When brainstorming food ideas for our new coffee shop in Cobham, we wanted to come up with a
unique, simple and most importantly, delicious menu.
We thought about all the great sandwiches, paninis, burgers and other food-in-bread items we’ve
had over the years, but it wasn’t until we talked to family in Australia that we knew we had the
perfect menu.
Australians have been eating jaffles for decades. In fact – so have the Brits, we just called them
toasted sandwiches!
As soon as we heard the word jaffle, we were hooked. It sums up that retro, melted, toasty
goodness in a way that no other word can.
Aussie blogger Lunch Lady tells us more:
The jaffle. A dream made possible by one Australian man: John O’Brien.
John O’Brien never cut the crusts off his sandwiches and not because he wished for chest hair but because he respected them too much. He devoted much of his life to them and the toasted sandwich would be forever immortalised because of him. As the son of Breville co-founder Bill O Brien, John was passionate about creating accessible appliances that eased domestic life, and on one successful research trip through Europe he acquired the rights to commercialise what would become the first
electronic jaffle maker.Breville’s Original 1974 Jaffle Maker was a hit. It was the first proper electronic jaffle maker of its kind ready for domestic use. You just plugged it in and waited for the red light to turn green or if you were impatient waited for the sound of sizzling butter for instant toasted sandwich gratification. In its first year in production 400,000 units sold within Australia, and similar success was met when it hit New Zealand and England in 1975.
Today over six million people globally own Breville’s Jaffle Maker with its unique diagonally bisected hot plates that clamp together to seal traditional, inventive and sometimes downright questionable fillings and we have John O’Brien to thank.
We’ve adapted the jaffle to British tastes, so it’s out with the Vegemite and in with the Marmite for
our ‘Love It’ cheese and marmite flavour, and we’ve taken inspiration from around the globe to
create an Italian pizza inspired toastie as well as a classic New Yorker with pastrami.We’ve even
created a vegan option, with avocado, spinach and punchy sundried tomatoes.
All our jaffles are served piping hot with a dip of your choice – check out the Jaffle menu here
and why not stop by to try one for yourself?