Bánh mì (pronounced 'bun mee') is a popular Vietnamese variety of sandwiches that share the same core ingredient - a baguette. The baguette was brought over to Vietnam during the colonial period, and nowadays it is one of the few happy legacies from the time.
The crusty bread, condiments, and meats are all a legacy of French and Chinese colonialism, while cilantro, chili, and pickles reflect the Vietnamese taste for fresh vegetables and bright flavors. In the beginning, most banh mi sandwiches consisted of bread, meat, and seasonings, with no added vegetables.
MOST ICONIC Bánh mì
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Tombik döner or gobit kebab is a variety of döner kebab where the shredded meat is stuffed in a bun-shaped flatbread known as pide ekmek. The bread has a crispy exterior and a soft interior. This dish is typically served with additional ingredients, depending on the customer's choice, such as tomatoes, onions, lettuce, or other assorted vegetables and sauces.
MOST ICONIC Tombik Döner
Panino col polpo is a traditional Italian sandwich originating from the Bari area. This simple sandwich is made with a combination of octopus, bread rolls, olive oil, parsley, salt, and black pepper. The octopus is washed, brushed with olive oil, and grilled slowly over embers while being brushed with a mixture of olive oil, salt, pepper, and parsley as it cooks.
Once done, the octopus is placed into a split bread roll, and the sauce is drizzled over the top of the octopus. This tasty sandwich is common during Apulian festivals and it can often be bought on street stands.
MOST ICONIC Panino col polpo
Marinated and spit-roasted, shawarma is a delicious Middle Eastern meat treat whose origins can be traced back to the Ottoman Empire era, while its name stems from the Arabic pronunciation of the Turkish word çevirme (lit. to turn; turning), and refers to the rotating skewer on which the meat is cooked.
Shawarmas are made with either lamb, turkey, chicken, beef, or a mix of different meats which are slow-cooked for hours and basted in their own juices and fat, gaining an incomparable succulence, but the real secret to a perfect shawarma is in the marinade.
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This is an extreme version of a steak sandwich – filled with thinly sliced lomo steak, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, mayonnaise, chimichurri sauce, ham, cheese, and a fried egg, sandwich de lomo or lomito is a behemoth of a sandwich that is sure to satiate even the hungriest consumers.
However, this delicious sandwich is open to innovation – some might substitute the steak with pork, or put aubergine slices into it, along with any other ingredient that comes to mind. Popular both in Argentina and Uruguay, it can easily be found at numerous street carts dispersed throughout the metropolitan areas of both countries.
MOST ICONIC Sandwich de lomo
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Montreal smoked meat is a type of deli meat sandwich that originated in Montreal, Canada. It's similar to corned beef and pastrami sandwiches, but the meat used has its own distinct preparation process and flavor profile. Pastrami was invented in Romania, a cured beef product prepared by pickling and smoking the fatty and succulent cuts of brisket, then covering them with a coating of various spices and peppercorns.
Reuben Schwartz, a Romanian immigrant, started making smoked meat in Montreal in 1928, a product similar to the original pastrami. Called viande fumé in the Quebec province, it is a much sturdier product with an intense, smoky flavor.
MOST ICONIC Montreal smoked meat
Mexican tortas are luscious traditional sandwiches filled with delicious, mostly authentic Mexican ingredients. They are a unique Mexican creation, considering they are served in bread rolls, an ingredient that is not so often associated with Mexico.
There are two bread varieties usually incorporated in tortas, the traditional French influenced bolillos, and the similar round teleras, which are an authentic Mexican product from Puebla. The rolls are sliced horizontally, buttered, and stuffed with the most popular Mexican ingredients such as beans, avocados, ham, queso, jalapeños, and a myriad of other typical Mexican dishes like fried beef or chicken, shredded beef, roasted pork, and even tamales.
MOST ICONIC Tortas
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Lobster roll is a Maine specialty consisting of cooked lobster meat that is, ideally, drizzled with melted butter and placed into long hot dog rolls. Additionally, the sandwich might include lettuce, lemon juice, salt, and black pepper. Traditional accompaniments include potato chips or french fries on the side.
Some claim that lobster roll first appeared at Perry's in Milford, Connecticut, while others claim it was first prepared at Red's in Wiscasset, Maine. Regardless of the origins, the entire state of Maine continues to honor the tradition by offering more version of lobster rolls than the first inventor could have possibly imagined, starting an endless debate over how it should be made and who makes the best rolls.
MOST ICONIC Lobster Roll
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Mozzarella in carrozza (lit. mozzarella in a carriage) is an Italian fried sandwich that's especially popular in Campania, although it's eaten in various parts of Italy. The sandwich is made with crustless, slightly stale bread, mozzarella cheese (ideally di bufala variety), flour, milk, and beaten eggs.
Apart from this version, there's also a version with added anchovies. Once assembled, the sandwiches are dipped in flour and cold water (so that the cheese doesn't leak out), then in the beaten eggs, and they're finally fried until nicely browned and crisp on the exterior.
MOST ICONIC Mozzarella in carrozza
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Bánh mì thịt is a traditional Vietnamese bánh mì sandwich variation in which thịt means meat. As the name suggests, the sandwich is made with various Vietnamese cold cuts such as sliced roasted pork, sliced pork belly, chả (sliced ham), or chả lụa pork sausage, along with cucumbers, mayonnaise, pickled carrots and daikon, and liver pâté stuffed into a bánh mì roll.
The sandwich is often garnished with ingredients such as coriander, black pepper, and sliced chili peppers. These meat-filled sandwiches are common throughout Vietnam and they’re a staple of school children and factory workers. Bánh mì thịt is usually enjoyed for breakfast and lunch, but the sandwiches can be eaten for any meal of the day if bought from street stall vendors.
TasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and that ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable. For the “Top 100 Sandwiches in the World” list until May 15, 2024, 17,120 ratings were recorded, of which 12,355 were recognized by the system as legitimate. TasteAtlas Rankings should not be seen as the final global conclusion about food. Their purpose is to promote excellent local foods, instill pride in traditional dishes, and arouse curiosity about dishes you haven’t tried.
