The mythical sandwich of indeterminate origin is a favourite menu item in cafés and eateries, so we've created this ever-evolving list of Adelaide's best takes on the righteous reuben.

The reuben is a sandwich for sandwich lovers.

While you can slap just about anything between two slices of Wonder White and call it a sandwich, the reuben is a very specific collection of condiments and smallgoods.

The most famous reuben comes from Katz’s in New York, but its history is hotly contested; a mash of Irish and Jewish influences (despite not being kosher) coalescing in either New York or Nebraska (depending on who’s telling the story), and reaching back to the first half of the 20^th century.

Just as heated is the debate over which are the ingredients most critical to the sandwich: grilled dark rye or perhaps a lighter bread, sauerkraut or coleslaw, Russian dressing or 1000 island, corned beef or pastrami.

There are as many opinions and iterations as there are tastebuds on the human tongue, and all that seems to remain consistent is the layer of swiss cheese – though in our pursuit of Adelaide’s best reuben we’ve managed to find at least one defector there, too.

Over the course of a couple of weeks, CityMag has scoured the CBD and North Adelaide in pursuit of its best take on the mythical reuben, and we’ve listed our findings below.

Note: All the sandwiches below are the city’s best and have been listed in descending order by weight.

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**New entries**

Commute

Weight: 387.6g Height: 11cm Cost: $9 Accoutrements: Half Pickle

 

Commute’s co-founder, Wilson Shawyer, is a master of meat. Since coming into Adelaide around two years ago, the hospitality all-rounder has infiltrated Adelaide’s best sandwiches and charcuterie boards with his cured meats.

The pastrami found in the Commute reuben is made specifically for this store, this sandwich. It is put through a seven-day brine, sous-vide for two days, and the flavour filters through the sandwich, without dominating the entire experience. Smart diners will set a piece of pastrami aside as am after-sandwich snack.

Commute is all about convenience, and so the sandwich comes untoasted, which means it is a softer, chewier experience than most, but also doesn’t way you down with all the extra grease that comes with frying the bread.

If you like a bit of bite, the level of sriracha in the Russian dressing will satisfy you.

It’s well worth a trip to the train station.

 

Connect:
Adelaide Railway Station Ramp, North Terrace, Adelaide 5000
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My Kingdom For a Horse

Weight: 321.9g Height: 9cm Cost: $18.90 Accoutrements: None

 

As you might expect from a café founded by a chef, My Kingdom For a Horse’s take on the mighty reuben is an all-in-house affair. The OG version, which you can see above, can be found at the Wright Street frontage, but there is also a smaller iteration to be found at My Kingdom’s new Waymouth Street shop.

The My Kingdom reuben has been a popular mainstay dish at the café, consistently being in the top four most-ordered dishes since it came upon the menu.

Through the dish, MKFAH founder Emily Raven referenced one of her own favourite sandwiches, the reuben at Pope Joan in Melbourne, created under chef Matt Wilkinson. Each chef to lead the My Kingdom kitchen has left their mark on the sandwich.

Warm and full of umami, this reuben is beautifully rich, with so much coming from the deep red Russian sauce and Emmental cheese, with a beautiful crispiness in each bite. Where many reuben can leave one feeling weighed down (pleasantly so), we finished our last bite without the feeling of having clogged any arteries.

 

Connect:
191—195 Wright Street, Adelaide 5000
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 Mornings Coffee

Weight: 211.7g Height: 7.5cm Cost: $10 Accoutrements: Soy crisps

 

Yet another break in the reuben rules – Mornings founder Jason Barber has loaded up an Abbots & Kinney croissant with thick cuts of pastrami, sourced from Wilson Shawyer, spiked with a couple of cute pickles on top.

The pastry is light and crunchy, as every good croissant should be, and flakes will fly if you’re eating al fresco in a wind tunnel like Peel Street.

There is satisfaction to be found in chewing through the thick-cut pastrami, and, just as in the case of My Kingdom’s sandwich above, the Russian dressing is doing a lot of groundwork in the experience. It is also rich, with some light spiciness coming from paprika in the dressing, matching with peppery notes from the pastrami’s rub.

Mornings has doubled up on the cheese, a course of mozzarella teaming up with some tasty to impart flavour as well as a bit of gooeyness.

Given Mornings is a coffee stop, this is a breakfast reuben, by which we mean this one will not ruin your productivity by putting you into hibernation mode. It is completely satisfying, while also not weighing you down.

