The double salami from H T Harris, Fitzrovia
In this ever-changing world of post-recession London, it is sometimes difficult to see too far into the past. The constant churning of businesses opening and closing in the city means that streets can become unrecognisable from one year to the next. Several times have I been to visit a cafe I used to love years ago, only to find that it has been turned into a Caffe Nero. It’s quite a depressing thought. Places that have been there for generations are becoming much fewer.
H T Harris on Great Titchfield Street has managed to survive the waves of chain eateries, new restaurants and ‘craft’ coffee shops that have moved into the area in recent years, and has become something of a Fitzrovia institution. This little Italian cafe-deli has been serving up cappucinos and sandwiches to the local office workers for just shy of fifty years and has queues forming outside almost every lunchtime. The approach is simple and probably unchanged for many years: good Italian sandwiches, coffee and the usual deli items of pasta, amaretti biscuits, cheeses and cured meats. The first time I went in, I asked for a sandwich menu. The gentleman behind the counter replied: “Anything you see here, we can do.” He also gestured to the sandwiches piled up on three trays in the window, “Or we have double salami, some parma ham or a vegetarian one.”
I love this straightforward approach, he has probably been making the same sandwiches for years. There’s no menu, no description of what the sandwiches are, or what is in them. You just have to trust that they are good. A double salami sandwich, in a piece of focaccia the size of a house brick was swiftly placed in the panini press for a few minutes and then was mine for a fiver (Fitzrovia, right?)
What I actually got was an enormous sandwich, generously filled with wafer thin Italian salami, some very good mozzarella, six or seven sundried tomatoes – sweet and almost black in colour, a layer of basil and rocket and more than just a hint of chilli (he did warn me that it would be spicy). The focaccia was crisped and warm on the outside but still oily and moist enough that it was necessary to wipe your fingers before touching anything so not to leave greasy fingerprints. A perfect example of how the best sandwiches are made with the best quality ingredients. It’s easy to see how those piles in the window sell out every day.
H T Harris, 41 Great Titchfield Street, London W1W 7PG.
Six Hundred and Seven Square Miles 