Simple sandwiches from personal favorites
Le Daily, a quaint, laid-back snack bar, started with a simple idea: to serve an all-day selection of sandwiches and snacks accompanied by quality coffee, craft beer, cocktails and vermouth.
“Most of the items are personal favorites. We simply share what we like to eat and drink,” said Francois Seguin, a partner at Le Daily, who is also behind the ultra popular natural wine bar Soif.
When he saw the space next to Soif was available, he took it immediately and gathered other partners Michael Chen (The Cannery, Laiba) and Andrew Moo (Taste-Collective) to launch Le Daily, which quickly became a hot spot.
During lunch, it’s often shoulder-toshoulder along the bar and there’s a long queue for their delicious sandwiches.
The 20-seat interior is cozy with whiteand-green tiles, custom-made lights and other tasteful details.
“This type of place can be easily found in Montreal, my hometown,” said Seguin. “Just a chilled place to grab comfort food with different drinks. Here, we pay homage to the deli tradition but elevated it and made it Shanghai friendly.”
Sandwiches are the definite crowdpleaser. There are five choices and more creations will be added.
The Shanghai Reuben is probably the most popular. It is not the classic Reuben but a more appealing version with a Shanghai influence — piled high with warm, thick-cut hongshaorou (braised pork belly), pastrami, pickled sauerkraut, Emmental cheese and Russian dressing. This is the ultimate comfort food.
Vegetarian options include Tomato and Labneh (heirloom ox heart tomato, house-made labneh, fermented beetroot, mixed sprouts) and Eat Your Greens (kale, broccolini, fried shallots and
confit garlic, mozzarella, mimolette). Their layered flavors also appeal to meat lovers.
“We will bring out different sandwiches at Le Daily as the world of sandwich has so many possibilities,” Seguin said. “We just do it our own way. We keep it simple with quality ingredients but give a little twist inspired by different cultures.”
They are only open for daytime but very soon a selection of night-time snacks will be available, and of course, more options on the drinks from natural wine on tap to inventive cocktails.
It’s worth looking at their vermouth selection from both traditional producers and young upstarts who are reviving the recipes of old. The herbaceous drink has been carving its own
space, driven in part by the craft movement and the preferences of the younger wine generation.
One notable vermouth here is The Gibson Pickled Vermouth del Professore that combines the centuries-old craft of vermouth production with the modern love of pickling.
I so much enjoyed the pickly twist to the botanical, herbal base.