The lovely people over at John Lewis recently asked if I’d like to review anything electrical for my kitchen. My first thought was “do I actually need anything?” and then after a perusal of their website my eye was quickly drawn to the Breville VST026 Café Style Sandwich Press. We eat quite a lot of toasted sandwiches and pittas in our house and having found our small sandwich toaster a bit of a fiddle to get clean we recently discovered Toaster Pockets which go in the toaster. The only drawback is that the filling doesn’t always heat up before the outside is toasted and you can only do 2 sandwiches at a time. The other thing is you can only do bread, as a recent trial with cheese in a pitta, ended up with all the cheese in a pool at the bottom.
The Breville Café Style Sandwich Press is a complete revelation. Not only can it make 4 toasted sandwiches at the same time but it can do all manner of breads from pittas to Panini. I have to admit that I’d never even had Panini before and am now smitten! My son it turns out is a bit of a Panini expert as he has them at school and he was very impressed with the Panini I made. A recipe booklet is included with the sandwich press which has ideas ranging from sweet to savoury with various different breads including pitta and ciabatta. The main advantages with the Breville are, that it is so quick and easy to use; you just plug it in, wait for the green light to go out, pop your sandwiches in, time for 5 or so minutes and you’re done. Then while the plates are still warm you just wipe over to clean any food residue and you’re good to go next time. As the surfaces are completely flat and non-stick cleaning is really easy, unlike a conventional sandwich toaster which I always found a fiddle to get clean.

You can see why the Breville Cafe Style Sandwich Press is so easy to clean!
I was worried about storage but with a simple locking mechanism to keep the sandwich press closed and a place to wrap the cord around underneath it is easily stored standing up on its side and so takes up relatively little room (I found neat spot in my under sink cupboard).

We all loved our Panini!
To make our Panini I brushed the outer surfaces with a little olive oil and then filled it with cheese, ham, onion rings, tomato slices, salt, pepper, and mustard. The fillings cooked through in 5 minutes and the bread became flattened, (I applied a little pressure to begin with) to make lovely crispy Panini oozing with the cheesy hot filling. They were a huge hit with the whole family! The following day I made conventional toasted sandwiches and these were also a huge hit. For more recipe ideas you could head over to The Food Network or Yummly who have some healthy Panini ideas.

Toasted sandwich heaven!
I would thoroughly recommend the Breville Café Style Sandwich Press as it is a winner all round for quality, ease of use, excellent results and easy cleaning. You can buy it in John Lewis for £39.95.
Disclaimer: Sponsored post. I was provided with John Lewis vouchers to write this post. All opinions are my own.
Marcos Scriven
Somewhat suspicious you’ve managed to get griddle lines on a completely flat surface…
Camilla
LOL Marcos, don’t look at me, that’s how they came from Waitrose, I’d never bought Panini before!
Paul Wilson
They do look very tasty.
Jane Davies
This looks great !!! Can make yummy coffee shop paninis for a fraction of the price ! Tuna melt is my favourite 😀
Camilla
Ooh haven’t made one of those yet, thanks for the idea:-)
Paul Wilson
The toasting adds an extra dimension.
Ursula Hunt
You cant beat a good toasted sandwich maker, Toasties are always a welcome snack
Camilla
Exactly, this machine has had more use in it’s short time with us than any sandwich toaster has ever had:-)
glenn hutton
Looks amazing and has now made me feel very hungary at 10:30 in the morning…
Camilla
I’ve used this so many times now, it’s so good and best of all easy to wipe clean each time:-)
MW
Delicious 🙂
Paul Wilson
I love a nice toastie now and then.
Emily @amummytoo
*gasp* I want one!!!
Camilla
It’s so good:-)