- [Ju] This London restaurant serves sandwiches
with incredible fillings.
Chef Max Halley uses all kinds
of creative ingredients.
But doesn't think cheese is one of them.
As possibly the world's biggest fan of cheese,
I've come to try some of his signature recipes
and see if I can be convinced.
Max literally wrote the book on sandwiches
and has won countless awards.
He puts his popularity down to six mantras.
[Max] Hot, cold, sweet, sour, crunchy, soft.
If you have all of those six things
all at the same time, chomp,
in a bite of your sandwich,
you've basically got everything
that your brain is looking for for deliciousness.
You have a contrast in temperature.
You have a contrast in texture.
- [Ju] But why does Max refuse to put cheese
in his quirky recipes?
So it's a question more that it doesn't fit
into your mantra because I think that cheese
can be hot, it can be sweet, it can be spicy.
[Max] Yeah. [Ju] There's like Monterey Jack.
There's a sweet cheese, like Camembert's a little bit sweet.
[Max] It can be all those things.
[Max] The idea of like, piquancy,
which loads of cheese has. [Ju] Yeah.
[Max] It's that almost heat.
I think it's a textural thing for me
more than the flavor.
I quite like the cheesy flavor.
I like sort of cheesiness.
I like those heady, rich, funky smells.
Yeah. I'm saying that you don't need to put cheese
in your sandwiches.
For vegetarians, I think that there'd be a lot
of sandwich shops where your just default veggie sandwich
would involve cheese.
And like for me, with here,
I want to avoid those kinds of assumptions.
So I'm not just saying that,
it's not just that I think cheese is horrible.
It's that I think you'd expect a vegetarian sandwich
to be a cheese sandwich.
Whereas here, the vegetarian sandwich
has pickled spring rolls in it.
And I just think that that in itself is much more playful
and more fun than just a cold miserable slab
of wax-like cheddar.
- [Ju] Hm, let's give him a try
and see how good they really are.
First up.
[Max] Ham, Egg, 'n' Chips, the best hamwich ever.
[Ju] Smells amazing.
I mean, my instant thought
was just put some cheddar in it as well.
The taste of the mayo and piccalilli and ham hock,
is so, so, so strong.
Super, super crunchy.
And it's really warm as well.
I kind of feel like you wouldn't really need
to put anything else in there.
It's already completely filled with ingredients.
Next, This Is How We Spring Roll.
[Max] One of the greatest ideas ever,
which is spring rolls in a sandwich.
Ah, they're hot, them spring rolls.
[Ju] Ah, right.
I mean, normally I would wish that's Camembert,
like dribbling all the way down my arm,
but that is spring roll juice.
And it's absolutely delicious.
And finally.
[Max] The Original Gangster.
[Ju] Instinctively, I would put cheddar in it,
which I feel like Max would absolutely kill me for.
- [Max] He would!
[Ju] The gravy mayo is just the flavor
that it comes all the way through that
with sauerkraut.
I kind of feel like there are enough flavors in here.
Maybe putting cheddar in there
would actually overcomplicate things.
Damn it.
Damn you, Max.
- Damn me.
- Damn you.
- Damn me and my gravy-based genius.
- [Ju] And toastie fans, beware.
So there's literally a page in here,
I gotta find it,
where you've got a recipe for a tuna melt
and it says "I'm sorry but I don't eat much cheese,
and I can't have a fish and cheese recipe in my book."
- And, like, look at the page.
The sheer idea of, like, tinned tuna and cheese.
- It's glorious!
- Is it?
- You put some capers in there, little bit of red onion.
- Yeah, well fundamentally fish and cheese is disgusting,
should never go together.
- [Ju] So if you shouldn't be putting cheese in,
what should go in a sandwich?
- 90% of sandwiches would be improved
by crushing up some crisps and putting them in there.
More mayonnaise, put some crisps in.
- No cheese crisps, just--
- I'll give you cheese crisps, blatantly
as they've got no cheese in them.
- [Ju] So were we won over with Max's cheese ban?
They tasted great, they looked great, they smelled great.
So maybe we don't need cheese after all.
I'm sorry cheese, I still love you,
but I don't maybe need you in a sandwich.
Where do you stand on the debate?
Let us know in the comments.
- Down there in hell, there is the devil
sat on his throne or whatever it is
eating cheese and pickle.