 

Connect:
18 Peel Street, Adelaide 5000
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**Previous entries**

Delicatessen

Weight: 505.5g Height: 10.5cm Cost: $18 Accoutrements: Pickle (half spiked, half plated), rocket and sauerkraut salad, mustard smear

 

We first ran our Adelaide’s Best Reuben article back in October, but we were alerted to a glaring oversight during a conversation with two expatriated New Yorkers, the Keismans, who’ve called Adelaide home for the last five years. The couple is intimately familiar with Adelaide’s hospitality scene, and it was with great incredulity they announced we’d missed Adelaide’s absolute best reuben, at Delicatessen.

This half-kilo sandwich is a monster.

The rye is lightly toasted, still with crunch, and the use of rocket is a Delicatessen idiosyncrasy. The house-treated salt beef is nearly an inch thick (ask for a steak knife) and the house-made Russian dressing is used sparingly. Where some sandwiches in this list drip mayonnaise grease down your forearm, the Delicatessen reuben is a tidier rendition.

A Dutch version of Swiss cheese coats the sauerkraut (also house made) and melts to the base of the sandwich. A small piece of structural cheddar is also employed between the rye and the salt beef.

The kraut is good, but not mind-blowing, and so all-in-all this reuben is Gestaltian in its balance. Nothing competes too much for your attention, and everything works together to achieve an optimal experience.

To Jeremy and Maritza Keisman – we thank you for the tip.

 

Connect:
12 Waymouth Street, Adelaide 5000
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The Flying Fig

Weight: 474.4g Height: 8cm Cost: $22 Accoutrements: None ($4 for pickles or chips)

 

The Flying Fig takes reuben sandwiches very seriously, to the degree that they’ve got three variations on their menu (plus a fourth on the specials board on the day we visited). There is a rendition for vegetarians, with grilled capsicum and zucchini and chrain (a beetroot and horseradish relish); a weekends-only version made with house-made pastrami, smoked for eight hours, steamed for two, and only available after 10:30am; or the original, which we’ve featured, available every day, and stacked with a lot of corned beef and a lot of house-made sauerkraut.

The grilled bread is a dark rye from Skala, which brings a sweetness to the sandwich, and the ‘kraut – made from kohlrabi, cabbage and caraway – also features whole peppercorns, giving it some bite. The Flying Fig falls on the Russian dressing side of the reuben sauce debate.

This is a big sandwich, so come hungry or with a friend.

 

Connect:
161 Jeffcott Street, North Adelaide 5006
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BRKLYN

Weight: 442.8g Height: 3cm (6cm stacked) Cost: $17 Accoutrements: Kettle crisps (plain), a large half pickle (spiked)

 

Making the most of the Jewish New Yorker connotations in their name, BRKLYN brings a very straight-down-the-line standard reuben, with Mainland swiss cheese, Challenger Smallgoods pastrami, Sandhurst sauerkraut, Market Street white rye, a house-made secret sauce (that the floor staff told us is probably based on a Russian dressing), served with crisps and a big, crispy half pickle.

From the first bite you’ll notice an excess of sauce, which is expertly contained within the grilled bread. This is not a bad thing. Enjoy your juicy reuben.

 

Connect:
260-262 Rundle Street, Adelaide 5000
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The Exeter

Weight: 424.8g Height: 10cm Cost: $13.90 Accoutrements: Hot chips

 

The team at The Exeter are a generous bunch, not only is the cost-to-weight ratio pretty favourable, but it comes with a serve of hot chips (not included in the weight measurement, obviously). The Ex’s reuben was a great experience, but this writer did not eat for a good 18 hours afterward. If you love a reuben, are quite partial to crispy, golden hot chips, and love the feeling of being full to the point of bursting, this is the lunch stop you’ve been looking for.

The sandwich started at The Exeter as a special – a seasonal replacement for the kitchen’s pie in September last year – but recently graduated onto the full-time menu. This version features house made Russian dressing, house-made sauerkraut (made with fennel), house-cooked corned beef, and a light rye from Skala.

Every bite comes with an audible crunch, which is deeply satisfying in a way totally external to the flavour experience of the sandwich.

 

Connect:
246 Rundle Street, Adelaide 5000
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Where We Met

Weight: 381.2g Height: 4cm (8cm stacked, 11cm stacked plus pickle) Cost: $18.50 Accoutrements: Big pickle (spiked)

 

This South Terrace café offers another saucy version of the reuben, though not overly juicy, such as in the BRKLYN iteration above. The Russian dressing is house made, the pastrami comes from Balhannah Butchers, the ‘kraut is made from red cabbage, and the Mylar light sourdough is grilled in Paris Creek butter, creating a satisfying crunch that is also, counterintuitively, easy to tear through.

