Design A Sandwich

4 stars might seem a bit generous for this hidden away, slightly ramshackle looking establishment. Situated within Barton Arcade, the shop front is adorned with words to get your tastebuds going — savouries, coffee, jacket potatoes — all the things you want to see on your lunch break.
Inside is small but perfectly formed; you have your food counter, your drinks shelves and, more importantly, your refridgerated chocolate bars. The ladies are lovely, really welcoming and ready to whip you up a quick and tasty meal. I almost went for a sausage barm but was easily swayed by the other halfs options of a jacket potato with cheese & beans because it sounded too good to my rumbly stomach. We were given the option of beans or cheese first and opted for one of each, just because we like to live life on the edge. We sat outside and tucked in with proper cutlery — a sign of a great casual eating place in my mind — and it was a great lunchtime experience. Two potatoes and cans of drinks cost around £7.50 so smiles all round.
Everyone I speak to might think I’m saying Designer Sandwich but that just means they wont find it and I can keep it to myself.

Design a Sandwich has been serving food in Manchester City centre for over 20 years. It’s little shop is in Barton Arcade but it’s also a catering company offering outside catering, buffet and sandwich platter service to all the offices.
Design a sandwich smells sooo nice just as you walk in. Best of all it’s cheap and you get fresh, any ingredient, bread, toppings and fillings of your choice. You name it, they’ll «design it.» The ladies in here are great sandwich artists knocking up seafood specials, three meat wonders, turkey thrillers and chicken rooster specials. Those are some of the triple decker sandwiches on offer if you’re feeling particularly sandwichy today.
Okay move over sandwiches, there’s also salads, baked potatoes, hot pies and all day breakfasts and some veggie bacon/​sausage/​breakfast options. I’m all about designing my own sandwich though. Subway eat your heart out, you high street hogger.

Ooooooh, I do love a good sandwich. Much like Munch, Design a Sandwich gets max props from me for seeing me through the hell that was two months temping for a dining club. Every morning, I’d get my Munch coffee, and every lunch time I’d sit in St Anne’s Square with a DAS sandwich and ward off the pigeons with cigarette smoke and growled threats.
Basically, DAS doesn’t need much explaining. It is a down-​to-​earth sandwich shop (sandwicherie?) that will put anything you want into your sandwich. Well, anything that you want, that they have. But that’s no problem, they seem to stock pretty much every sandwich filling under the sun. Here are Becca’s Top Design a Sandwich Picks:
— Beef, horseradish and onion (smelly breath but worth it)
— Chicken, brie, cranberry and salad
— Brie and gherkin, with an extra smattering of French mustard
— their own Beefy Buster, a delicious mix of roast beef and Brussels pâté.
Of course, you don’t have to take my word for the deliciousness, and certainly don’t have to stick with my suggestions. In fact, the most exciting thing about DAS is that you get to choose every aspect of your sarnie. And it’s such good value! For around £2.50 you get a decent hearty sarnie in good bread, with all your dressings and whatnot. I think the most I ever spent on a DAS sarnie was £3.50, which was epic and overfilled, but still nom-​a-​licious.
Pure sandwich-​making class.

Good name (well, come on it is intriguing i.e. what period of art history your finished product will come from, the mind runs wild). Ok concept in reality and a pretty good range of savoury, and sweet, fillings for said sandwiches.
This place is a winner for those who are on to it. It is tucked in the lovely but unloved Victorian Barton arcade so doesn’t get a lot of passer by trade, thats for sure. But once you’ve found it I’m sure you’ll be seeking it out all the time.
If sandwiches aren’t really your thing they also do pies, baked potatoes and other little complimentary snacks but I can’t vouch for these because I have only ever tried what these guys do best.
The staff here really shine but I have a feeling that whatever targets they are being set are miles away from being reached. Hopefully as more businesses move into Barton, Design a Sandwich will get to make more people happy in this simple way.

In the centre of a woefully underused Victorian Palace to commerce that is the Barton Arcade lies this proper old school café cum delhi. Or sandwich shop for want a precise phrase.
The friendliest and most helpful staff I’ve witnessed in any coffee shop in town, this deserves to be invested in and preserved. With the redevelopment of the Barton Arcade commencing (at snails pace seemingly) you wonder about the lifespan of Design a Sandwich. Already it’s close neighbour (Olivee) a fine coffee shop/​sandwich parlor with Spanish undertones and overcoats, felt the wrath of an uninterested public (I often felt we were just a handful of folk keeping the place afloat).
Design a sandwich meanwhile, has been going for an age: its serves a whole host of fillings and breads (the thai chicken on ciabatta is my current first choice) alongside pies, baked potatoes and other cheeky snackage.
I’m sure this place is busy during the week and they offer a delivery service to nearby businesses, but thankfully they’re also open at the weekend.
If I’ve one criticism it would be that they could invest in a real coffee machine rather than the filtered variety, which while a decent cuppa, doesn’t quite reach the heights of a ‘real’ espresso et al.