This Tarragindi cafe does away with the rye to make one of Brisbane’s best variations on the classic sanger. Plus, it does a killer vegetarian sandwich.
Reubens are eternal.
If Brisbane’s unabashed love affair with fancy sandwiches ever falls over, there will still be someone somewhere punching out this North American-derived classic, which slaps together corned beef or pastrami, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Russian dressing between two slices of grilled rye bread.
For many, the Reuben is what got them into fancy sandwiches in the first place. My favourite, many moons ago, was at Tippler’s Tap in its Newstead days. That was a hearty corned beef number. I’d wander from my apartment in Bowen Hills down to Masters Street and sit in its pokey back dining room, fancy sandwich in one hand, fancy craft beer in the other, very content.
A different kind of Reuben
Dijon Toasties co-owner Bradley Edwards has a slightly different relationship with Reubens.
“I wasn’t actually a huge fan of the classic Reuben, to be honest,” he says. “I was pushing for a different spin on it. I didn’t love it, even though it was our most popular sandwich on the menu.”
It perhaps didn’t help that the original rye-built Reuben in Dijon, when it opened in Tarragindi in November, was occasionally getting complaints for being “burnt”.
“The issue was rye bread has a lot of molasses in it,” Edwards explains. “It goes dark really quickly. We copped it when we had it on rye, with people saying it was burnt. But it was just the molasses sort of caramelising. They’d complain before they’d taken a bite. So, we thought we’d change it out.”
A Reuben on Turkish? Hear us out…
Edwards, co-owner Darian Brennan and group head chef Jordan Shepperd (Edwards and Brennan also own Deedot and Never Been in Holland Park) swapped the rye for Turkish bread. They settled on individual buns from Uncle Bob’s Bakery in Belmont (which supplies a bunch of good restaurants and cafes around town) that are baked relatively high and fluffy, and Shepperd whacks in the oven for a touch of toast.
As for what’s inside, the trio experimented with various meats and cheeses before settling on a brisket pastrami prepared by Bangalow Sweet Pork and an off-the-shelf Swiss cheese.
“We tried a high-grade Wagyu pastrami and maybe eight to 10 different types from our supplier,” Edwards says. “We found the brisket hit the sweet spot. Some of them can be too salty or peppery. This seemed to work really nicely and we could get it at a price point that meant we could be quite generous.
“We tried some ridiculously high-quality cheeses for our sandwiches – one was $80 a kilo – but we found that [with the Reuben] it’s more about getting the balance right.”
Shepperd also uses an off-the-shelf sauerkraut, but makes his own pickles and a Russian dressing he’s cleverly spiked with fresh dill.
“We have a house Dijon sauce and our Reuben dressing is a hybrid of that and a classic Russian,” Edwards says. “So tomato sauce, mayo, some horseradish and fresh onions.”
As for the prep, Shepperd throws the bun, cheese, pickles and sauerkraut in the oven before adding the pastrami and dressing, chopping it in two and sending it out to the diner.
A Reuben sandwich that won’t leave you bloated afterwards
It’s that rare and precious sandwich that’s easy to eat, and filling without leaving you heavy or bloated. The Turkish bread is crammed with ingredients, but still soft enough to squeeze down into manageable bites and watch that lovely dressing ooze gently over the crust (wash your hands first so you can lick your fingers afterwards).
Even tasty Reubens can be a bit of a sledgehammer on the palate, but Shepperd has imbued his sandwich with plenty of profile, the gentle saltiness of the pastrami, the acidity of the sauerkraut, the umami of the cheese and the piquant dressing all hitting their individual notes. From the first bite, you can tell the thought that’s gone into this thing.
It adds up to one of the best Reubens we’ve eaten in a long time, even if purists might scoff at the use of Turkish bread. Where to eat? Takeaway if you like but it’s best to grab a seat in the cafe’s leafy courtyard for maximum bucolic Tarragindi vibes.
Dijon prepares a bunch of fresh sandwiches and toasties – including a killer Mediterranean vegetable sanger you should try – but Edwards says the Reuben is a bestseller.
“In terms of the fresh sandwiches, it’s the most popular by far,” Edwards says. “We get a lot of comments on this and our club sandwich. A lot of these kinds of sandwiches, you eat them and you feel shit afterwards, but you don’t get that with these. We think it’s great.”
Where to get it
Dijon’s Reuben sandwich is $18. You can get one on Esher Street in Tarragindi.
It’s open daily 7am until 2pm.
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Matt Shea is Food and Culture Editor at Brisbane Times. He is a former editor and editor-at-large at Broadsheet Brisbane, and has written for Escape, Qantas Magazine, the Guardian, Jetstar Magazine and SilverKris, among many others.
