Botanic Garden Provides Perfect Filling

Sodexo Prestige Press releases

SCT_SANDWICH_DN_DNThe centrepiece of countless packed lunches, picnics and afternoon teas has been given a glamorous makeover by Scottish fine dining experts – just in time for National Sandwich Week.

Talented chefs at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) have created a super sandwich which includes a host of ingredients grown on site.

Sodexo Prestige, the catering and hospitality partner at RBGE, serves up thousands of sandwiches at events, functions and in the garden restaurants and cafes, all designed to reflect its commitment to using sustainable, locally-sourced and in season produce.

But it has pulled out all the stops for National Sandwich Week from May 12-19, when visitors to the Garden will be treated to deluxe char grilled chicken, served on freshly baked focaccia.

Edible Gardening

The mouth-watering creation is perfectly finished with a tasty selection of toppings from the Botantics’ Edible Gardening Project, including red pepper jam and black olive mayonnaise.

A group of visiting children helped launch the “super sarnie” by donning chefs hats and getting playful with flour during a fun introduction to bread making.

Stephen Frost, Sodexo Prestige’s executive chef in Scotland, worked with RBGE chefs Ben and Terry Harrison to create the sandwich and said: “For some people a sandwich is the rather sad, soggy or uninspired snack at the bottom of their lunch box.

“So, every day we set out to show what a sandwich should really be like, using a bit of imagination and the finest local and sustainable ingredients.

Quality Ingredients

“For National Sandwich Week we have gone even further and created something that is really special in terms of its flavours and the quality of ingredients used.

“The Garden has a wealth of fantastic fresh ingredients in its edible garden and we have used a selection of them to complement the focaccia bread which is fresh-baked on site and the filling, which is finest Scottish chicken.

 “Quality and freshness is important to us as chefs and to our diners, who increasingly want to know their food is from sustainable, local sources. All our menus at Sodexo Prestige are sustainable and created from as many locally sourced ingredients as possible.

“Hopefully delegates and visitors to RBGE will enjoy the sandwich we have created – it certainly passed our taste test!”

The sandwich is made up of a lemon and thyme char grilled Grampian chicken fillet between two slices of olive focaccia, which is baked on site to a recipe which includes finest Scottish flour and thyme and oregano grown in the garden.

It also comes with a sweet red pepper jam which features both banana shallots and thyme grown in the garden. The sandwich is also accompanied with black olive mayonnaise, which includes garlic from the garden.

Sodexo Prestige organises hundreds of conferences, events and private parties at RBGE and attendees will be offered the sandwich as part of the day delegate packages, from May 12-19.

For the duration of National Sandwich Week, the special creation will also be available to diners in the multi-award winning Gateway Restaurant and Terrace Café, both of which are operated by a 40-strong Sodexo Prestige team.

Sodexo Prestige is the corporate dining, hospitality and events division of Sodexo and partners with 17 top class venues in Scotland and 50 across the UK including the national stadium at Hampden, Hamilton Park and Perth racecourses and Pittodrie Stadium in Aberdeen.

Sodexo Prestige also provides catering hospitality for The Open Championship, one of the world’s biggest golfing events.

Public relations in Scotland for Sodexo Prestige is handled by the expert PR team at Holyrood PR, providing strategic communuication advice and media relations.