It’s one of the most ubiquitous foods on the planet – in fact, if it’s lunchtime,
you’re probably eating one right now – yet the origin of the sandwich remains
a murky, unsolved mystery that spans continents, centuries and civilisations.
Common belief is that the sandwich we know today – two slices of bread
encasing a filling – was named after The Earl of Sandwich, more specifically,
John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, who was a British statesman in the
1700s with a penchant for gambling.

The story goes that Sandwich spent long hours at the card table and instead of stopping for meals, he called for his servants to bring him sliced salt beef in between slices of bread that he could hold while he kept playing. All very plausible, however, evidence of a dish resembling a sandwich dates back to Mesopotamia in the 17 th century BC with the discovery of ancient Akkadian cuneiform tablets containing the first recorded recipes in the world.

Whatever the genesis story, it’s safe to say to say that the sandwich has been
a part of human diets for a very long time. Today, this ancient finger food is
experiencing a renaissance as chefs around the world take it out of the
lunchbox and onto the restaurant table, swapping PB and jelly for crumbed
abalone, artisan cheese, truffle, Champagne and even 23-karat gold. Let’s
unwrap some of the most expensive and luxurious sandwiches around the
world:

Serendipity 3’s ‘The Quintessential Grilled Cheese Sandwich’
You’ll need more than loose change in your pocket to pay for this New York
City restaurant’s grilled cheese sandwich, which costs around $300 and has
been crowned by the Guinness Book of Records as the most expensive
sandwich in the world. Serendipity 3’s ‘The Quintessential Grilled Cheese
Sandwich’ comes on bread baked with Dom Perignon Champagne and 23-
karat gold, that is then brushed with truffle oil and more gold flakes, the oozy
centre a rare cheese from southern Italy called caciocavallo podolico that is
made from the raw milk of a rare breed of cow that only lactates for two
months a year. The cheesy cut sides of the sandwich are encrusted with more
gold leaf for good measure, and the sandwich is served with a bowl of posh
tomato and lobster soup. The kicker, it must be ordered 48 hours in advance.

Bennelong’s cheese toastie (RIP)
Closer to home, chef Peter Gilmore elevated the cheese toastie at his Cured
and Cultured Bar at Sydney Opera House with his $22 rendition that
contained five types of Australian artisan cheese. The toastie is no longer on
the menu (RIP old friend), but Gilmore is now proffering his take on the Aussie
rat coffin, aka sausage roll, for those with a hunger for nostalgia. His 8-hour
suckling pig sausage roll is a sucker punch of umami, the filling made with
black garlic, and will set you back $28.

666 Burger’s Douche Burger
We don’t know what’s more surprising about the most expensive burger in the
world, the fact that it’s called the Douche Burger or that it’s slapped up in a
New York City food truck. 666 Burger food truck owner Franz Aquilo’s bougie
burger consists of a Kobe beef patty wrapped in gold leaf layered with foie
gras, caviar, lobster, truffles, aged gruyere cheese (melted with Champagne
steam no less) and barbecue sauce made from Kopi Luwak coffee beans that
have been pooped out by Indonesia’s cuddly palm civet. All yours in a gold
wrapper for just US$666.

Dubai’s black truffle sandwich
Michelin-starred Parisian chef Michel Rostang is the man behind Dubai’s most
expensive sandwich of all time, an uber-luxe combination of black Périgord
truffles (10g-15g to be exact) and creamy French butter pressed between two
slices of sourdough for 24 hours before being grilled. The $115 truffle sanger was on the menu at the former Rostang Brasserie at Atlantis The Palm – the 5-star hotel on Dubai’s iconic reclaimed island that’s in the shape of a palm tree, and to recreate the truffle sensation, the chef has a tip for anyone with a few spare truffles lying about the kitchen: “The best way to eat truffles is with bread and French butter.”

Duck bao at Supernormal
Can a burrito be a sandwich? What about a kebab, hotdog or a Chinese bao?
Melbourne chef Andrew McConnell’s DIY duck bao at his popular Flinders
Lane eatery are Asia’s answer to the sandwich. The interactive dish is served
as a whole, twice-cooked duck leg that you shred and fork into pillowy
steamed buns with thin slices of cucumber and plum sauce, before dipping
the whole thing into black vinegar on the way to your mouth. At $29, it pips the
restaurant’s other iconic sandwich, the $17 New England lobster roll, to the
post in the exxy stakes.

Abalone katsu sandwich at Cutler & Co.
The abalone katsu is hardly chef Andrew McConnell's first sando to approach cult status (read about Supernormal’s duck bao and lobster roll above), but this Melbourne bar snack is one of Australia’s best sandwiches. At $16, it
might be a little more than the chicken schnitty version you ate al-desko last
Monday, but the contrast of crunchy, soft, salty, sweet and tangy is perfectly
mastered in this combo of crumbed baby abalone, sweet-sour Bulldog brand
tonkatsu (Japanese barbecue) sauce, shredded white cabbage and doughy
rounds of Wonder White-esque bread.

A1 Canteen’s muffuletta
Chef Clayton Wells’ retro sandwich at his Sydney eatery A1 Canteen has
risen to notoriety, lauded by chefs and lay-diners alike. Created in New
Orleans’ Central Grocery Co. in 1906 by Sicilian migrants, the modern
muffuletta, a multi-layered sandwich pressed into a hollowed out cob loaf, has
since lain dormant in the faded pages of 80s entertaining cookbooks. But the
muffuletta is back, loaded with cured meat, cheese, pickles and other deli-
counter favourites including marinated artichoke hearts and olive tapenade.
It’s the most expensive sandwich on Wells’ menu, which also includes a salt
beef bagel and prawn cocktail sandwich, and a slice of the action will set you
back $18.