Club Sandwich Reviews on El Economista (Spain)

El Economista (English = “The Economist”) is a daily publication in Spain with a focus on Economics. They recently wrote a story on Club Sandwiches, and featured my blog.

You can visit the full story here, or read a (poorly translated) version below, with the section highlighted in red that includes Club Sandwich Reviews:

The Club Sandwich is the diet of men and women business travelers in the United States, which the macaroni to the diet of children, ie, basic, a must as they say in the fashion world. Both, who has his own fan club who vote and choose the best around the world, mostly among the best restaurants in hotels-and-airports, mainly distributed between North America and Asia.

They say he was born in 1894, at the Saratoga Club House, a private gambling club male, probably for its exclusive members could stay in the game table for several hours without the need to pause to eat.Indeed, in the small town of Saratoga Spring, about 100 miles north of New York, had invented a few years before the famous potato chips, particularly in the restaurant Moon Lake House . And very often that both dishes are served together. They make a good couple. In fact, it is one of the most talked contributions American cuisine to international cuisine.

The formula is spread throughout the world, from simple fast-food restaurants in the most exclusive and sophisticated hotels, to those at international airports. And today, it has become a benchmark to establish the ranking of the most expensive destinations and cheap hotel in the world, from the Club Sandwich Index (CSI) created by the Hoteles.com hotel reservation portal.

The average price of the classic Club sandwich-consisting of deli turkey or chicken, bacon , lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise and bread, lightly toasted and three layers-is established from this dish prices on over 840 hotels city -30 25 countries, five, four and three star-in the main capitals of the world, and serves as a barometer of hotel costs depending on the destination city.

According to the study by the web, Geneva is the most expensive hotel destination in the world , with an average price of EUR 23.35 Club Sandwich. The price ranges from 39.78 euros for the most expensive, at a 5 stars to 12,87 euros for the cheapest, a three-star hotel.

At the other extreme, India, with its capital, New Delhi, as the cheapest destination, with an average of seven euros. Six other capitals are below the threshold of $ 10 Beijing (9.7 euros), Buenos Aires (9.11 euros), Bangkok (9.08 euros), Bogota (8.78 euros), Taipei (8 , 75 euros) and Mexico (8.11 euros).

Spain, the cheapest in Europe

In its second year, the index reflects not only changes in the real price of a club sandwich in the world, also the effect of currency fluctuations. And finds that prices are falling: the average obtained Geneva is the highest, but is less than the average price obtained in Paris the previous year -2011, the first conducted the study, with an average of € 25.13.

This year, Paris fell to second place, with 21.05 euros on average, followed by Oslo (20.48 euros), Stockholm (17.72 euros), Denmark (17.18 euros) and Rome, in sixth place, with an average price of 17.13 euros for his club sadwich.

Meanwhile, Madrid is at position 20 in the ranking, with an average price of $ 14.77, two positions less than the previous year, when the average price stood at $ 16.20. Spain is located in the CSI as the cheapest country in Europe at lunchtime in hotels. The lowest recorded price in hotels in Madrid was four euros, a figure even lower than the average seven euros for cheaper destination, New Delhi. Above the Spanish media are European cities such as Dublin (11.58 euros), Berlin (12.25 euros), Amsterdam (12.82 euros) and London (15.88 euros).

A fan club sandwich

Available in most hotel restaurant menus worldwide, Club Sandwich has become the perfect barometer of the hotel restaurant, a tool for travelers, tourists and business-plan their journeys.

But it is much more. For business travelers, in North America, has an anchorage point, affective reference, become that something immutable, that is always there, while jumping from country to country, continent to continent, to attend a meeting , a conference, an exhibition, to close a business. So much so that the prestigious chefs such as James Beard-the first to participate in a TV cooking show in America, in the 50s – have become real experts on the subject.

Today has its own fan club, as a specialized blog: Clubsandwichreviews.com.

In Club Sandwich Reviews are capable of doing everything a treaty gastronomic and maintain a lively debate about the ingredients in a dish so simple, but so complex at the same time, able to adapt to the tastes of each country with a touch of salsa, ingredient or presentation: Denmark curry sauce, with cabbage and caesar salad dressing in Québec in Canada-best-served with ketchup and fried egg in Venezuela, with sriracha in the countries of Asia? That’s the beauty and the secret of success.

The speakers included real specialists, including the creator of Club Sandwich Reviews, Evan Saunders, CEO and co-founder of the agency Attract China, a marketing specialist with thousands of miles of business travel that takes years behind testing, writing and valuing the Club Sandwich – “everyone is unique” – that is in the hotel restaurants and airports around the world. And theorizing about them: what are the basic and essential ingredients – turkey or chicken? -, Which are considered illegitimate, which constitute a real sacrilege to the experts, the best sauces?

All contributions in the form of criticism result in a grade in which we identify the best club sandwich in the world. At the head of the list stands the sandwich the Intercontinental Hotel Hong Kong. This is followed the sandwich of the Lebua at State Tower in Bangkok and offered at Henrietta’s Table, the restaurant at The Charles Hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA). This ranking has become a truly valuable reference on business executives and American tourists.

No doubt enjoy this sandwich is a pleasure that, for now, plans to stay and not disappear in some time.

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