This tiny shop shifts close to 200 sandwiches a day. But there’s one in particular you need to check out.
Haven’t heard of Wilburs? That’s OK, we won’t blame you.
Alex Macdonald and Caitlin Kemp quietly opened this cute little corner cafe in Holland Park towards the end of 2021 and have been slowly but steadily building a dedicated local following ever since.
Little is the operative word here. Wilburs takes up barely 40 square metres of floor space. Inside, there’s a marble counter with a coffee machine and a glass cabinet on one side, a timber bench and small cold drinks fridge on the other, and a clutch of window seats at the front overlooking the leafy corner of Geelong Avenue and Wilbur Street, with Holland Park State School beyond.
Wilburs, the tiny cafe that could
That size means Wilburs has always drilled down on just a few cabinet items – and sandwiches in particular. It also means it was way ahead of the curve when it came to Brisbane’s sanger craze. There’s little in the way of overwrought Instagrammable flourishes here, just thoughtfully compiled creations, many of which have been on the menu for years.
The tiny shopfront now shifts close to 200 sandwiches a day, and Macdonald says a few are particularly popular.
“There’s a chicken and avocado sandwich that’s a big seller,” he says. “I also really love our deli-style sandwich … It has provolone, mortadella, prosciutto, guindilla peppers and salsa verde, and we serve it between this garlic focaccia. It’s so good.”
Still, there’s one offering that punters – including us – tend to return for more than any other: the chicken tarragon sandwich.
Wilburs’ chicken tarragon sandwich
At first glance, Macdonald and Kemp’s chicken tarragon sandwich seems like a thing of simple beauty, but peer under the bonnet and there are some clever flourishes going on. Macdonald says that’s courtesy of chef Cheyanne Phillips, who helped develop the cafe’s sandwiches in its early days.
“She had this poached chicken salad in Sydney that was based on a Waldorf salad, which typically has grapes, celery, apple and walnuts, mixed through with mayonnaise” Macdonald says. “We basically incorporated some of those core ideas into a sandwich.”
Not that there are grapes in the Wilburs sandwich, and the mayonnaise has been switched for an aioli that’s been given a squeeze of lemon juice. The poached free-range chicken is local, and the key ingredient is, of course, the tarragon, which cuts through any richness with its subtle aniseed bite.
There are two more inspired additions: alfalfa and cos lettuce, which add texture and further balance out the more intense elements of the sandwich.
All this is squeezed between two slices of liberally buttered block loaf baked by Danny’s Bread in Teneriffe, its top blackened just so.
“[It’s] based on a Waldorf salad, which typically has grapes, celery, apple and walnuts, mixed through with mayonnaise. We basically incorporated some of those core ideas into a sandwich.”
Alex Macdonald
“It’s a great portion size, and it’s well shaped – it has a softness and a fluffiness, but also a density that really helps hold the sandwich together. We love it.”
What ends up in your mitts is a fabulously clean-eating antidote to the more outrageous, messier sangers you get around town. The tang of the sourdough gives way to the soft crunch of the lettuce, celery, alfalfa and walnuts, and then the velvety aioli and plump poached chook. This thing is generously sized, but you’ll still destroy it in a matter of minutes – in part because it’s so easy to eat.
We’ve ordered this sandwich four times now and the only small caveat is that on one occasion, it was arguably the tiniest bit under-seasoned, which is perhaps a risk when it comes packed with so much greenery.
It’s killer when served fresh, but Macdonald reckons you should also give it a go toasted.
“Because of the aioli,” he says. “It just tastes so good when you give it a bit of colour and heat it. We take off the lettuce and the alfalfa before we toast and then add it back on … We don’t toast all our sandwiches, but it really works with this one.”
Where to get it
The Wilburs chicken and tarragon sandwich is a keenly priced (by fancy sanger standards) $15.90. You can get one on the corner of Geelong Avenue and Wilbur Street in Holland Park. This place pumps, though, so arrive early.
Wilburs is open Monday to Friday 6am to 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.
