Salt Beef Sandwiches

Going to Golders Green these days not only brings out the Jewishness in me, if there is any that is, but also some good memories.

My first jaunt into this neck of the woods was way back in 1992 when I signed up as a volunteer for a Kibbutz back in the early nineties. Ahh good times, how I miss you so.

I haven’t really been back that often to Golders since really as after 18 months on a Kibbutz kind of put me off the area, but I do miss Israel though. Well I miss the life I had there for nearly two years and the friends I made and lost.

But being all grown up now and having a slight addiction to bread and always in desperate need of a little sampling of Salt Beef I venture back regularly now.

Delisserie is set up as an American Deli cum Diner Playground imitating the great Deli’s set in the East Village in New York. Well kind of.

It may be a bit tacky in décor with black and white floor tiles, huge comfy booths and front covers of the New Yorker lining the walls, but it’s fun.

The menu is what you might expect to find in a New York with Chicken Soup, Chopped Liver, Lakta’s, Schnitzels, Pastrami and Salt Beef.

I really must try more of the menu, as I kinda get stuck on the Pile High Deli Sandwiches as the menu calls it.

Their Salt Beef Sandwiches on Rye are my favourite and my choice of choices here. I’m pretty sure the Salt Beef is not made in house, but never the less it is still very good.

The bread either comes toasted or not, it really depends on the day and whether the cook remembers to toast it or not. It’s better toasted.

The fries are salty and crispy and I have to say some of the best I’ve had and really a lot better than you would expect from here

 The Pastrami Sandwiches are good also, although the Pastrami lacks a certain pepper taste I’ve had in other sandwiches in New York, plus on one occasion the meat came out fridge cold, again the cook forgot to do his job properly.

Their Reuben’s with Swiss Cheese are ok and a good substitute for the Salt Beef, but they don’t include a drizzling of Russian Dressing, which for me makes a Reuben, or again the cook forgot his job again.

Delisserie is a fun place, it has a good atmosphere and friendly local staff who always have a smile on their faces. Kind of homely shall we say.

The sandwiches are not as god as Mishkin’s but the service is a million times better.

Just down the road a little and next to Atari-Ya is the Salt Beef Bar, this no nonsense café sells down to earth Salt Beef Sandwiches with Great Potato Latke’s.

The father and son team who served me were not speaking to each other that morning, which kinda befitted the shop.

The Salt Beef is made on the premises and the steam bath you encounter as you walk in is wonderful.

The bread is dry and the salt beef is tasty, firm but still juicy, with an addition of a pickle on the side and a potato latke I was in all my Jewish heaven.

I even brought some Salt Beef to take away for sandwiches the next day, which I relished on sitting at my desk staring blankly at my laptop wishing I was again back in Golders Green and any where but at work.

I’ve made Salt Beef at home once of twice and really I must make it again, but I’m a lazy so and so and really prefer going out for it.

The Salt Beef Bar ticks all my boxes, it’s simple décor and homely feel, even if father and son don’t agree on certain family matters that often but it’s a good place if you are just after some delicious Deli style food.