At It’s Recess, a new grab-and-go sandwich cafe, housed in the art deco Belgenny building, and six paces from Taylor Square’s rainbow crossing, the flavour of school tuck shops and packed lunch boxes is abundant.

Neat containers of cut sandwiches, their pastrami, BLT, chicken avo, curried egg or ham, cheese and pickle fillings visible through see-through lids, line a tall, chilled cabinet on the left.

Below, cheese, tuna melt and “pesto chook” toasties are wrapped in brown paper bags ready for the shop’s sandwich press.

On the front counter, beside a cabinet of almond, ham and cheese and plain croissants, is a jar of killer pythons. Each long, bendy, red, orange, yellow and green lolly snake is $1. To the left, a basket of chip varieties includes shiny golden packets of barbecue-flavoured Samboy chips (“The Flavour HITS You”).

On the back wall, above this small shop’s busy open kitchen, is a mural of hand-drawn, memory-sparking school-time illustrations. A chatterbox, a paper plane, a lunch box, a noughts and crosses game, a sun hat with a chin strap and a coin with “Lunch Money” written above it.

Below this, co-owners Clark Wenborn and Paddy Levy, with fellow staff, are building, slicing, wrapping and ferrying just-made sandwiches and salads to the chilled cabinet and waiting customers.

The chicken avocado sandwiches run out, but Wenborn places a sign indicating more are under way. Lunchtime customers flood in, each studying the sandwiches, ordering a Mecca beans coffee and selecting a killer python. Most of them have a chat with Wenborn and Levy.

Some stay and eat at the window counter or footpath seating, but others whisk off to eat their sandwich in a park or at their desk.

Wenborn, Levy and cofounder Matt Wise opened It’s Recess in March. While working for a corporate food company, they bonded over a love of sandwiches and the daily search for lunch break varieties that were not ginormous, fancy or wallet-breaking.

“There’s definitely a sandwich boom going on in Sydney and I’m here for it, Wenborn says. “Incredible, high-quality, quite large sandwiches.”

“We saw that no one was addressing that middle sector. People wanting something not too fancy, with simple combinations that are executed well and offered at prices more inclusive for an office lunch.”

In that vein, prices at It’s Recess start at $8.90 for a toastie – get the mighty, cheesy, crispy but gooey tuna melt – rising to $11.90 for cut sandwiches. The Bella, with house-roasted tomatoes, basil pesto, pickled zucchini and balsamic glaze, is a winner.

All come in light but nicely chewy sourdough slices from Infinity Bakery, which also supplies the pastries.

As a dedicated emporium of quality sandwiches, the salads are also excellent. Get the chicken and greens salad with pesto dressing ($14.90) to experience a meal that is not simply a vast clump of exotic lettuce with a bit of poultry shirking in the corner.

This salad is an unbridled, well-proportioned bonanza of free-range poached chicken, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, feta, pickled onion and pepitas.

There are also popular bacon and egg rolls and a fine pea and avocado crostini that Levy created to use all produce during the week.

“There’s no secrets or tricks here,” he says. “The food is simple classics and it’s important to us to show the process so we have a fully transparent open kitchen.

“We’re constantly topping up the sandwiches and salads throughout the day, just non-stop from morning to the time we finish.”

There are also yoghurt pots and gluten-free options, and an expanded range of drinks and summer sandwiches are in the pipeline.

Wenborn and Levy, thrilled that their dream of such a shop is a reality, are amazed by the loyalty and love from local residents and workers.

“There’s a kid who comes in every day and we make him a ham and cheese sandwich, which he takes to school at Crown Street Public around the corner,” Levy says.

“And then there’s an 85- to 90-year-old who’s here every second day for a cheese toastie. To be able to offer something for everyone who walks in, that’s pretty cool.”