Sandwich Crazy At Cross Section, Darlinghurst

Cross Section is a sandwich shop on McLachlan Avenue in Darlinghurst. This small but popular sandwich shop has a menu with 8 regular sandwiches plus their own version of the viral NYC Chicken Caesar wrap as a special. So is it worth the hype and what is the best thing to do to avoid the queue (and how can you get $5 off your order?). Read on Dear Reader!

The message came from Laura asking me if I had tried the viral NYC chicken Caesar wrap at Cross Section. I had just arrived back from a month on holiday and marvelled at how quickly things happen in Sydney, especially in the food world. I love chicken Caesar salads and combining it with a wrap is just genius and I made a date to try it with Mr NQN on a weekday.

The reason for a weekday visit is because I had read that you can wait up to 45 minutes on a Saturday for a wrap and I wanted to avoid that at all costs. There is one way around the queue and that is to pre-order your sandwich but unfortunately the chicken Caesar wrap isn't on the pre-order menu which is rather vexing. So we arrive at around 11:30am on a Tuesday (they advised arriving before 12:30pm) with Teddy and Milo in tow. The two guys behind Cross Section are Josh Said and Brent Wasserman.

There is no queue so I take my time downloading the app which gives you $5 off your first order (there's a QR code for this on one of the tables) and step inside and ask for advice. The chicken Caesar wrap is a given but I'm happy to take advice on the other two. Between 7am-10:30am they also have deals like a breakfast burrito and coffee for $15.

We start with a white chocolate matcha latte ($6) for me which is nice albeit very sweet. Mr NQN has a cappuccino ($4.50) while Teddy and Milo each have a Puppacino ($1 each) with bits of bacon on top.

Although dogs aren't really supposed to have bacon I don't have the heart to take the bits off the top because Teddy and Milo's noses are twitching excitedly at the smell of bacon. Teddy patiently licks at his daintily while Milo finishes his in about 10 seconds flat.

The first sandwich to arrive is The Bear which is best eaten in rather than taken away because it is served hot and it comes with a cup of beef dipping sauce. The ciabatta bread is filled with generous amount of thin slices of corned beef, dijonnaise, caramelised onion, finely diced giardiniera pickles and Swiss cheese with beef dipping sauce. This is probably better for a cold day than today's warm almost summer weather but it is very moreish with a good balance of the tangy giardiniera, corned beef, melted cheese and sweet caramelised onion. At first glance the serve of dipping sauce seems a bit paltry but that's all you need really (and it's a bit salty to drink by itself).

They explain that the number 1 sandwich since day 1 is the #11. This is again all about a balance of textures and flavours from the mortadella, hot sopressa, cooling stracciatella and flavour bombs from the red pesto and olive tapenade and the rocket just because greens are good for you. These are huge sandwiches and they are thick with fillings. I think the most I could have is half a sandwich and we see a lot of people taking the second halves with them.

But it's the chicken Caesar wrap that I love along with The Bear. Everything is nicely mixed up and dressed from the finely shredded lettuce, chicken breast, parmesan and Caesar dressing with the occasional crunchy crouton. There's not really a lot of bacon in this which I think would add even more flavour but it's definitely worth stopping for. And as we leave just around 12.15pm the queue has started to form!

So tell me Dear Reader, have you tried a NYC viral chicken Caesar wrap?

This meal was independently paid for.

Cross Section

84-90 McLachlan Ave, Darlinghurst NSW 2010

Monday to Friday 7am-3pm

Saturday 9am-2pm

Closed Sunday

https://www.crosssection.com.au/menu