I can’t say no to a pork sandwich. Whether it’s porchetta in Italy, leitão assado in Portugal, or gua bao in Taiwan, a really well prepared pork sandwich is a thing of beauty. It’s one of the best things in the world.
And at Harry’s Place in Copenhagen, a charming hole-in-the-wall joint on the outskirts of the city, they serve a very good one.
It’s really simple — the sandwich features thickly sliced roasted pork (called flæskesteg) topped with braised cabbage and pickles, served on a very simple pillowy bun.
If the pork was seasoned with anything beyond salt and maybe pepper, I couldn’t taste it — but when you’re dealing with good quality pork, that’s all you need.
Alas, the pork was a bit dry — though there were a couple of fattier parts that were tender and amazing. If the whole sandwich had been like that, this would have been an all-timer, because it was otherwise pretty much perfect.
The best part of the sandwich is clearly the profoundly crispy crackling. It has an amazing level of crunch and a salty, porky flavour that’s completely irresistible. I needed way, way more of it. I need a whole bag of it so I can eat it like popcorn.
The toppings are great — the braised cabbage is quite sweet, which works very well with the pork. The zingy pickles round out the sweetness from the cabbage and cut the richness from the pork. The two toppings balance each other out perfectly.
