This chewy roll might only have ham, slices of nutty gruyere and a generous smear of cultured butter, but those ingredients collide into something magical.
The thick layer of delightfully salty butter on Loulou’s ham and gruyere baguette sends the message that this French bakery doesn’t think about your cholesterol levels. In fact, head chef Ned Parker tells us he’d add more if he could.
“We use great butter – not too much, but just the right amount to bring out the flavour. I’d actually use double the butter, but I know that might be too much for most people,” he says.
Perhaps that’s true, but butter is the essential third ingredient in Loulou’s simple yet decisive sandwich – equally as important as the meat and cheese – and helps elevate it above many of its sanger contemporaries.
Not that Sandwich watch – a column dedicated to the essential Sydney sandwiches you need to know about – really cares about the buildup of plaque in arteries. We reckon the best breaded creations lean into things like deep-fried and over-sized in pursuit of lunchtime nirvana.
Show me the butter
Like France’s famous jambon beurre sandwich (simply ham and butter), Loulou’s $14 jambon beurre gruyere (ham, butter, cheese) relies on the quality of its ingredients. French food is built on taking excellent components and letting them collide into something magical, and this baguette is a textbook example.
Along with the house-made cultured butter (which is used across Loulou’s boulangerie, bistro and CBD takeaway venue), the roll also has triangles of sliced gruyere, which are placed on both sides of the baguette. There’s a sensible thickness of thinly sliced ham layered between the cheese.
That level of restraint is almost quaint in this golden era of hulking sandwiches, and means you’re not chewing yourself towards a post-meal slump. If you’re the kind of person that needs lunch to have mobility, this roll is also easily eaten with one hand, and on the go.
James Brickwood
The ingredients
Parker says they source their free-range smoked ham from beloved Sydney butchery Pino’s Dolce Vita, which they slice themselves. They use Le Gruyere, a delightfully rich and nutty cheese from Switzerland.
Like the butter, the bread is made in-house, to a traditional baguette recipe, and they make shorter versions specifically for their sandwiches. The bread has a decent chew, but not too much you feel like you’re playing bread tug-of-war.
Where can you get it
You can grab a $14 ham and gruyere baguette from Loulou’s Boulangerie and Traiteur in Milsons Point which has, since 2021, been peddling baguettes, croissants, pastries, sweet treats, sandwiches and more to patrons Monday to Sunday 7am to 4pm. Find it at 61 Lavender Street. A kiosk-style cafe, cleverly called Petit Loulou, was added to its roster last year in the Martin Place metro station, at the Hunter and Elizabeth Streets exit. It’s got a handful of tables, but otherwise you can take away. It’s open Monday to Friday 6am to 4pm.
This is the latest instalment of Sandwich watch, a column dedicated to the Sydney sandwiches you need to know about.
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Sarah Norris – Sarah is Head of Good Food and a former national editor at Broadsheet.
