Set in the Rawdah Star retail development Sandwich store, Toast Ed is probably the closest thing to international brands “Pret” and “Eat” that you can find in Jeddah, and when it comes to healthy food on the go, Toast Ed seems to tick all the boxes.
Almost going on a year now, the venue has had time to get through any teething trouble they may have had at the start. So it’s refreshing to see the contemporary eatery now has even more items available in the aptly named “1.5 version” (and toast shaped!) menu.
“Soup, Salad, Sandwich” is their motto, and they have plenty of all of these, perhaps slightly less on the soup side with only four offerings listed on the menu, however they more than make up for this in the quality of those that are offered.
As for the sandwiches, there are over six different types of bread available for those who wish to customize any of their 32 sandwiches, so carb lovers should be pleased, you can pick from baguette, ciabatta, toast, wrap bread, panini and even a burger bun.
In an attempt to target new items on the menu, we went for a selection that we noticed to be more recent additions. We tried the Toasted Lentil Soup, Caprese and Toasted Ceasar Salad, Turkey Sun Panini, Spicy Wedges, and Chocolate Bananas Quattro, and as if that wasn’t enough, we couldn’t resist trying out the new 200g Grilled Angus Beef Toasted Burger. Let’s just say our eyes may have been bigger than our mouths, but somehow we managed to make room. We started with the salads, and these did not disappoint, the Toasted Ceasar had everything you would expect, chicken, croutons, lettuce, beef bacon, and even the dressing on the side in case you are watching your weight.
A good salad, though a little difficult to eat in the container, it comes packed in. The Caprese was even better, with an interesting mix of fresh mozzarella cheese marinated in pesto sauce, with tomatoes, lettuce, rocca leaves and covered in pine nuts with the balsamic vinaigrette also on the side.
As for the spicy wedges, sadly these were less impressive, not as crispy as we would have liked, and hardly spicy at all, perhaps this was just the batch we received.
The burger, however, was surprisingly good, you wouldn’t usually expect a sandwich store to offer a burger, but Toast Ed have, and it is actually pretty good. Excellent meat (Angus beef) is used here, a soft muffin like burger bun, and a great mix of salad and cocktail sauce dressing. Aside from being slightly salty, I can see this becoming a new favorite (in moderation of course!).
Another satisfying sandwich was the Turkey Sun Panini, which included a mix of smoked turkey, beef bacon, swiss cheese, sauteed mushrooms and sun dried tomatoes.
The crispy beef pieces give the sandwich both flavor and bite. The panini bread was soft, and the other ingredients almost melt in the mouth. Definitely worth a try if you happen to stop by.
The chicken club sandwich is also very popular here although not diet material. If you are watching your waistline, we can recommend the Smoked Salmon and Philadelphia Salad, the lettuce is really crispy, and served with tiny parcels of Philadelphia cream cheese wrapped in layers of smoked salmon, simply delicious. We rounded off our meal with the Chocolate Banana Quattro — basically a toasted sandwich filled with rich, melted nutella chocolate spread, dark chocolate, and mushed banana.
Both sweet and satisfying, this would probably have gone down well with a side serving of ice cream had we any on hand at the time. Other more interesting quattros are also available which include more local sweet stuff like halwa.
Fresh Juices and the usual soft drinks are also available. Although we decided to skip these as nothing particularly different caught our eye.
Branded products always come at a price, so expect to pay slightly more than you pay at your local sandwich store, you can pick up a salad for around SR20-30, and sandwiches anywhere from SR19 to SR39. Our Soup was the cheapest of the bunch at SR12.
It’s nice to see recycling is encouraged in the store. A “please recycle stamp” can be found on all their products and wall, however it would be great to see a recycling bin in the store itself for customers to use. We are told this is on their list of “things to do”, and that left over bread is also sent to charity organizations at the end of each day.
The venue seems to be focused primarily on delivery with a team of drivers who seem constantly on the go. However, if you fancy eating in, the place does have a rather futuristic selection of bar-type seating, where a lot of effort obviously went into the interior design. This is a good place to drop in for a midday snack, and a welcome addition to the local neighborhood.
Website: toasted2go.com
Tel: 02 2616747
Address: Rawdah Star Commercial Center, Rawdah Street.
(Rashed Islam is a food critic who hosts Jeddahfood.com)