This classy French steak sanga comes with a luscious dipping broth

There are a lot of great sandwiches around town at the moment, but not so many great dips. And by dips, we’re talking your classic French dip or roast beef dip, where roast beef is stuffed into a crusty French baguette and then served with a broth on the side.

These sandwiches tend to come and go as specials, and there are variations around town – Barbeque Mafia, for example, does a cheesesteak with a jus cheese dip – but we’re not sure anyone has really locked down this space.

Until now, that is. Introducing, the Naldham Terrace French beef baguette with dipping sauce.

Naldham House is the multi-level heritage-listed mini food precinct in the CBD operated by DAP & Co (Walter’s Steakhouse, Popolo, The Gresham).

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It’s a beautiful venue, a striking white-rendered masonry exterior complemented by Anna Spiro’s tastefully exuberant interiors. And the menus – both in Naldham Brasserie downstairs and The Fifty Six up – match that treatment with classy, thoughtful dishes suitable for date nights and occasion dining.

But outside on the ground floor is the greenery-lined Naldham Terrace. Here, the menu is more casual, designed with in-and-out lunches in mind. It boasts a bunch of great dishes, including one of our favourite CBD burgers – and now one of our favourite CBD sandwiches.

We often write about the glory of the chef-made sandwich in this column. And this is that, but with a twist.

Naldham Brasserie’s head chefs, Paul Humbert and Fabian Hafner, are both French.

“We have a big culture in France about sandwiches,” Humbert says. “I think some Australians maybe don’t know that. Honestly, for lunch [in France] there’s a lot of people walking out of the offices … they all come out, buy their sandwiches from the bakery and go and chill in the park.

“So we’re into our sandwiches.”

Naldham Terrace’s French beef baguette

You’ve probably heard chefs bang on about getting out of the way of their produce. Well, here it is in sandwich form.

There’s almost nothing to this sanger: a baguette, some steak, caramelised onions and seeded mustard. But also, that’s selling it short.

The baguette is a tight little number baked daily by Eustralis, a specialist European food supplier, that’s been crisped just so for serving. The steak is S. Kidman two-to-three score flank, cooked medium rare and basted in the pan in butter, garlic and thyme. And the seeded mustard is Covinor, a quality French brand.

“Me and Fabi both have the same philosophy when it comes to using good products and then just cooking them properly,” Humbert says. “You only need three or four ingredients, and as long as they’re good ingredients in the first place, you can’t really mess it up.”

The Naldham chefs have certainly nailed this. There’s the crisp crunch of the baguette, the maillard and then juiciness of the grilled flank, the sweetness from the caramelised onion, and the tangy vinegar of the mustard.

Then there’s the side of broth, which is a heavenly bowl of stocky goodness. It has the right consistency to coat the sandwich without overpowering what’s slapped inside.

“We have beef jus elsewhere on the menu, so we use the same beef stock, caramelise some more onions into it, and reduce it down until it has that perfect consistency and the right flavour,” Humbert says.

And you won’t believe us, but it’s dead simple to eat. Baguette sangers can get unwieldy but this is tighter than most and easy to manage, and the flank tender enough that you won’t return to the office looking like you’ve been in a food fight.

“That’s why we made it,” Humbert says. “We wanted something simple for lunch for people that we can send quickly, they can eat like pretty fast without getting their hands dirty, and then just go back to work.”

Naldham Terrace’s French beef baguette is $25. You can get one at 33 Felix Street, Brisbane.

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