Thug Sandwich Co. — Restaurant in England

Came to Harrogate for a visit (first time!) with a friend. Was dying for a brunch and felt like we had to try this after going through the reviews.

Friend had the Charsiu sandwich (not pictured here, was already munching on my order), which was new to the menu when we went in mid July. As a Malaysian Chinese who grew up having char siu as a common staple dish, this was testified as a new but exciting twist in the use of char siu on a Western dish. Very juicy, not dry at all. High commended.

I had the KFCaesar (I had to smile when ordering this, staff was friendly throughout!). It was slightly dry to my liking even with the Sriracha sauce, but it was still ok. Perhaps a juicier sauce alternative could have given it a better kick. We also ordered the bhaji Scotch egg, this was good and came with mango chutney.

We washed everything down with coffee. I had the flat white, which was just nice to complement the burst of flavours from the food. We were sat at the small seating area facing the window overlooking the street. Only three seats available. There is a collection of books neatly arranged underneath the table as well if you’re here without companions.

Being in this town for the first time, it was exceptionally fun to people watch, gauge the population group, the level of bustle on a weekday, and the local friendliness whilst enjoying our brunch.

Can’t say this enough, but staff was very friendly. Even when I stepped into the shop for the first time and left looking lost (was expecting a bigger space from the massive reviews I read), they greeted me warmly and remained so when I stepped in a second time with my friend in tow.

Thank you very much for...

All these people leaving 1 star (or low star reviews) either have insanely high expectations or must just be out to damage the reputation of a gem of a sandwich shop. I stopped by yesterday, was running late for lunch & to my surprise and delight they were still open, was a queue waiting for food so I possibly struck lucky & they thought they'd do 1 more order. I had the cheese & chutney sandwich & couldn't resist the scotch egg with black pudding. The scotch egg was phenomenal, black pudding mixed in with the sausage meat, egg soft & yolk practically still runny which I really wasn't expecting & just added to the already great flavours, the egg comes with a little pot of homemade brown sauce (ketchup is an option but I prefer brown sauce) even the sauce is a revelation, it's sweeter than usual with less spice but tastes great. The Sandwich was unreal, thick cut cheese on a homemade roll with homemade chutney (I'm assuming, as everything else was homemade) topped with loads of fresh Salad, I'm curious what the difference is between this & the Ploughman's is as it was basically a Ploughman's sandwich. The bread, cheese & salad were all fresh & tasted amazing, the chutney transformed it, was like a cross between chutney & salsa & like the brown sauce was more sweet without much spice but really added a huge amount of flavour to what was already possibly the best sandwich I've ever had!! Well done guys, food is awesome & well worth a try... reasonably priced too considering it's the centre of...

I nearly came to Harrogate purely to try Thug and I'm rather glad I didn't now. After all the attention and reviews it got I'm sure I may have had an off day. I had the KFCeaser sandwich which was filling and overall ok. The bread was nice and fresh, the chicken was cooked well, but the coating was so ridiculously salty it just ruined it entirely. The scotch egg, again very hyped, didn't live up to expectations. It didn't taste fresh even though it looked it, and was just nothing special leaving me feel a bit disappointed.

The coffee is good though.

Price would be okay if food was better in my experience.

One part that lets it down is the ordering system, it gets busy so you go in, order your food then you're given an order number on your receipt to listen out for outside the shop... But someone else just shouts what piece of food is ready and it leaves everyone confused as it's a limited menu so generally people are waiting for the same thing. Surely stick to your order numbers to avoid any confusion?!

In conclusion I would like to see if I can have a better experience in the future but I aren't rushing...