Review: Marks and Spencer Three Bird Roast Sandwich Pack

My love of a good Christmas sandwich so no secret. Through December, I'll trough my way through close on my own body weight in of turkey-based sarnies. Hot, cold, in a sub, in a roll, if it's got turkey in it then it's got my name on it. But there's a new contender in town. A Christmas treat so good, I've actually written a blog about it. A blog about a sandwich. Maybe lockdown is finally getting to me.

But, I digress. Today's post-epicurian delight is none other than the Marks and Spencer Third Bird Roast Sandwich Pack. And what a delight it is.

The first piece of goodness is that, in contrast to other "three bird" things this sandwich pack does not try to wedge together multiple hitherto individual animals into some sort of Russian Doll chimera more appropriate for Doctor Moreau's operating table than as your Christmas centrepiece. No, this is simply three different sandwiches, each with a little something different to offer.

Sandwich One: The Duck One.

Soft duck, very similar in consistency to that present in the stalwart M&S duck wrap, and a nice sweet fruity base. It's the very existence of this sandwich that's interesting. Pork would have possibly been a more obvious choice, pigs in blankets perhaps, but the duck has a luxurious and almost grown-up feel to it, like when the posh people down the road tell you they are having goose instead of turkey this year. (It is my long-held belief that only a small percentage of people who say they are having goose actually have it, like people who say they've read Stephen Hawkings "A Brief History of Time")

On it's own this sandwich might not stand out but here, it's like that one singer in a boyband that keeps all the others in tune and delivers the difficult bit of the harmony.

Overall: 8/10

Sandwich Two: The Turkey One

Very little can go wrong here and very little does. Marks and Spencer always deliver a top-notch Christmas sandwich and this one is straight out the same sandwich mould (if sandwiches came from moulds).

A decent amount of turkey, solid application of cranberry sauce, and plenty of stuffing that's on the right side of stodgy so you feel like you're eating something reassuringly robust and not something that will still be working its way through your digestive tract at Easter.

If I've got one complaint here, it's the absence of a little bacon. I know it's there in the Christmas turkey sarnie M&S are offering, so it does feel a little bit like you're getting short-changed when it's absent here. Still, plenty to like and a very enjoyable eat.

Overall: 9/10 (One mark lost for missing bacon)

Sandwich Three: The Chicken Dinner One

What? I saved the chicken one until the end? Well, no, I didn't when I ate these but I should have done and will next time. The Chicken Dinner sandwich is the secret star of the show here, a little piece of Christmas tucked away between the reliable turkey and the posh-as-the-neighbours duck.

What makes this sandwich so good is that it really feels like the kind of sandwich you make for yourself on Boxing Day, chucking in a little of everything until the whole thing requires Scooby-Doo levels of scaffolding and threatens to come apart as you eat it. The M&S version may not quite reach such prodigious heights, but it will hit you right in your nostalgia gland as you bite into it. Soft bit here, crunchy bit there, nice bit of mayo going on to stick it all together... this is a proper sarnie and the most festive feeling of the bunch.

Overall: 10/10

I never thought I'd get into writing food reviews but if this is the sort of thing that floats your culinary boat, leave a comment below or share this post online and I'll be back with more "sounds like a posh food review but is really about a pre-packed sandwich" blogs in the future.