There have been countless articles proclaiming the return of the sanger but did it ever really go away?

Melbourne’s love affair with the carb-based art form stretches in an unbroken line to the prehistoric era (that’s before the internet, kids) and has witnessed wild flings with banh mi, burgers, New York deli sandwiches, croissants and anything else that boasts a compellingly high GI.

And now thanks to FOC the wheel has turned full circle to the nineties, when the focaccia was king like a belly button ring.

Opened by Brian Taing and Joe La of Sloppy Joe’s Deli, FOC has arrived at the business end of Little Collins St bearing double entendres galore (“FOC you, FOC me, FOC everyone” monogrammed paper ought to give you an idea) and a focaccia menu designed to float the boat of all but the most paleo-committed. It’s been designed with the help of chef Adrian Li, who proved his bicultural culinary smarts at La Madonna restaurant.

He also devised the recipe for the titular Italian bread, which is made on-site each day. The perfect way to reignite the focaccia revolution, it’s light and airy with the right amount of sponginess.

Each sanger arrives just crisped on the outside so it’s hovering in the penumbra between its natural state and toasted. That’s bang-on in our book.

So which of the 11-strong menu to choose? The mortadella rockets to No.1 for its wicked excess of delicately spiced, sweetly pink slices with a truckload of aioli mollified by the crunchy cut-through of pickled green tomatoes.

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The delicate chicken salad filling is something that Peter Rowland fans would recognise, maximalised with truffled salsa (real truffle, not its devil-spawn synthetic impostor), soft lettuce and provolone and bread and butter pickles.

Vegos can hit the garlicky green bean number or field mushrooms with Swiss cheese and Dijon. And the porchetta version has nicely roasted pork and real crackle, bless them. Enough said. They’re big, bold and unstinting on the supersized fillings, which at times can be a little overwhelming in the aioli/mayo department.

Take a seat in the single shopfront at the communal table or a series of bijou two-pax tables or takeaway. As an office lunch el desko you’ll need extra napkins, and possibly a nap under the desk before you hit that afternoon Zoom meeting.

It’s a keenly focused focaccia machine but there’s also room in the remit for sweets – they bake a mean maple bacon doughnut that triangulates sweet, salty and savoury with aplomb. Drinks? They pour a good coffee using Axil beans but the iced coconut matcha latte packs more fun into your caffeination needs with a creamy green cap you mix into a coconut water base. It’s a silken-delicious buzz.

FOC was born when Sloppy Joe’s moved its toasted sangers a block away and Taing and Li were left with an empty space dilemma. Filling the void with focaccias is something we can all get on board. Sometimes the second spin of the wheel is best.

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