Eat ‘the world’s oldest sandwich’ at this Sydney cafe | Gourmet Traveller (2024)

Have you heard of mo’s? The Chinese-style hamburgers have been popping up on menus at Sydney restaurants and market stalls, but Café Mo’st is possibly first venue to serve them in a modern cafe setting.

At Mo’st, located in the new Barrack Place development in the Sydney CBD, the signature mo is filled with a fragrant slow-cooked chopped pork; chilli, coriander and capsicum; then stuffed into the mo; a round flatbread that’s crusty on the outside, and spongy on the inside.

“This helps absorb the flavours of the pork juices so it’s not dripping everywhere,” says co-owner Channing Xing.

Rou jia mo – which translates to ‘”meat sandwich” – is a street snack that hails from the Shaanxi province in north-western China. It’s said to be the world’s oldest sandwich, dating back to the Zhou dynasty who ruled ancient China from 1046 BC.

For Xing, who hails from Shaanxi, they’re a fondly remembered childhood snack. “I remember in primary school a cart would come by to sell them and I would buy them after school,” he says.

Xing admits he didn’t think traditional northern-Chinese food would appeal to western palates, until he went to New York and saw the queues outside Xi’an Famous Foods, a popular casual chain restaurant that serves rou jia mo.

“As Australians, we love to eat burgers and sandwiches. It’s really the same concept,” says Xing.

That is, with a few tweaks. Mo’s are usually filled with pork belly, but Xing says, “people in Sydney don’t want to be eating greasy food for lunch.” Their stew combines pork belly with two other leaner pork cuts, with a combination of “secret spices” and a master stock.

Aside from the classic pork, there are other mo fillings on offer: Hainanese chicken breast with fried onion, pickles and a ginger-shallot dressing; master-stock tofu with king mushroom and lotus root; and cumin-spiked lamb patty with salad and Greek yoghurt. There’s also liang pi, a popular Shaanxi dish of cold wheat noodles dressed in sesame paste, vinegar and chilli oil.

Eat ‘the world’s oldest sandwich’ at this Sydney cafe | Gourmet Traveller (1)

Plus, you can score a decent coffee or tea with your Shaanxi snack. Xing – who owns two other cafes in the city – recognises that Sydney diners take their coffee seriously. At Mo’st, you can order a flat white made with coffee beans by Melbourne roasters Five Senses, or high-quality Chinese tea by boutique tea label Ms. Cattea.

Judging by the lines outside Mo’st since opening in December 2018, it looks like their formula for combining coffee, tea and mos has paid off.

Mo’st, Barrack Place, Shop 7, 151 Clarence Street, Mon-Fri 8am-4pm, cafemost.com

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Eat ‘the world’s oldest sandwich’ at this Sydney cafe | Gourmet Traveller (2024)

FAQs

Eat ‘the world’s oldest sandwich’ at this Sydney cafe | Gourmet Traveller? ›

At Mo'st, located in the new Barrack Place development in the Sydney CBD, the signature mo is filled with a fragrant slow-cooked chopped pork; chilli, coriander and capsicum; then stuffed into the mo; a round flatbread that's crusty on the outside, and spongy on the inside.

What is the oldest sandwich in the world? ›

The Rou Jia Mo is a Chinese sandwich that was created around 200 B.C. and traditionally featured beef or lamb as the filling between pieces of ​​baijimo, essentially a Chinese flatbread.

What was the first Chinese sandwich? ›

The Chinese pork-and-flatbread sandwich known as roujiamo has been called "the world's oldest hamburger". Like much in China, its precise origins are shrouded in the mists of time.

What is the USDA definition of a sandwich? ›

The USDA uses the definition, "at least 35% cooked meat and no more than 50% bread" for closed sandwiches, and "at least 50% cooked meat" for open sandwiches.

