Two-Hour-Long Queue At Korean Sandwich Joint Isaac Toast In Singapore Has Now Dwindled To 30 Minutes

No sandwich is worth a two-hour wait, yet, that's how long Singaporeans were willing to hang around just to sink their teeth into Isaac (say “yee-sak” if you want to sound legit) Toast's sandwiches when it first opened a few weeks ago at Plaza Singapura. These days, we’re told the queue during peak meal times at this Korean sarnie import is only about an hour long (about 30 minutes off-peak). Yay, we think? The popular 15-year-old chain from Korea boasts over 800 stores in the peninsula. The Korean-style sarnie makers pays homage to the biblical Isaac in its name and on its paper sandwich wrappings via faintly religious quotes. Local franchisee Altitude Holdings — they're the folks who brought chicken galbi specialists Yoogane here too — have taken plenty of pains to live up to the Korean brand's Warm, Sweet, Fresh slogan here.Photos: Ealbert Ho

However, these days, we’re told the queue during peak meal times at this Korean sarnie import is only about an hour long (about 30 minutes off-peak). So, these queue markers just outside Watson's near Isaac aren't quite needed anymore.

The popular 15-year-old chain from Korea boasts over 800 stores in the peninsula. The Korean-style sarnie makers pays homage to the biblical Isaac in its name and on its paper sandwich wrappings via faintly religious quotes. Local franchisee Altitude Holdings — they're the folks who brought chicken galbi specialists Yoogane here too — have taken plenty of pains to live up to the Korean brand's Warm, Sweet, Fresh slogan here.Altitude pursued Isaac for three years before the latter agreed to bring its brand to Singapore. To meet the principal's standards though, Altitude said it spent four months working to recreate Issac’s original flavours with local food suppliers, but with an added challenge — no pork or lard is allowed in any of the dishes to cater to a wider audience (it’s not halal-certified, though). Plans are now underway to take Isaac Toast stands to 15 new locations in Singapore over the next three years.

The Isaac Toast’s local team works behind a window at this takeaway stand in the food basement of Plaza Singapura, beneath videos of pretty Korean girls stylishly eating their sarnies while oozing breezy, healthy vibes. The cooks work on a row of hot plates, aiming to turn out a batch of about eight sandwiches within eight minutes. Too bad if someone ahead of you makes a massive order for the whole office.

The thick-cut, airy bread with a bit of bite is grilled with a brushing of a rather sweet secret sauce — kiwi, pear and fruit flavours in an egg base — before being crisped up on the griddle. If you're a sucker for spice, we recommend this spicy chicken cutlet, which perks up your palate with a hot sauce imported from Korea. The shreds of white cabbage and slice of cheddar cheese accompanying it hardly do anything to temper the addictive heat.

Also, the chunky fried chicken leg chunks aren't too over-processed like the hams here are. All sets come with a choice of Americano coffee, green tea or Earl Grey tea.

This stars a breaded patty packed with curls of small-ish prawns. The stack is then dressed with Korean sweet mustard, sweet pickles and the standard issue corn-studded omelette, which when chomped on, reveals a melange of textures and sweet-briny flavours. Like most of the sandwiches here, the portions are substantial, but strangely enough, you won't feel incredibly full after wolfing down one.

We’re told this is one of the Singapore shop’s best-sellers, but we don't understand why. This carb-on-carb vegetarian sandwich option features a potato patty, corn omelette and sweet barbecue sauce that turns into mush with every bite. The smoked cheddar slice and sweet cream cheese topping doesn't help, either.

Not beef bulgogi as you know it, just marinated meat, which is what the word actually means in Korean. Here, a proprietary seasoning make the chunks of grilled chicken a tasty umami complement to the sweet corn omelette, egg, pickles, sweet and lightly smoky barbecue sauce, plus mild sweet chilli.

Refreshing and not too sweet.

If you prefer your sarnies savoury, you might wanna skip this — ’cos Issac Toast takes the sweet in its slogan pretty literally. That being said, we wouldn't mind lunching on its novel sarnies with a Korean twist once in a while, as long we don't have to queue for them.#B2-42 Plaza Singapura, 8 Orchard Rd, S238839. Open daily, 9am-9.30pm. Last orders at 8.30pm. www.facebook.com/isaactoastsg.

Two-Hour-Long Queue At Korean Sandwich Joint Isaac Toast In Singapore Has Now Dwindled To 30 Minutes

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Two-Hour-Long Queue At Korean Sandwich Joint Isaac Toast In Singapore Has Now Dwindled To 30 Minutes

Natasha Hong

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