Around the UK in 80 bacon butties

Prompted by reading restaurant reviews and wondering what the hell it means to ‘tease the flavours out of the wagyu with an infusion of sea salt and truffle essence’ I decided I am going on my own little restaurant critic’s tour of the UK. I am forging forward to find the best stalwart of English gastronomy – the bacon butty!

For those not in the know, the bacon butty is simply a way of saying bacon roll, while the bacon sarny is a sanga. These little buggers are so popular they go by many names, so familiar (roll, sandwich, pannini) and some not so to anyone not in Britain (butty, sarny, bap). Either way, the recipe is simple:

Add one part bacon to one part roll = Bacon butty.

Opps, sorry I need to get in to my critic persona:

Take several strips of ungulate - fattened on herbaceous plants - cured with sea salt and vine ripened olive oil. Apply to heated grill. Take finished produce and insert into a mixture of grains, wheat and flour that has been moulded in to roll form. Serve immediately.

So I bring you my endeavour to find the best god damn bacon butty in greater London – Around the UK in 80 bacon butties.

Bacon butty 1
Benjy’s (Cnr Great Tower Street & Mark Lane, London, EC3R 5BU)

Buoyed with a new sense of purpose, the Ukrainian girl behind the counter new I meant business.
“One bacon butty, please?”
“Would you like egg and cheese?” – she new her butties!
“You better believe it” – so did I!

While the initial rush of sea-salt teased and caressed the palate, it became a little overpowering towards the end, overwhelming the rest of the flavours. There was not as much bacon as one would expect; however, the use of free range bacon did add a little ‘ju ne se qa’ to the overall dining experience. The fromage had a tad too much tartness, which combined with the over-done egg, did create smokiness to the overall flavour, although this was neutralised by the sauce of several Mediterranean sun-ripened tomatoes. The bread, this time it was a muffin, was a little too doughy for my liking (which could have been solved by applying more heat in the toasting process), but overall the experience was rewarding. I give this butty six Miss Piggys out of ten. My favourite so far.