CHOP

Overview

It's the food trend that just won't die. If you thought Melbourne's sandwich scene was oversaturated, you'd be wrong, with more and more spots spruiking speciality sangas continuing to pop up across town. CHOP in Port Melbourne is bringing a new spin on sandwiches to Melbourne, inspired by the American-style chopped cheese sandwiches of New York's bodegas.

Founder Jonathan Ford may be British-born, but his inspiration for CHOP is entirely American. He saw an opening for a new type of sanga that combines bold, unexpected flavour combos, American deli influences, and a particularly chop-style approach in the already booming sandwich market.

"Melbourne has an incredible food scene, and there's certainly no shortage of great sandwich shops, but we saw an opportunity to do something a little different. The idea was to take the American chopped sandwich concept and make it our own. We keep things simple with one style of bread, but put all our creativity into the fillings, flavours and combinations," says Ford.

For the uninitiated, American-style chopped sandwiches feature ingredients chopped, mixed and cooked together on a flat-top grill, before being stuffed into a soft milk bun. Ford has included the classic chopped cheese variety on his menu, but made space for many other more unconventional flavour combos, such as the salt and pepper chicken sanga inspired by the Chinese takeaway shops of Ford's childhood.

"We wanted CHOP to be more than just another sandwich shop. It's about creating something that's a little different, from the food itself to the atmosphere, music and the people behind the counter. Melbourne diners are always looking for something new, and we're excited to give them a different take on a classic sandwich," says Ford.

Images: Supplied. 

Like what you see? Subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter to get stories just like these straight to your inbox.