‘A bit of a secret’: Melbourne’s massive new muffuletta sandwich is first-class

Fans of Port Melbourne sandwich shop Baba’s Deli love to wax lyrical about the Mama’s Vodka: the mother of all chicken-schnitzel focaccias, doused in a creamy, tomatoey, vodka-spiked sauce that the team has to make more than 150 litres of every week.

Admittedly, it’s great. And it deserves signature status. But on a recent visit to the just-opened Baba’s location in Ivanhoe, Sandwich Watch uncovered something even better: a new item that head chef Matthew Turner says is “still a bit of a secret”. Behold: the mighty muffuletta, a sanga that’s giant, under $20 and relatively rare to find in Melbourne.

What makes a muffuletta?

Turner’s fascination with New Orleans’ sandwich scene is what led to one of its stars – the muffuletta – landing at Baba’s. The layer-upon-layer of cold cuts, cheese and olive “salad” is commonly made on a circular, family-sized loaf, and cut into wedges.

The Baba’s version is technically a single-serve focaccia, though it could comfortably feed two. It’s a stacks-on of mortadella and salami, medium-cut to ensure a meaty bite; cheddar and provolone cheese; a medley of chopped antipasti; lemony rocket; and confit-garlic aioli.

The focaccia is first-class

“It’s easily one of the top-three reasons people come back,” says Turner of the house-baked focaccia, fermented for at least two days and stretched into rectangular slabs. If you get a corner piece, you could be in for a crust riddled with almost-brittle bready shards, while prominent air bubbles within are made for all the sauces to seep into.

It’s pro-antipasti

Key to a muffuletta’s success is a sort of olive “salad”, “But I didn’t just want it to be for olive-lovers,” says Turner. The olives, black and pimiento-stuffed green, in his roughly chopped antipasti are joined by artichokes and sun-dried tomatoes, and celery and sumac-spiced onions, pickled in-house. Think of it as the giardiniera of Eden: the ultimate Italian-ish mix of pickled vegetables. It’s salty and a little sweet, briny with decent acidic bite, and the slicing and dicing is fine enough to give you a bit of everything in every mouthful, but not too fine as to form a tapenade.

The construction is more considered than you’d think

Every second sanga shop has these same ingredients in its arsenal, but Baba’s nails the one-percenters. That chopped antipasti is top and bottom, so its multidimensional deliciousness bleeds into the bread (“it’s even better if you let it sit a bit,” says Turner).

Think of it as the giardiniera of Eden: the ultimate Italian-ish mix of pickled vegetables.

Thinly sliced cheese separates it from the cold cuts, themselves separated by rocket, so they don’t mush together into one homogenous mound as you chew through. Rounding out the sanga with a hit of creaminess is a roasty aioli with confit garlic blitzed into it.

Like it hot? Here’s a hack

Add a glug of house-made chilli oil that’s supercharged with Italian herbs and spices.

How do I get one?

The muffuletta sandwich ($19) is available at both Baba’s Deli locations – 229 Upper Heidelberg Road, Ivanhoe and 295 Bay Street, Port Melbourne – from 7am to 3pm daily.

This is the latest instalment of Sandwich Watch, a column dedicated to the Melbourne sandwiches you need to know about.