite on Pitt
Shop 3, 250 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW
Ph: 02 9283 4700

Good to be home

Highlight of the 2010 MFWS - Massimo Bottura & Matt Preston

Hello friends,

Spent the past couple of weeks back home in Melbourne. As soon as the wheels landed on the Melbourne tarmac, I had a great sense of feeling it is great to be home.

Food wise, it was fantastic to be home. To provide a summary of my last 2 weeks in Melbourne, I will recollect my trip by order of my top 10 food experiences:

1. Melbourne Food and Wine show masterclass weekend
2. Private room at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen in Melbourne
3. Red Spice Road experience with fantastic curry, good entrees and the lamb shoulder!
4. Banquet at Gingerboy
5. Memorable breakfast at Birdie Num Nums
6. Tjanabi - Indigenous cuisine
7. Kim Chi Lunchbox - surprisingly good and cheap
8. Han Guuk Guan Korean and Chinese restauarant (also happened to be half price BBQ Monday)
9. Los Amates Mexican Kitchen
10. Tied with revamped Oriental Spoon and tapas at One Fitzroy St

I would probably squeeze the dinner party night (Chilli con carne with mango bacon salad, Mary Berry's Chocolate traybake with ganache) and homemade sausage roll night in between #5 and #6

My Melbourne trip was finished off by a lovely young thing with an amazing nose. I arrived in New Zealand, collecting my bags at the airport, when a beagle decided to endlessly jump on me. I began to panic when after a firm and repetitive "put your bag on the ground, put your bag on the ground", the harmless looking mutt decided to sit. Having watched Channel 7's border security, I knew I was likely to be in trouble when an airport hound sat down, as it is a subtle way of the dog indicating he has detected the scent of the substance he is sniffing for. After sniffing around every single inch of my bag, multiple times, I found out it was a meat sniffing dog, and he had detected the chicken curry puffs that were packed for consumption at the Melbourne airport. Good for me my stomach beat the dog to it. When I got the all clear, I packed up my innocent bag, and I discovered the food products I brought back to NZ (like dark brown sugar I can't seem to find anywhere, and various spices and food products - which were all declared thank you) had now picked up a scent which smelt awfully similiar to my late dog's rarely-ever-washed dog bowl in summer. I was strangely angry at the dog, but have now come to the more calm realisation that this beagle was a talented customs official that would have to exercise huge self control in having to do all the ground work of sniffing out meat and not eating it. Well done dog!

More detail to come in upcoming posts, so stay tuned!