Coffee and Sandwich Shop Saera

While in Sapporo, I was looking for a place to have breakfast on the Internet and came across a coffee shop called Coffee and Sandwich Shop Saera in Odori. I heard that people line up every day to get a sandwich here. Isn’t it unusual to see people waiting in line for sandwiches? In fact, this store has won the “Tabelog’s 100 Best Coffee Shops” award in 2021 and 2022, two years in a row, and is so popular that there is no one in the area who does not know about it.

Still, what kind of sandwich is so popular that people have to wait in line for it? I wonder if it’s some kind of Instagram-worthy signature dish? With this curiosity in mind, I went to Coffee and Sandwich Shop Saera on a weekend morning. Well, I would call it a morning, but it was a bit of a late breakfast…

The rumor that “people line up for sandwiches” is true! This is how the line at Coffee and Sandwich Shop Saera looked like at opening time on a certain weekend…

I arrived at Coffee and Sandwich Shop Saera around 9:40 a.m., 20 minutes before opening time. The shop is directly connected to the Odori Subway Station’s underground passageway, so even on rainy or snowy days there is no need to use an umbrella to get there. At this point, there was already a line at the front, and there were a little more than 10 people in line in front of me. It seems that the rumor that “people line up every day for sandwiches” is true.

When it was time to open, the entrance door opened. On the other side of the door is a descending staircase, and down the stairs is an old-fashioned coffee shop space. It’s a bit of an unusual structure. According to the Tabelog’s information, there are 41 seats (including 5 counter seats). All the seats were occupied within a few minutes, and customers who could not enter had to wait in line on the stairs…. However, there are a good number of seats and the sandwiches are made quickly, so even if there was a long line, the wait time would not be that long…

There are more than 100 kinds of sandwiches on the menu! I ordered the popular “King Crab Salad Sandwich” from the menu at Coffee and Sandwich Shop Saera!

Let’s order the sandwich I’ve heard so much about. The sandwiches at Coffee and Sandwich Shop Saera are ordered with a combination of main and sub ingredients, and a quick glance at the menu list shows that there are more than 100 different combinations! There are probably not many restaurants in Japan that offer this many choices.

After staring at the menu for a few minutes, I ordered the “King Crab & Smoked Salmon Salad Sandwich” (price: 1040 yen including tax). I added a cup of hot coffee (price: 580 yen → 290 yen), and the total price was 1,330 yen…

About 5 minutes after I placed my order, the “King Crab & Smoked Salmon Salad Sandwich” arrived in front of me. There are two sandwiches, one with king crab and the other with smoked salmon and tomato. Okay, so the main and sub ingredients are separate and become the ingredients of the sandwich. In other words, at Coffee and Sandwich Shop Saera, we can enjoy two different sandwiches with one order.

Well, to be honest, there is nothing special about the appearance of the sandwich. It’s just a normal sandwich with the usual ingredients, buttered on the surface of the bread and cut. The volume is also normal, and there are no elements that would make it look good on a social networking site.

But take a bite and you will notice that the bread dough is somehow moist. I think this moistness cannot be achieved with bread sold in supermarkets… Thanks to this, my mouth does not feel dry at all while eating it. With this, I can crunch down on several pieces without a drink.

Also, it is true that the sandwich is not very voluminous, but it is also important that it is a size that can be picked up with one hand. Isn’t it hard to eat a Big Mac? In this respect, the ingredients in a Sierra sandwich do not come out even if you hold it with one hand for a while.

In this way, I could feel the care that goes into the Coffee and Sandwich Shop Saera‘s sandwiches in ways that are not visible to the eye. It’s something you tend to overlook when you eat without thinking. In conclusion, in addition to the wide variety of menu items, I wondered if the invisible attention to detail is the secret to the daily lineups…. I think that when you go to this restaurant, your satisfaction will be enhanced if you use it with such a point of view.

Available for take-out…Coffee and Sandwich Shop Saera is accessible from Odori Station on the Sapporo Municipal Subway Line, a one-minute walk from the nearest station.

Most of the sandwiches at Coffee and Sandwich Shop Saera are available for take-out. Looking at the kitchen from the counter, I saw that there were quite a few orders for take-out sandwiches as well. Indeed, the eat-in area is very crowded, so it might be wiser to order takeout. It’s a good size for snacking, and why not take it back to your hotel and eat it slowly?

Now, here are the details of the restaurant…