Because the Russian dressing is thicker in texture, drips aren’t such a worry, and the mix of red cabbage ‘kraut and house-made dressing creates a more complex flavour profile than most of the reubens we sampled.

This is one for the flavour-chasers.

 

Connect:
114 South Terrace, Adelaide 5000
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Comida

Weight: 266.8g Height: 3cm (6cm stacked) Cost: $12.00 Accoutrements: None

 

We spied the Reuben in the refrigerated cabinet the first time we visited Comida. It’s this Reuben that inspired our first “evolving” guide and we’re proud to publish Brad Sappenberghs’ take on the classic here.

Brined for five days, Brad treats his brisket tenderly and with all the spice you’d expect. Once the brining stage is over, Brad says he, “smokes the beef hard for half-an-hour,” before taking the chips out of the smoker and roasting it low and slow for the remainder of the day. This Reuben keeps it classic with mustard, swiss cheese and pickles only and is put through the sandwich press to serve, toasted. Nothing overly photogenic about the set up here, but was tantalising enough that the photographer forgot to take its picture before taking a bite out of the thing (bottom left corner).

Bright zing and fresh crunch from the mustard and pickle combo accentuate the deep, smoky flavour of perfectly house-smoked brisket. A great sandwich.

Connect:
188 Grenfell Street, Adelaide 5000
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Monday’s

Weight: 230.6g Height: 5.5cm Cost: $12 Accoutrements: Half pickle

 

The one swiss cheese defector! Monday’s has a pretty unique take on the reuben, and, to be fair, they call it a pastrami bagel – but we saw it as a riff on the theme, and a good one at that, and so here we are.

The Monday’s ‘reuben’ has sour tartness from the house-made pickles and American-style mustard, and the cream cheese does not detract from the pastrami at its core.

 

Connect:
95 Grenfell Street, Adelaide 5000
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Hello Sarnie

Weight: 215.8g Height: 4cm (8cm stacked) Cost: $9.50 Accoutrements: Takeaway packaging

 

For the reuben-lover on the go, Hello Sarnie has a takeaway take on the sandwich, which is available as either toasted or fresh (we had the untoasted version, for something different).

The dark rye, pastrami and sauerkraut are all standard reuben ingredients, but where Hello Sarnie breaks is in its choice of mayonnaise instead of Russian dressing, and the introduction of spinach leaves. A reuben recipe is truly a world of possibility.

 

Connect:
147 Pirie Street, Adelaide 5000
99 Gawler Place, Adelaide 5000
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Abbots & Kinney

Weight: 137.5g Height: 5.5cm Cost: $7.50 Accoutrements: Small pickle (spiked)

 

Yet another ‘inspired by’ rendition we’ve decided to claim as a reuben, the Pastrami Winehouse comes in as the lightest in the list (it’s a pastry after all), but it certainly does not lack heft. There’s a generous stack of pastrami within that makes for a satisfying chomp, the sauerkraut packs a mustardy punch, and there are more small pickles like the one spiked on top inside for a crunchy surprise.

You can have the pastry cold or heated up, and eat-in with cutlery or on the go. With all the ingredients safely tucked inside, it’s a convenient mobile lunch. The same cannot be said for most of these sandwiches listed above.

Abbots & Kinney’s Pastrami Winehouse is only available Fridays, is on the menu as demand dictates, and is not available at all stores, so check ahead before setting your heart on this reuben riff.

 

Connect:
78 Pirie Street, Adelaide 5000
The Hub, University of Adelaide, Adelaide 5000
UniSA City West, Adelaide 5000
22 Elizabeth Street, Croydon 5008
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One from the vaults: the CityMag x Lucia’s one-day-only reuben

CityMag x Lucia’s

Weight: 290.5g Height: 6cm Cost: $13 Accoutrements: Sauerkraut and horseradish salad

 

Created for Magazine Gallery by chef and photographer (co-founder of Sunny’s Pizza) Andy Nowell, this reuben is a classically Australian take on the sandwich made famous by the Kosher-style deli in New York City. What do we mean by ‘classically Australian?’ Well, we mean fresh and bright flavours, less meat and more cheese.

Where the Katz Deli Reuben focuses on thick slabs of beef, the CityMag reuben treats the sauerkraut as the hero – fleshing out the pickled cabbage with diced dill pickles, horseradish, mayo, mustard, pepper and parsley.

Instead of the deep and smoky wad of meat that many reubens put in your mouth, this sandwich hits your tastebuds with a crunchy, sweet and sour salad that offsets the deep, oily and delicious hot beef and melted cheese on top.

Connect with Lucia’s:
Shop 3 Central Western Mall Adelaide Central Market
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