Sandwiches worth taking out

Finding a decent place to eat lunch in the Slovak capital is getting easier. Not only are decent restaurants starting to offer regular lunch menus – soup or starters, main course, coffee and desert for a discounted price – but competition is also fierce between lower-end restaurants and canteens, who are trying to speed up service and table rotation to make as much as possible from the lunch hour.

But with spring already at hand, many of us will rebel at the idea of spending another lunch hour rubbing elbows with strangers in a sweaty canteen, or closeted in a dark restaurant while the sun shines outside.

If you’re in the mood for a picnic lunch or a simple something that can be enjoyed outdoors, you should try Tri-šty-ri, a new sandwich joint at Palisády 34, owned by Canadian expat Ben Pascoe in partnership with Miloš Slávik, a Slovak who has lived in Australia.

Pascoe, who also owns the Next Apache used bookstore and watering hole on Panenská Street, said he and Slávik had long wanted to open a place offering the types of sandwiches they were used to from Canada and Australia.

“No mayonnaise and no cabbage, that’s our rule,” he said. “We use fresh-baked baguettes and quality ingredients, and customers can design their own sandwiches.”

Tri-šty-ri, a play on the address of the restaurant (the name means three-four in English), also offers croissants and coffee to go in the morning, and quality wines and domestic and imported beer until closing time at 22:00.

“We had this idea of making sandwiches for years, but suddenly we had an opportunity to acquire this great space on Palisady, which for years was a wine bar across from the art school. So we decided to go for it,” said Pascoe. “We offer a little bit of everything, like prosciutto ham and cheese from Italy, good wine and tapas-like snacks.”

The restaurant has a capacity of 24 people, and seats them around a long table “so everyone has to sit together”, Pascoe explained.

The target clientele is people working at companies on Palisady and the nearby Old Town area, but Pascoe said that he planned to offer a delivery service as well. The sandwich operation has been up and running as of mid-March. n

Tri-šty-ri

Address: Palisády 34, Bratislava

Open: Mon.-Fri. 08:30-22:00,

weekends 10:00-22:00