When did sandwiches become popular? ›

During the early years of the railroad, sandwiches proved an ideal form of fast food, especially since they could be sold at train stations when everyone got off to buy snacks... During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the sandwich came into its own, especially as a response to the Temperance Movement.

Who was the first person to eat a sandwich? ›

The first recorded sandwich was made for John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, who as a compulsive gambler didn't want to take too long from his card game to eat dinner. So instead, he asked his servants to bring him two slices of bread filled with meat – and so the sandwich was born!

Is a taco legally a sandwich? ›

The Court agrees with Quintana that tacos and burritos are Mexican-style sandwiches, and the original Written Commitment does not restrict potential restaurants to only American cuisine-style sandwiches.

What is the oldest American Chinese restaurant? ›

After a deep dive into local archives, they have concluded the Chicago Cafe might be the oldest continuously running Chinese restaurant in California and perhaps even the United States.

Did they eat bread in China? ›

The traditional bread in China is mantou. It is made by steaming or deep-frying dough made from wheat flour. In Northern China and northern central China, mantou is often eaten as an alternative staple to rice.

What was the first food in China? ›

The earliest known evidence comes from 7,000 BCE in China, where residue in clay pots has revealed that people were making an alcoholic beverage from fermented rice, millet, grapes, and honey. In the beginning, millet was the main grain to make alcohol, the so-called “yellow wine.” Then rice became more popular.

Why is a hotdog not a sandwich? ›

No - a sandwich is a filling which has 2 (or more) pieces of bread around it. Hotdogs use a single bun. No. Never thought of it as a sandwich.

Is an Oreo a sandwich? ›

Take a delicious break with OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, America's favorite sandwich cookie for over 100 years. Supremely dunkable, OREO cookies sandwich a rich creme filling between the bold taste of two chocolate wafers--making them milk's favorite cookie.

Is a pizza a sandwich? ›

For this there are two arguments: The pizza by itself is a sandwich, or when folded, a pizza resembles a sandwich. For a food to be considered as a sandwich, it has to have two pieces of bread with some sort of filling in between. Pizza can not be a sandwich because to do so you must first fold the pizza.

Who invented bread? ›

Bread grains, the first plants to be domesticated, were first harvested in the wild by the Natufians. This Mesolithic group of hunter-gatherers lived in the Jordan River Valley region of the Middle East about 12,500 years ago.

Is a quesadilla a sandwich? ›

According to the Merriam Webster dictionary definition, a quesadilla would be considered a sandwich. (At least it does if you classify a tortilla as bread which is an entire debate in and of itself.)

What was the first meat on a sandwich? ›

In 1762, John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich®, invented the meal that changed dining forever. As the story goes, he was playing cards and did not want to leave the gaming table to eat. He asked for a serving of roast beef to be placed between two slices of bread so he could eat with his hands.

How old is the Cuban sandwich? ›

The first recorded mentions of a distinct Cuban sandwich survive in descriptions of workers' cafés in Ybor City and nearby West Tampa from around 1900, leading other historians to theorize that the sandwich as now constituted first appeared there.

How old is the Monte Cristo sandwich? ›

The Monte Cristo sandwich likely originated around 1910 as a variation of a similar sandwich called a croque monsieur. It was invented and initially served in Paris cafes but gained popularity in the U.S. in the 1930s. It appeared in many American cookbooks under names like “French Sandwich” or “Toasted Ham Sandwich.”

What is the longest sandwich ever made? ›

The longest sandwich measured 735 m (2,411 ft 5 in) and was created by members of three teams in total. These teams were Groupe Notre Dame Hazmieh-Scouts de L'Independence (Lebanon), Municipality of Hazmieh (Lebanon)and Mini-B chain restaurants (Lebanon).

What was the first sub sandwich? ›

When Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta H.M.S. Pinafore opened in Philadelphia in 1879, bakeries produced a long loaf called the pinafore. Entrepreneurial "hokey-pokey men" sliced the loaf in half, stuffed it with antipasto salad, and sold the world's first "hoagie".

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