By starting to toast their sandwiches, Subway added a missing (and much needed) element to their menu - crunch. I remember bemoaning the fact that all Subway sandwiches would devolve into a squishy mess during the course of eating, or even in the bag on the way home. This was because the bread is quite flimsy to start with and the addition of those much-needed sauces twould quickly turn flimsy into soggy. By changing the texture of the bread through the toaster, a consumer's whole experience of eating a Subway could be altered into something more robust. This alteration to the foundation of the sandwich, i.e. the bread, effected the whole Subway menu without changing any of the ingredients - a master stroke.
I had similarly high hopes for the flatbread as it addresses another fundamental problem with Subway sandwiches - bread variety. Yes Subway does have six types of bread, but they are really two types of dough (white and brown) with four different toppings. Therefore, the bread itself is always the same in taste texture (aside from toasting) and so the consumer's experience is somewhat limited.
Subway does offer wraps but when I worked there I always wondered why anyone would buy them, unless they had to due to a dietary requirement. Subway wraps are more expensive than the bread and you get much less sandwich filling due to the size contraints (this is not the case everywhere. Some stores charge no extra but the amount of filling - particularly salad - is much lower). So essentially you pay more for less which makes no sense to me and I don't consider them as a viable alternative.
Enter the flatbread. It is sold at the same price as a 6-inch sandwich (for now at least) and it holds just as much filling as a traditional bread. The flatbreads are a uniform size and so your sandwich will always be the same length, as opposed to the short end of a poorly-risen dough that you can sometimes end up with. I seized the opportunity asked for turkey and ham with cheese on a flatbread. I had it toasted, at the recommendation of the staff, with all salad, mustard and BBQ sauce (delicious combination I assure you). So far so good.
However, the flatbread is not exactly what I expected. The image (above) advertised gives the impression of a bread that is sliced down the middle with a hinge cut, much like the traditional Subway bread but flatter. This is not the case. It is actually a large rectangle, much like a naan bread with corners, that is folded over the top of the fillings. The result of this is that, if the sandwich is fully unwrapped, it has a tendency to flop open.It is also very soft and doughy and remains so despite being toasted, which can lead to the sandwich falling over unless held tightly. The open ends, open side and limp consistency are not designed for holding a sandwich together. This problem is further compounded by the silly paper sleeve that it arrived in, rather than the traditional Subway wrapping. This paper sleeve is open on one side and so taking the sandwich anywhere in its bag is risky at best.
So at any moment the sandwich could fall open, slump over, or lose all of its fillings in a mass exodus of a scale that has not been witnessed since...well...Exodus. Functionally speaking, the flatbread is a flop in more ways that one.
Fortunately there are redeeming features. First amongst those is the fact that it is delicious. It's soft, fluffy and warm with a slightly charred taste after toasting. It is much like eating a cross between a potato cake (or potato farl as they are called in Ireland) and a naan bread, in both flavour and texture. Very pleasant indeed.
It is also considerably different to the rest of the bread selection and this is variety that I welcome. I find that the Subway breads can get a little tiresome (perhaps less frequent visits would eliminate this problem) and so this change to the fundamental element of the sandwich makes the whole experience seem new and interesting again, whilst lending a lightness to the sandwich experience. And this lightness comes despite the actual serving size being more (by weight) than the traditional bread.
Pros:
- Tastes good
- Adds variety
- Uniform size
Cons:
- Functionally terrible
- Higher calorific value (still less than herbs and cheese)
- Paper sleeve
Verdict:
Whilst the Subway flatbread might not be designed to hold your meatball sub together, it makes a pleasant change from the bread that I've become tired of. It may not be practical for day-to-day sandwich consumption but, as an interesting and tasty diversion, it certainly has a place on the menu and in my lunch rotation.
6.5/10
